Richard Gavin Reid
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The Honourable Richard Gavin Reid |
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| 6th Premier of Alberta | |
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In office 10 July 1934 – 3 September 1935 |
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| Monarch | George V |
| Lieutenant Governor | William L. Walsh |
| Preceded by | John Edward Brownlee |
| Succeeded by | William Aberhart |
| Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta for Vermilion | |
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In office 18 July 1921 – 22 August 1935 |
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| Preceded by | Arthur Ebbett |
| Succeeded by | William Fallow |
| Alberta Treasury Board President | |
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In office 10 July 1934 – 3 September 1935 |
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| Preceded by | New position |
| Succeeded by | Position abolished (Position was merged with that of Provincial Treasurer until 2004, when Shirley McClellan filled it) |
| Alberta Provincial Secretary | |
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In office 10 July 1934 – 3 September 1935 |
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| Preceded by | John Edward Brownlee |
| Succeeded by | Ernest Manning |
| Alberta Minister of Public Works | |
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In office 10 July 1934 – 14 July 1934 |
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| Preceded by | Oran McPherson |
| Succeeded by | John MacLellan |
| Alberta Minister of Health | |
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In office 13 August 1921 – 1923 |
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| Preceded by | Charles R. Mitchell |
| Succeeded by | George Hoadley |
| Alberta Provincial Treasurer | |
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In office 1923 – 10 July 1934 |
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| Preceded by | Herbert Greenfield |
| Succeeded by | John Russell Love |
| Alberta Minister of Municipal Affairs | |
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In office 23 November 1925 – 10 July 1934 |
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| Preceded by | Herbert Greenfield |
| Succeeded by | Hugh Allen |
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In office 31 August 1921 – 1923 |
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| Preceded by | Charles R. Mitchell |
| Succeeded by | Herbert Greenfield |
| Alberta Minister of Lands and Mines | |
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In office 10 October 1930 – 10 July 1934 |
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| Preceded by | New position |
| Succeeded by | Hugh Allen |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
17 January 1879 Glasgow, Scotland |
| Died | 17 October 1980 (aged 101) Edmonton, Alberta, Canada |
| Resting place | Edmonton Cemetery |
| Political party | United Farmers of Alberta |
| Spouse(s) | Marion Stuart |
| Children | Three sons, two daughters |
| Profession | Farmer |
| Religion | Presbyterian |
| Signature |  |
Richard Gavin "Dick" Reid (17 January 1879 – 17 October 1980) was a Canadian politician who served as the sixth Premier of Alberta from 1934 to 1935. He was the last member of the United Farmers of Alberta (UFA) to hold the office, and that party's defeat at the hands of the upstart Social Credit League in the 1935 election made him the shortest serving premier to that point in Alberta's history.
Born near Glasgow, Reid worked a number of jobs as a young adult—including wholesaler, army medic (during the Second Boer War), farmhand, lumberjack, and dentist—and immigrated to Canada in 1903. He involved himself in local politics and joined the recently formed UFA, which nominated him to run in the 1921 provincial election as its candidate in Vermilion. The UFA won the election, and Reid served in several capacities in the cabinets of Premiers Herbert Greenfield and John Edward Brownlee, where he established a reputation for competence and fiscal conservatism. When a sex scandal forced Brownlee from office in 1934, Reid was the caucus' unanimous choice to succeed him as Premier.
When Reid took office, Alberta was experiencing the Great Depression. Reid took measures to ease Albertans' suffering, but believed that inducing a full economic recovery was beyond the capacity of the provincial government. In this climate, Alberta voters were attracted to the economic theories of evangelical preacher William Aberhart, who advocated a version of social credit. Despite Reid's claims that Aberhart's proposals were economically and constitutionally unfeasible, Social Credit routed the UFA in the 1935 election; Reid's party did not retain a single seat. Reid lived forty-five years after his defeat, but these years were spent in obscurity; he never returned to political life.
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