Alexander "Alex" Gibbon "Gillion" "Gillan" Thorburn (December 18, 1836 – 1894) was a real-estate agent, merchant and former Canadian politician. He served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories from 1888 until 1891. Prior to that he was a school trustee.

Early life

Thorburn was born on December 18, 1836 in Edinburg

Edinburg

Edinburg may refer to a place in South Africa:* Edinburg, North West* Edinburg, MpumalangaEdinburg may refer to a place in the United States:* Edinburg, Illinois* Edinburg, Iowa* Edinburg, Maine* Edinburg, Mississippi* Edinburg, Missouri...

, Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

. His father was a Manufacturer. He left Scotland when he was 20 years old, arriving in Lower Canada

Lower Canada

The Province of Lower Canada was a British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence...

 in 1856. He married his wife Elizabeth at Galt

Cambridge, Ontario

Cambridge is a city located in Southern Ontario at the confluence of the Grand and Speed rivers in the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. It is an amalgamation of the City of Galt, the towns of Preston and Hespeler, and the hamlet of Blair.Galt covers the largest portion of...

, Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

 on July 1, 1863. After marriage he moved out to the Northwest Territories

Northwest Territories

The Northwest Territories is a federal territory of Canada.Located in northern Canada, the territory borders Canada's two other territories, Yukon to the west and Nunavut to the east, and three provinces: British Columbia to the southwest, and Alberta and Saskatchewan to the south...

 settling in the town of Broadview

Broadview, Saskatchewan

Broadview is a community in Saskatchewan along the #1 highway, the Trans Canada Highway, east of the provincial capital city of Regina. The local economy is based mainly on agriculture.-History:...

. He started his own general store and became a real-estate agent for the Canada North-West Land Company. His first involvement with politics was on the municipal level when he became a school trustee.

Political career

Thorburn was elected to the Northwest Territories Legislature in the first Northwest Territories general election

Northwest Territories general election, 1888

The Northwest Territories general election of 1888 was the first general election in the history of the Northwest Territories, Canada. Elections were held in various districts between 20 June and 30 June 1888...

 held in 1888. He won a hotly contested three-way race in the Whitewood

Whitewood (N.W.T. electoral district)

Whitewood, was a territorial electoral district in the Northwest Territories of Canada from 1887 to 1905. The district was created from the former district of Broadview, prior to the 1888 general election....

 electoral district. In that race he defeated second place Thomas Lyons by eight votes and third place candidate John Hawkes by 63 votes winning the electoral district with almost 39% of the popular vote.

During his time in office, land was needed for settlement and local infrastructure in his district. On April 16, 1891 Thorburn and a committee petitioned Minister of Interior Edgar Dewdney

Edgar Dewdney

Edgar Dewdney, PC was a Canadian politician born in Devonshire, England. He served as Lieutenant Governor of the North-West Territories and the fifth Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia.-Early life and career:...

 who was visiting the area. The petition called for the surrender of surrounding land that was being used by the Kahkewistahaw First Nation. The constituents of Whitewood wanted the land to be opened up for settlement and the development of a Canadian Pacific Railway

Canadian Pacific Railway

The Canadian Pacific Railway , formerly also known as CP Rail between 1968 and 1996, is a historic Canadian Class I railway founded in 1881 and now operated by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, which began operations as legal owner in a corporate restructuring in 2001...

 line. The petition was rejected by Dewdney.

Thorburn ran for a second term in office in the 1891 Northwest Territories general election

Northwest Territories general election, 1891

The Northwest Territories general election of 1891 was held on 7 November 1891 to elect twenty five members of the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories, Canada. It was the second general election in the Northwest Territories' history. The legislature gained three seats, and six new...

. Despite marginally increasing his popular vote, he was defeated by Daniel Campbell finishing second with 41.5% of the popular vote and 19 votes behind Campbell. He finished well ahead of John Hawkes in the race, whose popular vote collapsed from the last election.

He died in 1894 and was buried at Broadview Cemetery.