Anton Bernard Weselak was a Liberal party

Liberal Party of Canada

The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...

 member of the Canadian House of Commons

Canadian House of Commons

The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...

. He was born in Beausejour, Manitoba

Beausejour, Manitoba

Beausejour is a town of 2,772 inhabitants in the Canadian province of Manitoba located in the Rural Municipality of Brokenhead. It is located 46 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg just west of the Canadian Shield and Whiteshell Provincial Park...

 and became a lawyer after studies at the Manitoba Law School

University of Manitoba

The University of Manitoba , in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, is the largest university in the province of Manitoba. It is Manitoba's most comprehensive and only research-intensive post-secondary educational institution. It was founded in 1877, making it Western Canada’s first university. It placed...

.

Weselak began a legal practice in Beausejour after his Call to the Bar

Call to the bar

The Call to the Bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party, and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received a "call to the bar"...

 in 1948. He was first elected to Parliament at the Springfield

Springfield (electoral district)

Springfield was a federal electoral district in Manitoba, Canada, that was represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1917 to 1968.This riding was created in 1914 from parts of Selkirk riding....

 riding in the 1953 general election

Canadian federal election, 1953

The Canadian federal election of 1953 was held on August 10 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 22nd Parliament of Canada. Prime Minister Louis St...

. After serving only one term, the 22nd Canadian Parliament

22nd Canadian Parliament

The 22nd Canadian Parliament was in session from November 12, 1953 until April 12, 1957. The membership was set by the 1953 federal election on August 10, 1953, and it changed only somewhat due to resignations and by-elections until it was dissolved prior to the 1957 election.It was controlled by...

, he was defeated by Jake Schulz of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation

Co-operative Commonwealth Federation

The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation was a Canadian political party founded in 1932 in Calgary, Alberta, by a number of socialist, farm, co-operative and labour groups, and the League for Social Reconstruction...

 in the 1957 election

Canadian federal election, 1957

The Canadian federal election of 1957 was held June 10, 1957, to select the 265 members of the House of Commons of Canada. In one of the great upsets in Canadian political history, the Progressive Conservative Party , led by John Diefenbaker, brought an end to 22 years of Liberal rule, as the...

. Weselak made a further attempt to win back the seat in the 1958 election

Canadian federal election, 1958

The Canadian federal election of 1958 was the 24th general election in Canada's history. It was held to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 24th Parliament of Canada on March 31, 1958, just nine months after the 23rd election...

 but lost to Val Yacula

Val Yacula

Val Yacula was a Canadian politician. He represented the electoral district of Springfield in the Canadian House of Commons as a member of the Progressive Conservatives....

 who unseated Schulz. When Yacula died shortly after that victory, Weselak was again unsuccessful in a December 1958 by-election campaign.

During the 1956 Suez Crisis

Suez Crisis

The Suez Crisis, also referred to as the Tripartite Aggression, Suez War was an offensive war fought by France, the United Kingdom, and Israel against Egypt beginning on 29 October 1956. Less than a day after Israel invaded Egypt, Britain and France issued a joint ultimatum to Egypt and Israel,...

, Weselak was part of Lester B. Pearson

Lester B. Pearson

Lester Bowles "Mike" Pearson, PC, OM, CC, OBE was a Canadian professor, historian, civil servant, statesman, diplomat, and politician, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1957 for organizing the United Nations Emergency Force to resolve the Suez Canal Crisis...

's delegation to the United Nations. Pearson was then External Affairs minister under the Louis St. Laurent

Louis St. Laurent

Louis Stephen St. Laurent, PC, CC, QC , was the 12th Prime Minister of Canada from 15 November 1948, to 21 June 1957....

 government, and his efforts led to the formation of United Nations peacekeeping force which defused a full-scale Middle Eastern war.

In the years before his retirement in 1985, Weselak was a Toronto-based immigration appeal court judge. He died on 17 January 1989 and his funeral was in Trenton, Ontario

Trenton, Ontario

Trenton is a community in Southern Ontario in the municipality of Quinte West, Ontario, Canada. Located on the Bay of Quinte, it is the main population centre in Quinte West....

.

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