David Alexander "Dave" Stoddart (September 6, 1857 – October 12, 1942) was a businessman and political figure in British Columbia

British Columbia

British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

. He represented Lillooet

Lillooet (electoral district)

The Lillooet electoral district was a riding in the Canadian province of British Columbia, centred on the town of the same name and with various boundaries...

 from 1890 to 1894, Lillooet East

Lillooet East (electoral district)

Lillooet East was a provincial electoral district in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It was created from the division of the former two-member Lillooet into Lillooet East and Lillooet West, and appeared only in the 1894, 1898, and 1900 elections...

 from 1895 to 1900 and Cariboo

Cariboo (provincial electoral district)

Cariboo was one of the twelve original electoral districts created when British Columbia became a Canadian province in 1871. Roughly corresponding to the old colonial electoral administrative district of the same name, it was a three-member riding until the 1894 election, when it was reduced...

 from 1924 to 1928 in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia

Legislative Assembly of British Columbia

The Legislative Assembly of British Columbia is one of two components of the Parliament of British Columbia, the provincial parliament ....

.

He was born in Owen Sound, Ontario

Owen Sound, Ontario

Owen Sound , the county seat of Grey County, is a city in Southern Ontario, Canada...

, the son of Robert Stoddart, a native of 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...

. He lived in Clinton

Clinton, British Columbia

Clinton is a village in British Columbia, Canada, located approximately 40 km northwest of Cache Creek and 30 km south of 70 Mile House.It is considered by some to straddle the southern edge of the Cariboo country of British Columbia, although others consider Ashcroft-Cache Creek, Lillooet, Savona,...

. Stoddart came to the Cariboo

Cariboo

The Cariboo is an intermontane region of British Columbia along a plateau stretching from the Fraser Canyon to the Cariboo Mountains. The name is a reference to the woodland caribou that were once abundant in the region...

 region in 1882 during the construction of the 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...

. He ran a store in Clinton and also later for a time operated the 83 Mile House, first built as a stagecoach stop on the Cariboo Road

Cariboo Road

The Cariboo Road was a project initiated in 1860 by the colonial Governor of British Columbia, James Douglas...

. He ran unsuccessfully as a Liberal

British Columbia Liberal Party

The British Columbia Liberal Party is the governing political party in British Columbia, Canada. First elected for government in 1916, the party went into decline after 1952, with its rump caucus merging with the Social Credit Party for the 1975 election...

 against Archibald McDonald

Archibald McDonald (Canadian politician)

Archibald McDonald was a general merchant and political figure in British Columbia. He represented Lillooet in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia from 1903 to 1907 and from 1909 to 1924 as a Conservative....

 in a 1904 by-election held in Lillooet. Stoddart was elected to the assembly in 1924 for Cariboo as a member of the Provincial Party

Provincial Party of British Columbia

The Provincial Party of British Columbia was a political party in British Columbia, Canada.It was formed by a group of British Columbia Conservative Party dissidents known as the "Committee of 100", led and funded by the wealthy General Alexander McRae and political elements from the United...

; he was defeated when he ran for reelection in 1928 as an independent. He died in Vancouver

Vancouver

Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...

at the age of 85.