Huntly Ketchen
Encyclopedia
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
soldier and politician. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba
Legislative Assembly of Manitoba
The Legislative Assembly of Manitoba and the lieutenant governor form the Legislature of Manitoba, the legislature of the Canadian province of Manitoba. Fifty-seven members are elected to this assembly in provincial general elections, all in single-member constituencies with first-past-the-post...
as a Conservative
Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba
The Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba is the only right wing political party in Manitoba, Canada. It is also the official opposition party in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba.-Origins and early years:...
representative from 1932 to 1945.
Ketchen was born to a Scottish
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...
family living in Sholopore, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. His father, Major James Ketchen, served in the Indian Army
Indian Army
The Indian Army is the land based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. With about 1,100,000 soldiers in active service and about 1,150,000 reserve troops, the Indian Army is the world's largest standing volunteer army...
. The younger Ketchen was educated at Wellington College and Royal Military College, Sandhurst, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, and came to Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
in 1894.
Ketchen saw active service in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, commanding the Sixth Canadian Infantry Brigade in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
from 1915 to 1918. He reached the rank of Major-General in the Canadian Army, and retired on pension in 1929. From 1920 to 1923, Ketchen served as president of the Canadian Legion in Manitoba. He was also president of the South Winnipeg Conservative Association.
He was first elected to the Manitoba legislature in the 1932 provincial election
Manitoba general election, 1932
Manitoba's general election of June 16, 1932 was held to elect Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Manitoba, Canada.This was the second election in Manitoba where the single transferable ballot was used in all electoral divisions...
for the constituency of Winnipeg, which elected ten members by a single transferable ballot. Ketchen finished seventh on the first ballot, and was declared elected. Running for re-election in the 1936 election
Manitoba general election, 1936
Manitoba's general election of July 27, 1936 was held to elect Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Manitoba, Canada.The was the second election in Manitoba after the formation of a Liberal-Progressive alliance in 1932...
, he finished eighth on the first ballot and was declared elected on the sixteenth count.
The Conservative Party was the primary opposition party in Manitoba during this period, and Ketchen sat with his party caucus on the opposition benches.
In 1940, the Conservative Party joined with the Liberal-Progressive Party
Manitoba Liberal Party
The Manitoba Liberal Party is a political party in Manitoba, Canada. Its roots can be traced to the late nineteenth-century, following the province's creation in 1870.-Origins and early development :...
and other parties in a coalition government
Coalition government
A coalition government is a cabinet of a parliamentary government in which several political parties cooperate. The usual reason given for this arrangement is that no party on its own can achieve a majority in the parliament...
. Ketchen initially sat as a government backbencher, but soon became disillusioned with the coalition arrangement. In the 1941 provincial election
Manitoba general election, 1941
Manitoba's general election of April 22, 1941 was held to elect Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Manitoba, Canada.This election was held shortly after the formation of a coalition government in December 1940...
, he ran as a dissident Conservative opposing the coalition. He finished sixth on the first count, and was again declared elected on the sixteenth.
The coalition supporters won 50 of 55 seats in the legislature in the 1941 election. Ketchen appears to have served as Leader of the Opposition
Leader of the Opposition (Manitoba)
A list of parliamentary opposition leaders in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba, Canada, from 1870 to the present.William Alexander Macdonald was the first officially recognized Leader of the Opposition in Manitoba although Rodmond Roblin is considered to have been the de facto opposition leader...
in the legislature from 1941 to 1943.
The Conservative Party remained a part of the coalition throughout the 1940s. Ketchen did not run for re-election in 1945.