Hamilton, Alvin, 1912-2004 : Francis Alvin George Hamilton was born 30 March 1912 in Kenora, Ontario and moved to Saskatchewan in 1927. In 1931, he obtained a teaching certificate from the Normal School in Saskatoon and became a teacher. He attended the University of Saskatchewan, graduating in 1938 with a B.A. in history and economics and a Certificate in education. Hamilton then returned to teaching and worked as an organizer for the Conservative party.
In 1941, Hamilton entered the RCAF. He served as an instructor in Canada until 1944, when he was posted overseas as a navigator with a Transport squadron. He eventually served in both the Mediterranean and Burma Theatres, prior to his return to Canada in 1945, to run as the Progressive Conservative candidate in the federal riding of Rosetown-Biggar.
Although unsuccessful in unseating M.J. Coldwell, the incumbent, Hamilton's political ambitions were not quashed. He was a contestant for the riding of Rosetown in the provincial election of 1948, and in the same year he resigned his job as a teacher in order to take over a full-time position as the provincial director of organization for the Progressive Conservative party. In the federal election of 1949, Hamilton once more unsuccessfully contested the federal riding of Rosetown-Biggar, but later that year became the leader of the Saskatchewan Progressive Conservative party, an office that he held until 1957. He was defeated in a second attempt to gain a seat in the Saskatchewan legislature in 1952 for the riding of Lumsden, and in 1953 Hamilton first attempted to gain the federal riding of Qu'Appelle, but was unsuccessful. He ran provincially once more, in 1956 for the riding of Saskatoon, but was defeated.
Finally, in the general election of 1957, Hamilton won the federal riding of Qu'Appelle. He was re-elected for this constituency in 1958, 1962, 1963, and 1965. Following a re-distribution of ridings, he was defeated in a bid for the federal riding of Regina East in 1968, but returned to Parliament in 1972 for Qu'Appelle-Moose Mountain, being re-eleced for that riding in 1974, 1979, 1980 and 1984. Hamilton did not contest the 1988 election.
Upon being elected in 1957, Hamilton was named Minister of Northern Affairs and Natural Resources, a portfolio that he held until 1960, when he was shuffled to Agriculture. Following the defeat of the Progressive Conservative government in 1963, he became an influential member of the Conservative Party's shadow cabinet and later contested the party's leadership in 1967. In 1992, at the request of Brian Mulroney, Hamilton was granted the title of Right Honourable.
As a result of his connections with international trade, begun while arranging grain sales to China as Minister of Agriculture, Hamilton later developed private business interests in this area. He was a partner in Baker Trading Co., 1972-1979, and Chairman of Resources and Industries Associates, an international trading company, from 1975. Hamilton also served as a director of CJOH-TV in Ottawa.
Francis Alvin George Hamilton died in 2004.
