Albert Préfontaine (October 11, 1861[1] – February 21, 1935[2]) was a politician inManitoba, Canada. He served as leader of theManitoba Conservatives in the late 1910s, and was subsequently a member of theUnited Farmers of Manitoba.
Born inUpton,Canada East (nowQuebec), the son of Firmin Prefontaine and Mathilde (Mathilda) Desautels, Préfontaine was educated inGreenfield, Massachusetts. He subsequently moved to Manitoba in 1880, where he worked as a farmer and store manager and served as Reeve of the Municipality ofDe Salaberry from 1892 to 1896. In 1888, he married Albina L'Heureux. Préfontaine was president of the Carillon Agricultural Society, of the Carey Elevator Company and of the St. Pierre Trading Company.[3]
Préfontaine was first elected to the provincial parliament in 1903, running forRodmond Roblin's governing Conservatives in the francophone riding ofCarillon. He was re-elected in 1907 and 1910.[1]
In 1914, Préfontaine lost his seat toLiberalThomas Molloy[1] by seven votes. He was re-elected the following year,[1] despite the disastrous showing of the Conservatives in the rest of the province. His victory may be credited to the fact that the provincial Conservatives were seen as more supportive of francophone rights than wereTobias Norris's Liberals (indeed, Norris' government withdrew state funding for French-language education soon after the election).[4]
Conservative leaderJames Aikins lost his seat in the1915 election, and Préfontaine was chosen to lead the small opposition caucus in parliament[3] (he was sworn in asleader of the opposition in January 1916). He declined to be a candidate in the party's leadership convention, held on November 6, 1919.
Although it had been in government from 1900 to 1915, the Conservative Party of Manitoba was marginalized by developments in the later half of the 1910s. Increasingly radicalized farmer and labour groups were forming political organizations of their own, and the old divisions between Grit and Tory no longer seemed as relevant. The Conservatives again fared poorly in theelection of 1920, and Préfontaine was personally defeated byFarmer candidateMaurice Duprey.[1]
After this loss, Préfontaine detached himself from the Conservative Party. He ran as an Independent in thefederal election of 1921, losing toProgressive candidateArthur-Lucien Beaubien in theProvencher riding,[5] and subsequently left the Conservatives to join theUnited Farmers of Manitoba. Running as a UFM candidate, he was re-elected forCarillon in1922.[1]
On December 3, 1923, PremierJohn Bracken appointed Préfontaine to the high-level cabinet positions ofProvincial Secretary,Provincial Lands Commissioner andRailway Commissioner. Préfontaine also becameMinister of Agriculture in 1925.[1] Inthe 1927 election, he defeated his old nemesis Thomas Molloy by a landslide.
Préfontaine stood down asProvincial Secretary, Provincial Lands Commissioner andMinister of Agriculture in 1928, though he retained the Railway Commissioner's position until 1932. He was re-elected inthat year's general election, and continued to serve the Franco-Manitoban community as aMinister without Portfolio until his death in 1935.[1]
Préfontaine's career reveals the continued importance of the francophone community to Manitoba politics, even after immigration from Ontario and Eastern Europe had significantly reduced their relative strength. His decision to join the UFM was indicative of a larger cultural change, as Franco-Manitobans became an important part of theProgressive Party of Manitoba during its long period in government.
His sonEdmond also served in the Manitoba assembly.[2]
The resort community of Albert Beach, Manitoba (French: "Plage Albert") was named after him.[6]