Royal Maitland

Who was Royal Maitland?

Royal Lethington Maitland was a British Columbia politician. He was first elected to the British Columbia legislature as the Conservative MLA for Vancouver City in the 1928 general election. The government of Simon Fraser Tolmie had collapsed into rival factions by the 1933 provincial election and Maitland did not stand for re-election.

He returned to office in the 1937 general election and became Leader of the Opposition following the death of Frank Porter Patterson in 1938. He was charged with rebuilding the moribund British Columbia Conservative Party which had split into two and collapsed in 1933 under the leadership of Premier Simon Fraser Tolmie. A prominent criminal lawyer and law professor, Maitland was elected in 1937 from the riding of Vancouver-Point Grey and became . In the 1941 provincial election he led the Tories to a strong finish with 30.91% of the vote and 12 seats, though with the CCF doubling its seats the party was consigned to third place. The Liberal government of Thomas Dufferin Pattullo was reduced to a minority government and though it won the greatest number of seats actually received fewer votes than the CCF. The Liberal Party pressured Pattullo to form a coalition government with the Tories in order to forestall the government's collapse and a possible CCF victory. Pattullo refused and was replaced as Liberal leader by John Hart who was willing to form a coalition. Maitland's Tories joined the government obtaining three seats in Cabinet to the Liberals' five with Maitland becoming Deputy Premier and Attorney General of British Columbia. Maitland's Tories contested the 1945 provincial election jointly with the Liberals and were re-elected. Maitland died suddenly the next year.