The George and Dina Oxford of the Oxford Credit Union. Dina being elected as the first ever female councilor.
The Cornwall Council elections in 1929 were the third ever elections to the Cornwall Council during the onset of the great depression. The first two elections to the Cornwall Council resulted in a Cornish Progressive Party victory and Craig Baxter becoming the Mayor of Cornwall. The economy of town being heavily interdependent, felt the effects of the depression as other towns and settlements in nearby areas also started to falter. Unemployment in Cornwall was up to 7.4% at the day of the election, and increasing. The Progressive Party had failed to take many ideological positions in the first term and only a few in the second, the ineffective leadership and scandal in the Cornwall corruption scandal of 1927 with the coup d'eat occurring since Mayor Baxter tried asserting himself as Council President.
Conservatives logo using "Caring about you" ever since 1929
The Conservatives were able to become the majority with a one seat gain in the elections by winning District Northwest. During this election the Conservatives adopted the famous slogan for the Party, "Caring about you". The Progressives lost two seats, one to the Conservatives and another one to the Moderate Party since they were able to pick up one seat from party list proportional representation.
While in power the Conservatives cut the Council's spending and taxes which while picked up by the private sector mostly. The Conservatives passed the rules and regulations for referendums within the settlement limits, that a referendum would be used for any issue which seemed to need the consent of the people, in addition 30 days time minimum would be given for voters to decide and then vote. A minimum of 50% of the franchise would need to turn out to vote and then at least 50% of that electorate would need to approve it for it to become law. The Conservatives passed the first ever referendum in Cornwall's history the Cornwall naming referendum, 1929 where voters decided to drop the "New" in "New Cornwall", replacing old signs and just having the settlement's name as Cornwall. It was passed for economic reasons to create new signs through some form of minute stimulus, and cultural reasons. In January of 1930 unemployment was 6.9% before it skyrocketed up towards 30%. In 1932 it dropped back down to 26%, as some of the population had left Corwall. In 1933 poverty in the settlement reached 45% with no social welfare and no economic management. The Conservatives tried cutting taxes more trying to create better economic conditions, the Income tax rate was set to 1.5%, which was only imposed on the richest of citizens, and 0.6% property tax. The unpopular government led to the Progressives and Moderates forming a coalition in the Cornwall Council elections, 1934.
District Elections[]
Conservatives won a majority by picking up one district and one proportional representation seat.
The Conservatives were able to focus more on the district elections and specifically in the Northwest as they were able to then form a majority in the Council. The Progressives lost many votes from close elections in safe seats and then the Conservatives being able to run up the vote in their safe districts. The Moderate Party set a new record in district votes by beating their 16% in the prior elections.
Results[]
| Parties | Votes | % | Seats | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conservatives | 112 | 46% | 2 | |
| Cornish Progressive Party | 87 | 36% | 2 | |
| Moderate Party | 41 | 17% | 0 | |
| Independents | 1 | >0% | 0 | |
| Total | 241 | 100% | ||
District Northwest[]
The Conservatives first used "Caring about you" in 1929 early on in this race. With pamphlets printed stating the policies of the Progressives in a negative light, along with a first ever radio ad in Cornish politics aired two days before the elections. Local shop owner Nicholas Gwavas was able to win the seat away from Incumbent for nine years Jason Scawen. This was the only District wide seat to change party affiliation in these elections as a recount was preformed twice, during the second time an extra vote found for Gwavas. Moderate Party candidate Peter Wright didn't actually campaign much due to being sick with the flu for the final 15 days of the election.
| Candidates | Votes | % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nicholas Gwavas | 26 | 45% | ||
| Jason Scawen | 23 | 40% | ||
| Peter Wright | 9 | 15% | ||
| Total | 58 | 100% | ||
District Northeast[]
Mayor Craig Baxter decided to leave on his own terms and decided not to run for a third term as a Councilor, Party leader, or Mayor. To take over as interim leader was founder of the successful Oxford Credit Union, George Oxford. George had good name recognition and as Progressives were losing, George was able to win easily. The Moderate Party was able to sweep into second place as they were able better court the fisherman's vote. This was the third and final time that Ben Reginald ran for office, each time losing for the Moderates.
| Candidates | Votes | % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| George Oxford | 29 | 49% | ||
| Ben Reginald | 19 | 32% | ||
| Alex Derricks | 11 | 19% | ||
| Total | 59 | 100% | ||
District Southwest[]
The typically conservative district in the Southwest was helped with a surge for conservatism in this election due to the swing in support. Jamie Wintz would be re-elected in his final term with 83% of the vote. Ryan Younger, the Cornish Progressive Party candidate, received five of the sixty votes finishing in second place and never ran for public office again. Moderate Party candidate Frank Davies and Independent candidate Victor Hammett would become known for becoming "perennial candidates" each making their first run in this election, and running and losing until 1959. Victor Hammett was a loud voice for "general communism" supporting all forms of syndicalism and marxism, with his banner of "Full Communism now!". He famously received one vote in these elections, from his wife.
| Candidates | Votes | % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jamie Wintz | 50 | 83% | ||
| Ryan Younger | 5 | 8% | ||
| Frank Davies | 4 | 7% | ||
| Victor Hammett | 1 | 2% | ||
| Total | 60 | 100% | ||
District Southeast[]
It was reported that George Oswald only held one campaign speech during this election. It was thought to be only about 14 minutes long and was about such topics like beer, pubs, the best bait, and trade. Eric Gregs apparently campaigned very hard printing over 200 pamphlets in the final two weeks, the large spending did not pay off. Moderate Party candidate Peter Gwinnel was apparently away during the campaign time mostly because he was on a shipping expedition to California and British Columbia.
| Candidates | Votes | % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| George Oswald | 30 | 47% | ||
| Eric Gregs | 25 | 39% | ||
| Peter Gwinnel | 9 | 14% | ||
| Total | 64 | 100% | ||
Council Presidency[]
George Thomas was elected in a special by-election in 1927 due to a political scandal involving former Mayor of Cornwall, Craig Baxter. George Thomas was able to become a voice for community cooperation and political transparency. In addition he was backed by unions and fishermen alike. His main challenger was Jamie Roche, who unsuccessfully ran for the Southeast District council seat in 1925. He received several endorsements from businessmen. The Moderate Party ran a campaign geared towards putting the thoughts of the voters towards a well oiled, scandal free candidate. Fisherman Nick Kolas did run a successful campaign for the Party since he received about 20% of the vote, the highest for the Party in these elections, the result led to the highest support in district elections and two seats in proportional representation. Overall, George Thomas won the election beating out his Conservative and Moderate Party rivals.
| Candidates | Votes | % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| George Thomas | 119 | 49% | ||
| Jamie Roche | 71 | 30% | ||
| Nick Kolas | 49 | 21% | ||
| Total | 239 | 100% | ||
Proportional Representation[]
The Proportional Representation vote had been the only source for representation for the Moderate Party for the first two elections, and that didn't change in these elections. This time with a strong city wide Council President candidate along with wife of George Oxford, Dina Oxford running as the first female candidate but second on the list, many people voted for the Moderates simply out of wanting to get Dina Oxford into office.
The Moderate Party picked up a record second councilor, as the Conservatives also picked up a councilor from proportional representation, and along with the two other district councilors they had a majority of eight seats on the Cornwall Council. The Progressives only got two proportional representation seats and finished second place overall with five seats.
| Parties | Votes | % | Seats | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conservatives | 141 | 59% | 6 | |
| Cornish Progressive Party | 58 | 24% | 2 | |
| Moderate Party | 41 | 17% | 2 | |
| Total | 240 | 100% | ||