July 8, 1905: Aldermen nearly come to blows over providing daytime power
Two merchants asking city council to provide electrical power not only during the night but during the daytime too brought two aldermen close to blows.
John Alexander McDougall and Richard Secord wanted continuous power to run two electric elevators they planned to install — one in their McDougall & Secord general store, and the other in the Empire block.
Ald. Daniel Fraser did not think the city was in a position to provide continuous power when the electricity it was currently providing wasn’t profitable.
Ald. Kenneth McLeod said the only business benefiting from the daytime power was the Edmonton Printing Company.
Ald. Charles May figured there were enough lights in the daytime to pay half the costs of powering them with electricity. No firm would put in machinery until there was a definite date fixed for continual power to be supplied, he added.
McLeod charged that running power for only one firm was not a business proposition and that the printing company had packed the council meeting and had persuaded May to vote for their cause.
“It’s a lie!” May retorted, demanding to know where McLeod had obtained that false information.
McLeod retorted: “You’re a liar!” with equal menace and “stepped back as if to peel off his coat,” the story said.
At that point, Mayor Kenneth MacKenzie intervened and called the meeting to order, and the aldermen both said they would settle the matter after the meeting, then lapsed into silence.
Ald. Thomas Bellamy observed that the Electric Incline Railway had ordered their machinery and it would in a short time be necessary to put on full power to meet their requirements.
Ald. Joseph Henri Picard said he thought the business would pay in a short time, prompting McLeod to ask him if he believed in running a business that would not pay for a year or two?
Ald. John Boyle said the request of McDougall and Secord was evidence of the development of daytime power as a paying business.
Council then approved a motion that McDougall and Secord be notified that the city would start providing 24-hour power service on and after Nov. 1.
Council members also approved discontinuing daytime power until Nov. 1.
Spectators in the full gallery said they found the session more entertaining than a circus street parade.
McDougall & Secord Ltd., which started in 1879, exists in Edmonton to this day — believed to be the oldest surviving company in Alberta. It’s now a real estate firm.
Its precursors — McDougall’s General Store and Secord’s Fur Store and Warehouse — are reproduced on 1885 Street in Fort Edmonton Park.