{{Short description|Canadian politician (1908–1961)}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Alexander Parent | image = | caption = | parliament = Ontario Provincial | term_start = June 4, 1945 | term_end = April 27, 1948 | predecessor = Arthur Nelson Alles | successor = Gordon Bennett Ellis | riding = Essex North | party = Liberal-Labour (1945),<br>Labour (1946-1948) | birth_date = 1908 | birth_place = | death_date = {{death date and age|1961|12|25|1908|1|1}} | death_place = Windsor, Ontario, Canada | spouse = | children = }} '''Alexander A. Parent''' was a Canadian politician who was Liberal-Labour MPP for Essex North from 1945 to 1948.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1945-06-04 |title=Alexander Parent {{!}} Legislative Assembly of Ontario |url=https://www.ola.org/en/members/all/alexander-a-parent |access-date=2023-09-24 |website=www.ola.org |language=en}}</ref>
Parent was president of United Auto Workers Local 195 in Windsor, Ontario in the 1940s,<ref>Ford Tension Subsides; Local 195 Waits Results Ford, Ken. The Globe and Mail (1936-); Toronto, Ont. [Toronto, Ont]. 06 May 1944: 3.</ref> and a supporter of the Communist Party of Canada, which at the time was known as the Labor-Progressive Party.<ref name="uaw"/> In the 1945 Ontario general election, Parent was nominated by the UAW-CIO as one of three Labour candidates in the election. Parent ran in Essex North, George Burt, the UAW's Canadian director, ran in Windsor-Walkerville and Windsor mayor Arthur Reaume ran in Windsor—Sandwich. All three were jointly nominated by the Communist Labor-Progressive Party and the Ontario Liberal Party and ran as Liberal-Labour candidates<ref>"Liberals Labor's Best Hope Hepburn Informs Windsor", Toronto Daily Star (1900-1971); Toronto, Ontario [Toronto, Ontario]. 24 Apr 1945: 3.</ref> and targeted ridings held by the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation.<ref>Labor in Politics: Both CCL and TLC Organist PAC's to Take Part in Coming Elections LEABY, DILLON O. The Globe and Mail (1936-); Toronto, Ont. [Toronto, Ont]. 01 May 1945: 5.</ref><ref name="uaw">{{cite web | url=http://www.caw.ca/whoweare/ourhistory/cawhistory/ch5/p2c5_5.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928145443/http://www.caw.ca/whoweare/ourhistory/cawhistory/ch5/p2c5_5.html | archive-date=2007-09-28 | title=Canadian Auto Workers History, Ch 5 Delivering the Goods }}</ref>
Parent was elected, and initially caucused with the Liberal Party but quit the Liberal caucus in January 1946, denouncing the Liberals as "reactionary", in order to sit as a "straight Labor representative", caucusing with Labor-Progressive MPPs J.B. Salsberg and A. A. MacLeod.<ref>"Parent Quits Liberal Party", Globe and Mail, 14 January 1946: 8</ref><ref>"Breaks With Liberals", Toronto Daily Star, 2 February 1946: 6</ref>
He remained president of Local 195 until March 1946 when he was defeated in his bid for re-election to the union office by Earl Watson by 2,200 votes to 1,600 votes.<ref>Auto Workers Elect Hew Slate, The Globe and Mail (1936-); Toronto, Ont. [Toronto, Ont]. 04 Mar 1946: 13.</ref>
Parent did not run in the 1948 Ontario general election, and his riding was re-taken by the CCF.<ref>Post Mortem: Public Resentment Against Rising Prices and Housing Shortages Aided CCF Cause, Parry, Ross.The Globe and Mail (1936-); Toronto, Ont. [Toronto, Ont]. 10 June 1948: 5.</ref><ref name="1948 Election Results">{{cite news |author=Canadian Press |title=How Ontario Electors Voted in all 90 Ridings |newspaper=The Toronto Daily Star |date=June 8, 1948 |location=Toronto |page=24}}</ref>
He died on December 25, 1961, at the age of 53.<ref>"Alex A. Parent", The Globe and Mail (1936-); Toronto, Ont. [Toronto, Ont]. 27 Dec 1961: 4.</ref>
== See also ==
== References == {{Reflist}}
== External links ==
* {{Ontario MPP biography|id=alexander-a-parent|name=Alexander A. Parent|old_id=1681}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Parent, Alexander}} Category:1908 births Category:1961 deaths Category:Liberal-Labour Ontario MPPs Category:Labor-Progressive Party of Ontario MPPs Category:Canadian communists Category:Trade unionists from Ontario Category:United Auto Workers people Category:20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario Category:People from Essex, Ontario Category:20th-century American trade unionists