# Davie Fulton

Edmund Davie Fulton PC OC QC (March 10, 1916 – May 22, 2000) was a Canadian Rhodes Scholar, politician and judge. He was born in Kamloops, British Columbia, the son of politician/lawyer Frederick John Fulton and Winnifred M. Davie, daughter of A. E. B. Davie. He was the youngest of 4 children.

## Military career

Davie Fulton served in the Second World War with the Canadian Army overseas as Platoon and Company Commander with Seaforth Highlanders of Canada, and as Deputy Assistant Adjutant-General with the 1st Canadian Infantry Division in the Italian and Northwestern Europe campaigns. His brother John "Moose" Fulton distinguished himself in the Royal Canadian Air Force during World War II. He went missing in action in late 1942, and in 1943 Kamloops adopted the Moose Squadron in honour of its commander. In 1944 the Kamloops airport was dedicated as Fulton Field.

## Political career

He was brought home from the war by the Conservative Party and won a seat by 100 votes in the House of Commons of Canada in the 1945 general election.
In 1949, he introduced legislation to criminalize the publication, distribution, and sale of crime comics, as the result of a murder by two Yukon teens that was blamed on the influence of the crime comics which the perpetrators had read.
He ran for the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada at the 1956 leadership convention, placing third behind John Diefenbaker.
When Diefenbaker led the party to victory in the 1957 election, he appointed Fulton to Cabinet as Minister of Justice. As Minister, Fulton was involved in negotiations to patriate the Canadian Constitution, and developed the "Fulton–Favreau formula". In 1962, he became Minister of Public Works. His cousin, Albert McPhillips, was Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Fisheries around this time.
He resigned from Cabinet in 1963, when he decided to leave federal politics and take the leadership of the British Columbia Progressive Conservative Party. His efforts to revive the provincial Tories in BC were a failure, and he returned to the House of Commons in the 1965 election.
Fulton stood as a candidate at the 1967 federal PC leadership convention, and placed third behind Robert Stanfield and Dufferin Roblin.
After losing his seat in the 1968 election, he retired from politics and returned to the law. In 1973, he became a justice on the British Columbia Supreme Court, and served until 1981, resigning as a result of impaired driving conviction.

## Resigning from the B.C. Supreme Court

Fulton tenure ended in 1982 with his resignation to then Prime Minister, Jean Chretien. Issue relating to charges of drunk driving, as well as stress resulting from false allegation of his engaging in prostitution, known as the Wendy King Case caused him to resign. The ghost writer and publisher of The Wendy King Story, apologized in court, "saying it was a case of mistaken identity." King also admitted the same in court,
   This libel action has its origin in the fact that I sincerely believed that the plaintiff, Justice E. Davie Fulton, was on one occasion a client of mine in my professional capacity as a prostitute,' King's statement read.
   As a result of evidence recently disclosed to me, I now realize that I was in error in believing that I had ever met Justice Fulton or that I had associated with him in any way.
Fulton stated that stress from these false allegation had caused his drinking,
   Because of the strain and emotional turmoil of this libel action, my problem with alcohol has come back in concentrated form.
In February 1979, as a result drinking and driving incident and an automobile accident, Fulton had his license suspended. During the stop, Fulton "admitted he had used 'intemperate language'," telling the police to "Go to hell." He was involved in a hit-and-run incident, also in February 1979, where the "owner of the vehicle involved told police he had followed the hit-and-run car...to the judge's house." In March 1979, Fulton pled guilty to drinking and driving charges.
The 1981 drinking-and-driving incident was a second offence; he received a $700 fine and a mandatory 14 days in jail. He was also disbarred from the B.C. Law Society.

## Later life

From 1986 to 1992, Fulton served as a commissioner on the International Joint Commission. In 1992, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.
He died in Vancouver on May 22, 2000.

## Election results

vte1945 Canadian federal election: Kamloops :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Progressive Conservative | Davie Fulton | 4,401 | 33.09 | +1.19 |
| | Liberal | Thomas James O'Neill | 4,229 | 31.80 | -9.99 |
| | Co-operative Commonwealth | Francis James McKenzie | 4,003 | 30.10 | +3.79 |
| | Labor–Progressive | John Henry Codd | 666 | 5.01 | – |
| Total valid votes | Total valid votes | Total valid votes | 13,299 | 100.0 |
| | Progressive Conservative gain from Liberal | Progressive Conservative gain from Liberal | Swing | Swing | +5.59 |
vte1949 Canadian federal election: Kamloops :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Progressive Conservative | Davie Fulton | 7,682 | 40.07 | +6.98 |
| | Liberal | Thomas James O'Neill | 6,399 | 33.38 | +1.58 |
| | Co-operative Commonwealth | George Victor Larson | 5,091 | 26.55 | -3.55 |
| Total valid votes | Total valid votes | Total valid votes | 19,172 | 100.0 |
| | Progressive Conservative hold | Progressive Conservative hold | Swing | Swing | +2.70 |
vte1953 Canadian federal election: Kamloops :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Progressive Conservative | Davie Fulton | 7,578 | 46.69 | +5.92 |
| | Social Credit | Clarence Aubrey Wright | 3,780 | 23.29 | – |
| | Liberal | Kenneth Durward Houghton | 2,731 | 16.83 | -16.55 |
| | Co-operative Commonwealth | Austin Kenneth Greenway | 2,140 | 13.19 | -13.36 |
| Total valid votes | Total valid votes | Total valid votes | 16,229 | 100.0 |
| | Progressive Conservative hold | Progressive Conservative hold | Swing | Swing | -8.68 |
vte1957 Canadian federal election: Kamloops :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Progressive Conservative | Davie Fulton | 10,029 | 47.24 | +0.55 |
| | Social Credit | Walter James Smith | 5,858 | 27.59 | +4.30 |
| | Liberal | Arnold McIntyre Affleck | 3,383 | 15.94 | -0.89 |
| | Co-operative Commonwealth | Austin Kenneth Greenway | 1,959 | 9.23 | -3.96 |
| Total valid votes | Total valid votes | Total valid votes | 21,229 | 100.0 |
| | Progressive Conservative hold | Progressive Conservative hold | Swing | Swing | -1.88 |
vte1958 Canadian federal election: Kamloops :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Progressive Conservative | Davie Fulton | 13,858 | 63.83 | +16.59 |
| | Liberal | Arnold McIntyre Affleck | 2,868 | 13.21 | -2.73 |
| | Co-operative Commonwealth | Austin Kenneth Greenway | 2,777 | 12.79 | +3.56 |
| | Social Credit | Earl Victor Roy Merrick | 2,390 | 11.01 | -16.58 |
| Total valid votes | Total valid votes | Total valid votes | 21,893 | 100.0 |
| | Progressive Conservative hold | Progressive Conservative hold | Swing | Swing | +9.66 |
vte1962 Canadian federal election: Kamloops :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Progressive Conservative | Davie Fulton | 11,312 | 43.13 | -20.70 |
| | Liberal | Jarl Whist | 5,789 | 22.07 | +8.86 |
| | New Democratic | Walter D. Inglis | 4,733 | 18.05 | +5.26 |
| | Social Credit | Clarence Aubrey Wright | 4,393 | 16.75 | +5.74 |
| Total valid votes | Total valid votes | Total valid votes | 26,227 | 100.0 |
| | Progressive Conservative hold | Progressive Conservative hold | Swing | Swing | -14.78 |
| Change for the New Democrats is based on the Co-operative Commonwealth. |||||||
vte1963 British Columbia general election: Kamloops :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Social Credit | Philip Arthur Gaglardi | 5,669 | 47.17% |
| | Progressive Conservative | Edmund Davie Fulton | 4,473 | 37.22% |
| | New Democratic | Lance Randle | 1,297 | 10.79% |
| | Liberal | Henry Maxwell Smith | 580 | 4.83% |
| Total valid votes | Total valid votes | Total valid votes | 12,019 | 100.00% |
| Total rejected ballots | Total rejected ballots | Total rejected ballots | 71 |
vte1965 Canadian federal election: Kamloops :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Progressive Conservative | Davie Fulton | 11,731 | 37.39 | +7.94 |
| | New Democratic | Vernor Wilfred Jones | 7,132 | 22.73 | -0.75 |
| | Liberal | Albert John Edward Chilton | 6,757 | 21.54 | -7.07 |
| | Social Credit | Thomas Daly Sills | 5,756 | 18.35 | -0.11 |
| Total valid votes | Total valid votes | Total valid votes | 31,376 | 100.0 |
| | Progressive Conservative hold | Progressive Conservative hold | Swing | Swing | +4.34 |
vte1968 Canadian federal election: Kamloops—Cariboo :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Liberal | Leonard Stephen Marchand | 13,000 | 40.48 |
| | Progressive Conservative | Edmund Davie Fulton | 9,704 | 30.22 |
| | New Democratic | Vernor Wilfred Jones | 7,566 | 23.56 |
| | Social Credit | Peter Robert Gook | 1,842 | 5.74 |
| Total valid votes | Total valid votes | Total valid votes | 32,112 | 100.0 |
| This riding was created from Cariboo and Kamloops, which elected a Social Credit and a Progressive Conservative, respectively, in the last election. Davie Fulton was the incumbent from Kamloops. |||||||

## Archives

There is a Davie Fulton fonds at Library and Archives Canada.