page_title: Herbert Greenfield
section_title: Early political career
hierarchical_section_title: Herbert Greenfield / Early political career
caption_attribution_description: English: The Board of Directors of the United Farmers of Alberta. Back row: A. Rafin, Henry E. Spencer, H. Higginbotham, G.D. Sloane, George F. Root, Joseph Stauffer. Middle row: G.A. Forster, Charles H. Harries, George G. Haser, Lawrence Peterson, F.W. Smith, Herbert Greenfield, W.F. Bredin. Front row: Perrin Baker, Mrs. J.F. Ross, Mrs. Paul Carr, Henry Wise Wood, Irene Parlby, W.D. Trego, Rice Sheppard.
context_page_description: Herbert W. Greenfield was a Canadian politician who served as the fourth Premier of Alberta from 1921 until 1925. Born in Winchester, Hampshire, in England, he immigrated to Canada in his late twenties, settling first in Ontario and then in Alberta, where he farmed. He soon became involved in the United Farmers of Alberta, a farmers' lobby organization that was in the process of becoming a political party, and was elected as the organization's vice president. Greenfield did not run in the 1921 provincial election, the first provincial general election in which the UFA fielded candidates, but when the UFA won a majority in the Legislature in that election he was chosen by the UFA caucus to serve as Premier.
  Like most of the UFA caucus, Greenfield had no experience in government and he struggled in the position. He relied extensively on his Attorney General, John E. Brownlee, for counsel on policy and strategy. He was unable to control his caucus, which did not generally believe in party discipline, and his government almost lost several votes in the Legislature despite its majority.
context_section_description: Greenfield entered public life on a local level soon after moving to his new farm.  He was elected to the local school board, where he spent twelve years, including stints as chair, secretary, and treasurer.  He also served as Vice President of the Alberta Educational Association, as President of the Westlock Agricultural Society, and as co-founder and President of the Alberta Association of Municipal Districts.  Greenfield also was an officer of the province-wide Association of Local Improvement Districts, which advocated for reforms such as a change from a ten-hour to an eight-hour work day, on the grounds that many Local Improvement Districts (LIDs) were having trouble competing with railways for labour.  John E. Brownlee later said of Greenfield's involvement in the ALID that it was there "that he was first initiated into the discussion of public subjects, and it became the training ground for his subsequent success."
  Provincially, Greenfield was originally a Liberal, but along with many other farmers, began to grow dissatisfied with the Liberal government's treatment of farmers.  He became involved with the United Farmers of Alberta, which prior to 1919 was a non-partisan lobby group that eschewed direct involvement in the political process.  He was elected to the organization's executive in 1919 and chaired its mass conventions in 1920 and 1921.  He headed an extremely successful membership drive,   Despite this involvement, he did not seek election to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta in the 1921 election.  When the UFA, which as part of its resistance to old-style politics had contested the election without designating a leader, won 38 of 61 seats, it found itself needing to form a government without having decided who would head it. Greenfield meanwhile had been named interim Vice President of the organization after the death of Percival Baker. 
  The logical choice was UFA President Henry Wise Wood.  However, Wood had little taste for the minutiae of government, preferring to remain at the head of what he saw as a broader political movement (saying he would "sooner be President of the UFA than the USA"), and saw party lawyer Brownlee as the best choice.  Brownlee, who, like Wood, had not contested the election, said he felt that the Premier must be a farmer for the aspirations of the UFA's base to be fulfilled.  George Hoadley, one of the two UFA members with previous legislative experience (Hoadley had been a sitting Conservative MLA prior to the election; UFA MLA Alex Moore had been elected in a by-election a few months before the general election), was considered, but since his previous experience had been as a Conservative—one of the old line parties so disdained by the UFA — he was deemed unacceptable.  There was even some speculation that incumbent Liberal Premier Charles Stewart, who had become a member of the UFA before it entered politics directly, would stay on as Premier, but he immediately announced that he would serve only until the UFA selected a leader.  A meeting of the UFA caucus in Calgary selected Greenfield, and he took office as Premier on August 13, 1921.
caption: The United Farmers of Alberta Board of Directors in 1919: Greenfield is second from the right in the middle row.
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