Francis John Deane

Who was Francis John Deane?

Francis John Deane was a newspaper publisher and political figure in British Columbia. He represented Yale-North in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia from 1898 to 1900.

He was born in Madras, India, the son of Francis J. Deane, and was educated in Bruges, Belgium. Deane worked as a farm labourer in Minnesota and the Canadian prairies before coming to British Columbia in 1889. He worked for the Nanaimo Free Press and the Victoria Province before becoming editor and managing director of the Kamloops Inland Sentinel. He was defeated when he ran for reelection in 1900. In 1902, Deane purchased the Nelson Daily Miner, later renamed the Daily News.

In 1894, Canadian Pacific had acquired the Canadian rights to the Associated Press wire service. Existing news report services which included Canadian news were discontinued and the new service was offered at a higher price. This led to the creation of the Western Associated Press, based in Winnipeg. However, newspapers further west were limited by CP's control of telegraph services. Deane complained in print about the unreliability and high price of CP's wire service. CP threatened to discontinue service if the complaints continue. Finally, in October 1907, following an appeal to Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier by a group of publishers of newspapers in Western Canada including Deane, a compromise was reached.