James Cowan

Who was James Cowan?

James Cowan was a politician in Manitoba, Canada. He was a Progressive Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1958 to 1969.

The son of Thomas Hind Cowan and Robena Isabel Taylor, Cowan was educated at the Manitoba Law School in Winnipeg and was called to the Manitoba bar in 1939. He worked as a lawyer in Winnipeg until 1984. He served in the Canadian Army during World War II and was later president of the Canadian Legion Memorial Housing Foundation within Manitoba. During this period, he was known as a vigorous proponent of housing for retired veterans.

He first ran for public office in the 1941 provincial election, as a candidate of the Conservative Party of Manitoba in the electoral district of Winnipeg. Winnipeg, at the time, elected ten members by preferential balloting in an at-large poll. Cowan finished last among the Conservative candidates, and was eliminated on the tenth count with only 665 votes.

He ran for the Canadian House of Commons as a Progressive Conservative in the 1953 federal election, but lost to Liberal incumbent William Weir in the riding of Portage—Neepawa. He later moved to Winnipeg, and served as an alderman in that city from 1955 to 1958.