Wikipedia:Today's featured article/February 10, 2011

Herbert Greenfield (1869–1949) was a Canadian politician who served as the fourth Premier of Alberta from 1921 until 1925. Born in Winchester, England, he emigrated 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 (UFA), a farmers' lobby organization that was in the process of becoming a political party, eventually becoming the organization's first vice president. Though he did not run in the 1921 provincial election, the first in which the UFA fielded candidates, Greenfield was the party's eventual choice to serve as Premier when the UFA won a majority of the seats that year. Like most of the UFA caucus, Greenfield had no experience in government and he struggled in the position. Despite this, his time as Premier saw the eventual elimination of the provincial deficit, substantial progress in negotiating the transfer of natural resource rights from the federal government, and the creation of the Alberta Wheat Pool. By 1924, many UFA Members of the Legislative Assembly wanted to see Greenfield leave office, both because they were frustrated with his failings and because they thought it likely that a Greenfield-led government would be defeated in the next election. In 1925, they persuaded Greenfield to resign in favor of John E. Brownlee. He died in 1949 at the age of 79. (more...)

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