Nathan Eldon Tanner (May 9, 1898 – November 27, 1982) was a Canadian politician and a leader of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). He served in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1935 to 1952 as a member of the Social Credit caucus in government. He served as Speaker of the Legislative Assembly from 1936 to 1937 and as a cabinet minister in the governments of William Aberhart and Ernest Manning from 1937 to 1952, in various portfolios related to resource industries.
Early life
Tanner was born on May 9, 1898, in Salt Lake City, Utah, to Nathan William Tanner and Sarah Edna Brown Tanner. He had seven younger siblings.[1] His family emigrated to Canada and had a farmstead in Aetna, south of Cardston, Alberta, where he grew up and attended grade school. He attended high school at Knight Academy in Raymond and received some postsecondary education at Calgary Normal School.[2]
Tanner began his working life at a grocery store and butcher shop. He obtained a job teaching at a small school in Hill Spring in 1919. He met Sara Isabelle Merrill at the school and married her on December 20, 1919[2] and they became the parents of five daughters.[3]
Along with teaching, Tanner also established his own general store, which later also became the local post office, to supplement his family income. The store was successful enough that he left his first teaching job in Hill Spring to run the store full-time.[2]
Tanner eventually became a high school teacher[2] and school principal in Cardston.[1] He got his start in politics as a councillor on the Cardston Town Council.[2]
Political career
Tanner was drafted to run for a seat to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta for the first time in the 1935 general election. He ran as a Social Credit candidate in the electoral district of Cardston and defeated the incumbent United Farmers MLA George Stringam.[4]
After the election and despite his complete lack of parliamentary experience, Tanner was chosen to be fifth-ever Speaker of the Alberta Legislature when the first session of the 8th Alberta Legislative Assembly began. He served in that role until January 5, 1937, when Premier William Aberhart appointed Tanner the Minister of Lands and Mines.[5] His time in this capacity and as legislator spanned 16 years.[1]
In the 1940 general election, Tanner defeated the independent candidate S.H. Nelson in a two-way race.[6]
In 1949, Ernest Manning changed Tanner's ministerial portfolio from Lands and Mines to Lands and Forests. Tanner was also appointed Minister of Mines and Minerals and held both portfolios until his retirement from the Legislature at its dissolution in 1952.
Not long afterward, Tanner's health deteriorated, and it became impossible for him to continue the duties of his office. Kimball and Romney were also ailing, and the decision was made to add Gordon B. Hinckley as an additional counselor to the First Presidency on July 23, 1981, with Neal A. Maxwell ordained to take Hinckley's seat in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Tanner remained first counselor until his death on November 27, 1982, at the age of 84. Because of the appointments of Maxwell and Hinckley the prior year, no additional individuals were added to the First Presidency and no apostles were ordained as a result of his death.
^Shariff, Shiraz, Acting Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta (16 May 2006). "Vignettes from the Assembly's History"(PDF). Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Legislative Assembly of Alberta. p. 1593. Archived(PDF) from the original on 1 July 2023. Nathan Eldon Tanner, the Member for Cardston and representing the Social Credit Party, became the fifth Speaker of the Legislative Assembly in 1936. He presided over only 46 sitting days and 333 calendar days, the shortest tenure of any Speaker, before being appointed as minister of lands and mines. He is thought to be the first member of the Mormon faith to serve as Speaker in the British Commonwealth.
