Fonds F0214 - John Blackmore fonds

John Horn Blackmore, 1890-1971, was the son of William Morris Blackmore and Mary Christina Horn of Sublett, Idaho, USA. The family moved to Cardston, Alberta as part of a Mormon emigration in 1892. John graduated with a BA from the University of Alberta in 1913. He received his teaching certificate the following year and taught in a number of southern Alberta schools until 1935. He also taught Sunday school in his local Mormon church. He married Emily Woolley and they had twelve children.

He was elected Social Credit Member of Parliament (MP) for Lethbridge in the federal election of 1935. He continued to be re-elected until the Progressive Conservative sweep of 1958. He served as House Leader of the Social Credit Party from 1935 to 1945. He published the main points of his monetary views in his book Money, the Master Key, published in 1939. He was an advocate of the interests of the sugar beet industry, and urged the government and the International Joint Commission to complete development of the St. Mary River and Belly River dams. He was also a strong anti-communist. He retired to Cardston in 1958. He was nominated and defeated as the federal Social Credit candidate for Lethbridge in 1962.