Margaret Aitken

This article is about the Canadian author, columnist, journalist and politician. For an important figure in the Scottish witchcraft panic of 1597, see Margaret Aitken (witch).

Margaret Aitken (July 3, 1906 – November 19, 1980) was a Canadian author, columnist, journalist, and politician.

Margaret Aitken
Member of Parliament for York—Humber
In office 1953–1962
Preceded by	new district
Succeeded by	Ralph Cowan
Personal details
Born	(1906-07-03)July 3, 1906 Newcastle, New Brunswick, Canada
Died	November 19, 1980(1980-11-19) (aged 74)
Political party	Progressive Conservative
Occupation	Journalist

Background

Aitken was born in Newcastle, New Brunswick. She attended Branksome Hall in Toronto.^[1] She was the daughter of Joseph Magnus 'Mauns' Aitken and her uncle was Max Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook. Her brother, William Aitken and his son Jonathan Aitken (her nephew) were members of the British House of Commons.^[1]

She started with the Toronto Telegram in 1938 and was a foreign correspondent. She was noted for covering the birth of Israel as a nation and she became a strong supporter of the Jewish state.^[1] In 1953, she wrote a book Hey Ma! I Did It (Toronto: Clarke, Irwin & Company) about her political campaign in the same year.

Politics

In the 1953 federal election, she was elected to the House of Commons of Canada in the riding of York—Humber as the Progressive Conservative candidate, winning by 67 votes. Along with Sybil Bennett, Ellen Fairclough and Ann Shipley, she was one of four women elected to the House of Commons that year, only the second election in Canadian history in which more than one woman was elected to Parliament.

In 1957 she became the first woman to be appointed chair of a parliamentary committee, the Standing Committee on Standing Orders. The committee discusses rules of the House.^[2] She was re-elected in 1957 and 1958. She was defeated in 1962 by 662 votes.

Later life

In 1962, Aitken was appointed as Canada's representative to the UN's Commission on Human Rights.^[3] She died at age 72 after a long illness.

Electoral record

1953 Canadian federal election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Margaret Aitken	11,157
	Liberal	Kenneth L. Thompson	11,090
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Jennie B. Prosser	4,924

1957 Canadian federal election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Margaret Aitken	18,449
	Liberal	Kenneth L. Thompson	10,851
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Margaret Thetford	4,872
	Social Credit	Charles R. Ellis	1,324

1958 Canadian federal election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Margaret Aitken	23,723
	Liberal	Elena Murdock Dacosta	9,557
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Leonard Collins	6,257

1962 Canadian federal election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Ralph Cowan	15,526
	Progressive Conservative	Margaret Aitken	14,864
	New Democratic Party	Charles Millard	11,622
	Social Credit	Ronald G. Sibbald	564

Publications

• Aitken, Margaret; Sanders, Byrne Hope (1953). Hey Ma! I did it. Clarke, Irwin & co. Ltd. pp. xiv, 213.