Nathan Eldon Tanner

Nathan Eldon Tanner (9 May 1898 – 27 November 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.

Tanner was born on 9 May 1898, in Salt Lake City, Utah, to Nathan William Tanner and Sarah Edna Brown Tanner. He had seven younger siblings. 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.

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 20 December 1919 and they became the parents of five daughters.

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.

Tanner eventually became a high school teacher and school principal in Cardston. He got his start in politics as a councillor on the Cardston Town Council.

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.

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 5 January 1937, when Premier William Aberhart appointed Tanner the Minister of Lands and Mines. His time in this capacity and as legislator spanned 16 years.

In the 1940 general election, Tanner defeated the independent candidate S.H. Nelson in a two-way race.