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About William Hayhurst
- William Hayhurst (December 31, 1887 – May 19, 1975) was a farmer, principal, teacher, businessman and a Canadian federal politician.
- He was born in Lyvennet Mill, Morland, England.
- Married Edna Mattern.
- Father of William LeRoy Hayhurst (born May 25, 1925; died February 27, 2011), Dea Crompton and Grace Lanctot (died August 13, 1998). Hayhurst first ran a seat in the House of Commons of Canada in the 1930 Canadian federal election as a Liberal candidate in the Wetaskiwin district.
- He was defeated by Incumbent William Irvine, finishing last in a field of three candidates. Hayhurst ran again in the 1935 Canadian federal election, this time under the Social Credit banner in the Vegreville district.
- Hayhurst's nomination as the Social Credit candidate was controversial.
- At the time, the Vegreville Social Credit organization had a two-stage nomination process: delegates elected three candidates at a nomination meeting, one of whom was later chosen by an advisory board.
- Paul Lesiuk, a teacher of Ukrainian background, actually received the greatest number of votes, but the board decided to give the nomination to Hayhurst, the second-place candidate.
- Many Ukrainian members of Social Credit opposed this decision, and refused to support Hayhurst in the general election.
- He narrowly defeated Co-operative Commonwealth Federation incumbent Michael Luchkovich in a hotly contested five-way race.
- Social Credit had little presence outside Alberta in this period, and Hayhurst sat as an opposition MP. Anthony Hlynka, Hayhurst's successor as MP for Vegreville, described him as a "polite, intelligent and well-read" man who "carried out his duties as an MP quite well, but [...] had a difficult time representing a riding in which eighty per cent of the population was of other than British origin".
- He occasionally made parliamentary statements in support of Ukrainian national aspirations, but had difficulty communicating with his constituents.
- Many Ukrainian members of the Social Credit party asked him to seek re-election in Athabaska rather than run again in Vegreville in the 1940 federal election.
- He ignored this advice, and let his name stand at the Vegreville Social Credit nomination meeting in September 1939.
- The result was an unexpected embarrassment: he finished last in a field of five candidates on the first ballot, and was automatically eliminated.After his nomination defeat, Hayhurst belatedly decided to seek the Social Credit nomination in Athabaska.
- He won the nomination, but lost to Liberal Joseph Miville Dechene in the general election.
- Hayhurst officially appeared on the ballot as the candidate of the New Democracy party, an affiliate of Social Credit.
- He died in Edmonton in 1975.
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