Political career
After being an unsuccessful candidate in the 1924 provincial election,Maitland was first elected to the British Columbia Legislature as the Conservative MLA for Vancouver City in the 1928 general election. Between 1928 and 1933,he served in the cabinet as Minister without Portfolio. By the time of the 1933 provincial election,the Conservative government of Premier Simon Fraser Tolmie had collapsed into rival factions. Maitland did not stand for re-election.
Maitland returned to office in the 1937 general election from the riding of Vancouver-Point Grey. The next year,upon the death of Frank Porter Patterson,the leader of the Conservative Party,Maitland became party leader and Leader of the Opposition. His challenge was to rebuild the moribund British Columbia Conservative Party,which had split into two and collapsed in 1933 under Tolmie's leadership.
In the 1941 provincial election,Maitland led the Conservatives to a strong finish with 30.91 per cent of the vote and 12 seats,though with the CCF doubling its seats the party was consigned to third place. The Liberal government of Thomas Dufferin Pattullo was reduced to a minority government and though it won the greatest number of seats actually received fewer votes than the CCF. The Liberal Party pressured Pattullo to form a coalition government with the Conservatives in order to forestall the government's collapse and a possible CCF victory.
Pattullo refused and was replaced as Liberal leader and Premier by John Hart who was willing to form a coalition. Maitland's Conservatives joined the government,obtaining three seats in Cabinet to the Liberals' five. Maitland became Attorney General in the Hart ministry. [3]
Four years later,in the 1945 provincial election,Maitland's Conservatives contested the election jointly with the Liberals and were re-elected.
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