5th Premier of Alberta. A member of the United Farmers of Alberta (UFA) Party, he served in this position from November 1925 until July 1934. The son of a storekeeper, he attended Victoria College in Toronto, Canada. After graduating, he studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1912 and joined a law practice in Calgary, Alberta. Inn 1921, when the UFA Party won the Alberta election, its new premier, Herbert Greenfield, asked him to serve as the attorney general, he agreed and was elected to the Alberta Legislative Assembly as a representative from Ponoka. Greenfield's leadership proved to be weak and Brownlee replaced him in 1925. In 1934 he became entangled in a scandal involving an accusation from a female family friend over a romantic affair and a jury found him guilty in a civil suit, despite denying the affair. However, the judge dismissed the verdict but he was forced to resign because of the damage the trial did to his reputation, and was succeeded by Richard G. Reid. The following year, he ran for reelection to Alberta's Legislative Assembly but was defeated. He then left politics and resumed his law practice. He died at the age of 77.
5th Premier of Alberta. A member of the United Farmers of Alberta (UFA) Party, he served in this position from November 1925 until July 1934. The son of a storekeeper, he attended Victoria College in Toronto, Canada. After graduating, he studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1912 and joined a law practice in Calgary, Alberta. Inn 1921, when the UFA Party won the Alberta election, its new premier, Herbert Greenfield, asked him to serve as the attorney general, he agreed and was elected to the Alberta Legislative Assembly as a representative from Ponoka. Greenfield's leadership proved to be weak and Brownlee replaced him in 1925. In 1934 he became entangled in a scandal involving an accusation from a female family friend over a romantic affair and a jury found him guilty in a civil suit, despite denying the affair. However, the judge dismissed the verdict but he was forced to resign because of the damage the trial did to his reputation, and was succeeded by Richard G. Reid. The following year, he ran for reelection to Alberta's Legislative Assembly but was defeated. He then left politics and resumed his law practice. He died at the age of 77.
Bio by: William Bjornstad
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