12 Facts About Cam Kirby

Kirby's great grandfather Charles Kirby came to Canada as a soldier in a regiment from Yorkshire, England at the time of the Rebellion of 1837 in Upper Canada and settled in Whitby.

Kirby's father William John Kirby moved further west in 1885, initially as a lumberjack in Albert Canyon, worked as an agent for the Dominion Express in Vancouver, British Columbia, and later in Calgary where Cameron Kirby was born in 1909.

In 1911 William Kirby set up as a merchant in Lochairn, later named at his instigation Rocky Mountain House after the Hudson's Bay Fort built nearby on the North Saskatchewan River in 1799.

In 1917 when Cameron Kirby was eight years old his mother died and he was sent by his father to live with relatives.

Cam Kirby graduated from high school in Hanna, Alberta and then attended the University of British Columbia graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in 1930 before attending graduate school at the University of Alberta.

Cam Kirby taught Latin, English and mathematics to the children of ranching families and became highschool principal at Okotoks, Alberta in 1935.

Cam Kirby contested the seat for the Conservatives and defeated Social Credit candidate William Ure, the deceased MLA's younger brother, by 234 votes in the by-election.

Cam Kirby lost his own seat to William Ure by almost 3,000 votes.

Cam Kirby resigned as party leader in January 1960 and was appointed to the Supreme Court of Alberta, later the Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta.

In 1967, Justice Cam Kirby was named by Premier Manning to conduct a one-man inquiry into allegations of influence peddling by Social Credit cabinet minister Alfred Hooke and former treasurer Edgar Hinman.

Cam Kirby's report, following an eight-month investigation, cleared the two men of wrongdoing, but scolded them for an "imprudent" mixing of public affairs and private business.

Cam Kirby retired from the bench on his 75th birthday in 1984.