Frederick John (Fred) Dixon (January 20, 1881 – March 18, 1931) was a Manitoba politician, and was for several years the dominant figure in the province's mainstream labour and Henry George Single Tax Georgist movements. He was a prominent proponent of proportional representation. He served as a member of the Manitoba Legislature from 1914 to 1923.
Biography
Born in 1881 at Englefield in the English county of Berkshire,
Dixon arrived in Manitoba in 1903, settling in Winnipeg. He apprenticed as a draftsman and worked as an engraver. Dixon also wrote a weekly column in the Winnipeg labour weekly, The Voice.
Dixon and his friend, Seymour Farmer, who was later mayor of Winnipeg, became involved with the League for Taxation of Land Values (the Single Tax programme) and the League for Direct Legislation, under which people would have the right of referendum, initiative and recall. He was also supported by the provincial Liberal Party, whose platform he generally supported. Dixon's centrist labourism brought about opposition from the Socialist Party of Canada, which ran a spoiler candidate against him. Dixon lost to Conservative Thomas Taylor by 73 votes; the SPC polled 99. There can be little doubt that Dixon was the most popular politician in the city at the time. His vote total was more than the quota required to win a seat and he was the first to be declared elected, his surplus votes then being transferred to other candidates.
In Winnipeg, Dixon and another DLP candidate, Rev. William Ivens, were elected alongside four Liberals, two Conservatives, a Social Democratic Party candidate and a Socialist Party of Canada candidate.
Nine DLP MLAs, along with one member apiece from the SPC and SDPC, were elected to the Manitoba legislature in 1920. Dixon was the unquestioned leader of the labour parliamentary caucus. He cooperated with more left-wing figures, and kept the group reasonably united through to the election of 1922, although having to establish a new party to do so.
In late 1920, the DLP in Winnipeg was taken over by rightist labourites who had opposed the General Strike. Dixon led a walkout of DLP members, and was involved in founding the province's new Independent Labour Party. The ILP became the primary voice of the parliamentary left in Manitoba, and later become part of the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation party.
Fred Dixon died of cancer on March 18, 1931. His close friend J.S. Woodsworth gave the eulogy at his funeral.