Gerald Grattan McGeer (6 January 1888 – 11 August 1947) was a lawyer, populist politician, and monetary reform advocate in the Canadian province of British Columbia. He served as the 22nd Mayor of Vancouver, a Member of the Legislative Assembly in BC, Member of Parliament for the Liberal Party of Canada, and in the Canadian Senate. Early life Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, to James McGeer and his wife Emily Cooke, McGeer moved with his family as a young child to Vancouver. He grew up in the Mount Pleasant neighbourhood. As a young adult, he worked in an iron foundry and was an active member in his union. Eventually he went to Dalhousie University to study law. Back in Vancouver, he married Charlotte Spencer, of the department store family. Freight rate fight McGeer first attained renown in the 1920s as a lawyer representing the British Columbia government in its case to reduce freight rate differentials on goods shipped through the Rocky Mountains by rail. He worked for years on this case and achieved considerable success. The outcome proved a windfall for the BC economy, earning McGeer a reputation as "the man who flattened the Rockies." Reductions in discriminatory freight rates made it economically feasible for prairie grain to come west and be exported through Vancouver's port rather than seaports in eastern Canada and the United States. MLA McGeer was elected to the British Columbia Legislature as the Liberal candidate for Richmond from 1916 to 1920, and later as part of the Liberal government of Duff Pattullo for Vancouver-Burrard from 1933 to 1935. McGeer was considered a maverick in his own party during his second term, after he became critical of the government because Pattullo had not appointed him to cabinet. According to McGeer, Pattullo had led him to believe he would become the province's Attorney-General. Mayor Gerry McGeer's most indelible mark in BC was made during his time as Mayor of Vancouver. He won the 1934 election against incumbent L. D. Taylor with the biggest margin of victory in Vancouver's civic history. He established himself in his campaign as a populist reformer, painting his opponent as outdated and corrupt, with police and monetary reform the two main pillars of his campaign. As mayor, he would not have power to implement his monetary policies, which he believed could end the depression. He was, however, able to reform the police department and the