He served in the House of Commons of Canada for thirteen years,[2] and was a candidate for the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba in 1953.
[4] Ross ran as a candidate of the Manitoba Conservative Party in the southwestern riding of Arthur for the provincial elections of 1927, 1932 and 1936.
[citation needed] In 1940, Ross was elected to the House of Commons of Canada for the riding of Souris, narrowly defeating Liberal candidate George William McDonald.
[citation needed] The Conservatives had been led since 1936 by Errick Willis, a figure from the party's rural base who was a prominent cabinet minister in the coalition years.
Willis had been an ineffective campaigner in the 1953 election, and many Conservatives (including Ross) believed that new leadership would be needed for an electoral breakthrough.