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Serving Agriculture:
Canada's Ministers of Agriculture

Martin Burrell

Birthplace

Federal Constituency

Education

Professional Background

Political Affiliation

"Our laws would be better--there would be less bitterness in our strife--if we were oftener moved by a sincere desire to lighten the work and brighten the lives of those, who, in the silence and solitude of the fields and the woods, are doing the foundation work of our common country."
Martin Burrell, speech in the House of Commons, 1913

Political Career

Burrell began his political career as mayor of Grand Forks in 1903. He was elected to the House of Commons as MP for Yale-Cariboo on his second attempt in 1908. Burrell's background as a fruit farmer and horticulturalist in both Ontario and B.C. gave him a different perspective from prairie wheat farmers'. In the 1911 election, he opposed free trade-- a position that brought his Conservative party into power. Prime Minister Robert Borden appointed Burrell minister of agriculture.

Burrell served as an MP until 1920. But by the election of 1917, his health had deteriorated and he could no longer handle the demands of the agriculture portfolio. The face of the Borden government changed to reflect the increasingly serious consequences of the First World War. Party lines had blurred and partisanship was on hold: Borden masterminded a coalition Union government dedicated to conscription, wartime prohibition and the elimination of political patronage.

The new government agenda needed a new team to execute wartime policy, and in the subsequent cabinet adjustments, Burrell left the agriculture portfolio to become secretary of state and minister of mines from October 1917 until December 1919 (after the end of the war). Burrell also served as minister of customs and inland revenue (December 1919 to July 1920) before quitting politics in 1920.

After his public life, Burrell served as librarian for the Library of Parliament until his death in 1938.

Industry Issues

A major drought in Palliser Triangle in 1913 and 1914 slowed once-prosperous prairie wheat production to a comparative trickle. But then came a blessing in disguise: the First World War. With Russia unable to export, world demand for North American wheat raised grain prices to a level previously unseen and new crops, such as flax, could be grown profitably. Burrell called for an all-out war effort and Canadian farmers responded. Even as yields fell later in the war, world consumers accepted what they believed were temporarily higher prices and kept grain production profitable for farmers.

Departmental Developments

The Census and Statistics Office was transferred to the Department of Trade and Commerce in 1912. The Publications Branch was created to distribute information, handle correspondence and, eventually, maintain a departmental library.

The department launched educational and marketing campaigns to inspire the war effort--for example, wool growers, whose product was in demand for military uniforms, learned to grade and pack wool and to form co-operative marketing associations. Department officials were in charge of securing supplies of hay, oats and grain for wartime food production and shipment overseas. Telegraphic market reporting between Canada and Europe improved trade after 1915.

When a rust epidemic in 1916 threatened the supply of seed for the next year's crop, a seed purchasing commission was appointed to purchase, clean, store and distribute the necessary inspected seed grain at cost.

The war affected the department's research. By 1916, more than 100 employees from experimental farms alone had enlisted in the military, threatening the quality of the research service. Still, researchers overcame a threat to Canadian cheese production during the war. Rennet imported from eastern Europe was no longer available. Pepsin, developed in 1916 at Ontario's Finch Dairy Station, proved to be an effective alternative.

The experimental farms started a publicity division in 1915 to organize exhibits and promote their research work.

Accomplishments as Minister

• The Agricultural Instruction Act (1913) offered $10 million to the provinces over a 10-year period to establish and improve agricultural colleges and other forms of agriculture-related training. The Agricultural Instruction Branch was formed to administer these programs.
• In 1914, a system of certified field inspection and tuber examination for potato exports not only lifted an American embargo, but also improved the quality of seed stock and exports. Today's seed potato certification program evolved from these measures.
• The Municipal Testing Order (1914) fought bovine tuberculosis by licensing dairies and encouraging communities to test all dairy cattle every two years.
• First attempts at co-operative marketing, quality control regulations and inspection for eggs were implemented.
• An Act Respecting Livestock (1917) authorized the minister of agriculture to supervise the management, fees and conditions of public stockyards.

Worth Noting

• In 1915, a future experimental station in the Abitibi district served as a prisoner-of-war camp. Prisoners cleared 155 acres of forest and 2,500 cords of wood were sold for pulp.
• Burrell was trapped and seriously injured in the 1916 fire in the Parliament Buildings.
• Between 1924 and 1938, Burrell wrote a weekly literary column, Literature and Life, for the Ottawa Journal. His articles became the basis for two books: Betwixt Heaven and Charing Cross (Toronto: 1928) and Crumbs are Also Bread (Toronto: 1934).