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Serving Agriculture:
Canada's Ministers of Agriculture

James Garfield Gardiner

Birthplace

Federal Constituency

Education

Professional Background

Political Affiliation

"[Gardiner was] so single-minded in espousing western affairs that he frequently exasperated his colleagues... His faith in individual effort and in limited government...never wavered, and he consistently applied his ideas to building his province...through depression, war and reconstruction. Notably partisan, he held that a minister should be fully responsible and believed frankly in patronage."
-- Biographer Norman Ward

Political Career

Gardiner won his first provincial by-election for Qu'Appelle North in 1914 and was re-elected to Saskatchewan's legislative assembly five times. He served as minister of highways (1922-26), minister of railways (1926-27), and treasurer (1926-27 and 1934-35). When Premier C.A. Dunning was called to the federal cabinet, Gardiner was chosen leader of the Saskatchewan Liberals and served as premier from 1926 to 1929. The Liberals catered to farmers and the ethnic community for support, but their affinity for patronage contributed to their electoral defeat in 1929.

Gardiner sat as leader of the opposition through the early years of the Depression. The Liberals won the 1934 Saskatchewan election and Gardiner, now MLA for Melville, became premier for the second time in July 1934.

Prime Minister Mackenzie King needed a new federal minister of agriculture and asked Gardiner to leave provincial politics to join him in Ottawa. Gardiner agreed and resigned as premier on November 1, 1935. The following January, he was elected MP for Melville. He was re-elected federally five times.

In addition to his responsibilities in the agriculture portfolio, Gardiner served as minister of war services in 1940 and 1941. His political ambitions went beyond cabinet--he unsuccessfully contested the federal Liberal leadership in 1948. Gardiner's only defeat came during Diefenbaker's electoral sweep of the Prairies in 1958. He retired from politics and died in 1962.

Industry Issues

Gardiner continued efforts started by Weir to rejuvenate prairie soils and rebuild the prairie economy through farm assistance. The Second World War required leadership to secure a supply of agricultural products for Europe and for Canadian troops overseas. Canada had bumper crops after 1939, but the war-stricken United Kingdom could not buy products without a $1.5-million loan from the Canadian government.

Until 1947, the agricultural supplies committee planned and managed food production and marketing. Commodity-specific boards conserved materials; secured seed; bought, sold and stored supplies; and licensed products for export. Feed freight assistance was implemented to overcome shortages in Eastern Canada. When world production and trade returned to normal after the war and prices dropped, an appointed board marketed farm products and provided subsidies and equalization payments to ensure adequate farm returns.

Departmental Developments

In 1937, a major departmental reorganization grouped similar functions under one administrative head. Four operating services--production, marketing, experimental farms and science--were created in place of the previous nine branches. The separation of basic research activities (Science Service) from the applied research activities (Experimental Farms Service) caused some controversy and confusion. A fifth service, administration service, encompassed the Prairie Farms Rehabilitation Administration (PFRA), library, publicity and extension activities.

Important rehabilitation research occurred at new district experimental substations across the Prairies. After 1935, the national soil survey committee, funded by the PFRA and consisting of provincial, departmental and university researchers, began analysing soil samples to better monitor and understand changing soil resources. With PFRA money and training, field shelterbelt associations planted hedges to prevent drifting and to protect buildings from high winds.

When vegetable seed supplies were cut off during the war, experimental farms produced additional stock. Soybeans, sunflowers and rapeseed provided new forms of industrial oils. Milkweed was studied as a potential rubber substitute and as floss for marine life preservers. Researchers also advised Department of National Defence officials on the planting and maintenance of airfield grasses.

When Newfoundland joined Confederation in 1949, the department gained a demonstration farm and agricultural school.

In 1951, forest biologists and entomologists were almost moved to the Department of Resources and Development. To keep them in the department and improve service to industry, the Department of Agriculture created a new division of forest entomologists and plant pathologists to encourage co-operative research.

When a serious foot and mouth disease outbreak hit Saskatchewan in 1952, the department realized that officials diagnosing the disease worked in a separate service from those administering quarantines and that this was inefficient. Gardiner ordered animal pathology moved from the Science Service to the Production Service. In 1956, plant protection moved to the Production Service for similar reasons.

Accomplishments as Minister

• The Prairie Farm Assistance Act (1939) provided direct payments to farmers who suffered low yields through circumstances beyond their control.
• The Wheat Acreage Reduction Act (1942) implemented grain delivery quotas for the first time to overcome wartime surpluses. Farmers were compensated for losses, while additional payments encouraged seeding coarse grains and extending summer fallow.
• The Agricultural Prices Support Act (1944) created a board to market products and provided subsidies and equalization payments for farmers during the post-war transition.

Worth Noting

• Gardiner was the longest-serving cabinet minister in one portfolio (22 years).
• The South Saskatchewan River dam, built during the Diefenbaker government to promote irrigation, is named after Gardiner. The reservoir it created is called Diefenbaker Lake.