Return to
 Table of Contents

Serving Agriculture:
Canada's Ministers of Agriculture

Walter Humphries Montague

Birthplace

Federal Constituency

Education

Professional Background

Political Affiliation

Political Career

Montague's political career started slowly. He lost his bid to represent Monck in the Ontario legislative assembly's general election of 1883. In 1887, he was elected to the House of Commons for Haldimand, Ontario--but the election was declared void. Later in the year, he won a second election, which was also plagued by controversy and voided in court. Montague was defeated again in a by-election in 1889.

Montague finally won the Haldimand seat in a 1890 by-election. He was re-elected as MP for Haldimand (later Haldimand-Monck) in 1891, 1895 and 1896. He also served as vice-president of the Conservative Union of Ontario in 1892.

Montague was appointed to the Privy Council in 1894 and served as minister without portfolio from December 1894 to March 1895, and as secretary of state from March to December 1895. In December 1895, he was appointed minister of agriculture.

Montague resigned briefly in January 1896 as one of the cabinet ministers Prime Minister Mackenzie Bowell called a "nest of traitors" for deserting the government in protest of Bowell's inaction on the Manitoba schools issue. Montague returned to cabinet when the controversy passed, but the Conservative caucus was slowly unravelling. Charles Tupper (the Conservatives' fifth leader since Macdonald's death in 1891) became prime minister before the 1896 election, but the Conservative government was soundly defeated by Wilfrid Laurier's triumphant Liberals.

Montague lost his Haldimand-Monck seat in the 1900 election and left politics to return to his medical practice. In 1908 he moved to Winnipeg, and five years later he again ran for public office. In November 1913 Montague was elected to the legislative assembly of Manitoba, representing Kildonan-St. Andrews. He was re-elected in 1914 and appointed minister of public works in the Roblin government from November 1913 to May 1915. Montague died in Winnipeg in 1915.

Accomplishments as Minister

Montague's seven-month tenure as minister coincided with a turbulent period in the life of his government. As a result, his legacy is one of maintenance of existing programs rather than considerable policy or organizational innovation.

Worth Noting

• Montague's predecessor, Angers, also resigned as minister of agriculture to protest Prime Minister Bowell's leadership.