Return to
 Table of Contents

Serving Agriculture:
Canada's Ministers of Agriculture

Simon Fraser Tolmie

Birthplace

Federal Constituency

Education

Professional Background

Political Affiliation

Political Career

Tolmie was elected MP for Victoria in 1917 and served in the Union government under prime ministers Robert Borden and Arthur Meighen. He was appointed minister of agriculture after the resignation of Thomas Crerar in 1919.

The Conservatives lost the 1921 general election to Mackenzie King's Liberals. Tolmie retained his seat but lost his cabinet portfolio. Tolmie again held the agriculture portfolio for a few months in the summer of 1926 when Meighen's Conservatives were asked to form a government during the King-Byng constitutional crisis. King's Liberals were re-elected in 1926 and Tolmie returned to the opposition benches.

Tolmie became active in provincial politics and was elected leader of the B.C. Conservative Party in November 1926. He resigned his federal seat in 1928 and was elected to represent Saanich in the legislative assembly of British Columbia. He became premier of British Columbia and minister of railways until November 1933, when his government lost the election and he lost his seat. Tolmie was re-elected to represent Victoria in the House of Commons in a 1936 by-election but died in office in 1937.

Industry Issues

The Prairies had a problem: declining productivity. Farmers were beginning to experience serious crop failures from their fast-depleting soils. And as world market conditions returned to normal after the First World War, grain prices plummeted to 45 per cent of their wartime peak within two years. Buoyed by their relative prosperity several years earlier, many prairie farmers had heavily invested in land and machinery, only to see their industry falter. Farmers' political parties were in power in Ontario, Manitoba and Alberta, and the federal government was under pressure to improve farmers' fortunes or risk losing their votes.

Departmental Developments

Once the war ended, the department's research work, previously limited by employee absences and diffused by unique wartime demands, resumed at full strength. But new staffing challenges emerged. As the Canadian economy strengthened, technically trained employees were often lost to the private sector, where salaries were higher. Jobs were plentiful and, unfortunately for the department, Canadian universities were only just beginning to produce agriculture graduates.

With the war effort over, the department could discontinue some areas of research and begin new projects. The Seed Purchasing Commission, for example, was no longer needed to guarantee stock in peacetime. New research activities investigated everything from binder twine to sunflowers. The Horticulture Division was expanded and began investigating not only fruit and vegetable culture, but also ornamental gardening, greenhouses and canning. The Fruit Branch was created to oversee the marketing, grading, inspection and transport of fruits for export. New botanical laboratories were established at branch farms, and new experimental stations and substations were established according to research needs.

Market information, both national and international, became more important as the agriculture industry expanded. The department assembled telegraph services for daily markets and interstockyard communication. It created weekly reports and distributed them through the Canadian Press wire and by regular mail. Newspapers and other organizations used these reports and services to disseminate standardized, reliable market information.

Accomplishments as Minister

• A 1920 federal-provincial agreement established that grading dairy products for export was within federal jurisdiction, while grading for home consumption was a provincial concern.
• Grading was introduced for eggs and hogs, in consultation with industry. These quality-control measures helped exporters obtain premium prices, particularly for bacon-type hogs in the British market.
• Regulations were also passed for the inspection, grading and sale of commercial feeds, fertilizers and vegetables.
• Performance testing was introduced for poultry. Department-sponsored inspections and egg-laying contests motivated producers to improve flock quality and performance.
• Under 1920 amendments to the Criminal Code, the minister of agriculture was assigned responsibility for horse racing. RCMP officers under departmental supervision enforced regulations at racetracks.

Worth Noting

• In 1926, the Agassiz Experimental Farm received worldwide publicity from an egg-laying contest when a bird owned by the University of British Columbia produced a world record 351 eggs in 365 days.