James Garfield Gardiner

James Garfield "Jimmy" Gardiner, PC (b.November 30, 1883, Farhuquar, Ontario - d.Balcarres, Saskatchewan January 12, 1962) was a Canadian farmer, educator, and politician. He served as Premier of Saskatchewan, and as a minister in the Canadian Cabinet.

Jimmy Gardiner was first elected to the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan in 1914, and served as Minister of Highways (1922-26) in the government of Premier Charles A. Dunning from 1922 until succeeding Dunning as Premier in 1926. A highly partisan Liberal, his government lost its majority in the legislature in the 1929 election due to patronage scandals. Although the Conservative Party had won fewer seats, it was able to form a "co-operative government" with the support of some Progressive Party and independent Members of the Legislative Assmbly.

As Leader of the opposition, Gardiner accused James Anderson's Conservative government of bigotry, alleging that it was linked with the Ku Klux Klan. Gardiner defeated Anderson in the 1934 election, and became Premier a second time.

Gardiner left provincial politics the next year in order to join the federal cabinet of Liberal Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King as Minister of Agriculture. He was elected to the House of Commons a few months later. Gardiner held the agriculture portfolio for twenty-two years until the 1957 federal election when the Liberal government was defeated. He was a powerful figure in both the King and St. Laurent governments.

In 1947, he was sworn into the Imperial Privy Council, allowing him use of the prenominal honorific The Right Honourable.

Gardiner ran for the leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada at the 1948 Liberal leadership convention, but lost to Louis St. Laurent. He remained in the Canadian House of Commons until he lost his seat in the 1958 Diefenbaker sweep.

Saskatchewan's Gardiner Dam is named after him.

In 2006, the CBC agreed to pull the movie "" from all broadcasts in response to criticism about its portrayals of Gardiner. [http://www.cbc.ca/sask/story/sk-tommy-douglas060612.html] This controversy is ongoing, and the show may be altered to exclude Gardiner or come with a disclaimer.

External links

* [http://www.parl.gc.ca/information/about/people/key/bio.asp?Language=E&query=2638&s=M Federal Political Biography from the Library of Parliament]
* [http://esask.uregina.ca/entry/gardiner_james_garfield_1883-_1962.html Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan Entry]