James Garfield Gardiner

The Right Hon. James Garfield Gardiner PC, MP, MLA
4th Premier of Saskatchewan
In office February 26, 1926 – September 9, 1929
Monarch	George V
Lieutenant Governor	Henry William Newlands
Preceded by	Charles A. Dunning
Succeeded by	James T.M. Anderson
In office July 19, 1934 – November 1, 1935
Monarch	George V
Lieutenant Governor	Hugh Edwin Munroe
Preceded by	James T.M. Anderson
Succeeded by	William John Patterson
Member of the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan for North Qu'Appelle
In office June 25, 1914 – June 19, 1934
Preceded by	John Archibald McDonald
Succeeded by	District abolished
Member of the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan for Melville
In office June 19, 1934 – November 1, 1935
Preceded by	District created
Succeeded by	Ernest Walter Gerrand
Member of the Canadian Parliament for Assiniboia
In office January 6, 1936 – March 26, 1940
Preceded by	Robert McKenzie
Succeeded by	Jesse Pickard Tripp
Member of the Canadian Parliament for Melville
In office March 26, 1940 – March 31, 1958
Preceded by	William Richard Motherwell
Succeeded by	James Norris Ormiston
Personal details
Born	(1883-11-30)November 30, 1883 Farhuquar (South Huron), Ontario
Died	January 12, 1962(1962-01-12) (aged 78) Balcarres, Saskatchewan
Political party	Saskatchewan Liberal Party
Other political affiliations	Liberal Party of Canada
Spouse(s)	Rosetta Jane Gardiner (m. 1912–17), Violet McEwen (m. 1917–44), Isabella (Scott) Christie (m. 1944–62)
Profession	Farmer, Educator

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

Life and career

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 defeat the Gardiner government through a motion of non-confidence, then form a "co-operative government" with the support of some Progressive Party and independent Members of the Legislative Assembly.

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. In 1935 he was involved in negotiations to end the On-to-Ottawa Trek in Regina.

Gardiner left provincial politics later in 1935 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.

Gardiner was married three times: first to Rosetta Jane Gardiner in 1912, then to Violet McEwen in 1917 and finally to Isabella (Scott) Christie in 1944. His son James Wilfrid served in the Saskatchewan assembly.^[1] His other son Pilot Officer John Edwin (1919–1942), serving with Number 403 Squadron, RCAF, was killed in action while providing air cover and support during the Dieppe Raid on August 19, 1942. The Gardiner family farm was near Lemberg, Saskatchewan.

Incidentally it was Gardiner, who as Premier of Saskatchewan in 1928, championed the Saskatchewan Sanitoria and Hospitals Act – the first legislation to provide free hospitalization and treatment for victims of tuberculosis anywhere in North America. The Act was passed unanimously by the provincial legislature on January 1, 1929. This Act was probably one of his least known legacies to Saskatchewan public policy.^[2]

Saskatchewan's Gardiner Dam is named after him.

In 2006, the CBC agreed to pull the movie Prairie Giant: The Tommy Douglas Story from all broadcasts in response to criticism about its portrayals of Gardiner.^[3]

References

• James Garfield Gardiner – Parliament of Canada biography
• Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan Entry
• Saskatchewan Archives Board – Saskatchewan Election Results By Electoral Division
• Pilot Officer John Edwin Gardiner's service file at Library and Archives Canada in Ottawa