Thomas Crerar Explained

Honorific-Prefix:The Honourable
Thomas Crerar
Office:Minister of Mines and Resources
Primeminister:W. L. Mackenzie King
Term Start:1 December 1936
Term End:17 April 1945
Predecessor:Office Established
Successor:James Allison Glen
Office1:Minister of the Interior
Minister of Mines
Minister of Immigration and Colonization
Superintendent-General of Indian Affairs
Primeminister1:W. L. Mackenzie King
Term Start1:23 October 1935
Term End1:30 November 1936
Predecessor1:Thomas Gerow Murphy (as Minister of the Interior and Superintendent-General of Indian Affairs)
Wesley Ashton Gordon (as Minister of Mines and Minister of Immigration and Colonization)
Successor1:Office Abolished
Office2:Minister of Agriculture
Primeminister2:W. L. Mackenzie King
Term Start2:25 October 1935
Term End2:3 November 1935
Predecessor2:Robert Weir
Successor2:James Garfield Gardiner
Termlabel2:Acting
Primeminister3:Sir Robert Borden
Term Start3:12 October 1917
Term End3:11 June 1919
Predecessor3:Martin Burrell
Successor3:James Alexander Calder (acting)
Office4:Minister of Railways and Canals
Primeminister4:W. L. Mackenzie King
Term Start4:30 December 1929
Term End4:6 August 1930
Predecessor4:Charles Avery Dunning (acting)
Successor4:Robert James Manion
Office5:Senator for Churchill, Manitoba
Appointed5:W. L. Mackenzie King
Term Start5:18 April 1945
Term End5:31 May 1966
Riding6:Churchill
Parliament6:Canadian
Term Start6:14 October 1935
Term End6:17 April 1945
Predecessor6:Bernard Stitt
Successor6:Ronald Moore
Riding7:Brandon
Parliament7:Canadian
Term Start7:5 February 1930
Term End7:27 July 1930
Predecessor7:Robert Forke
Successor7:David Wilson Beaubier
Riding8:Marquette
Parliament8:Canadian
Term Start8:17 December 1917
Term End8:28 October 1925
Predecessor8:William James Roche
Successor8:Henry Mullins
Birth Name:Thomas Alexander Crerar
Birth Date:17 June 1876
Birth Place:Molesworth, Ontario, Canada
Death Place:Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Party:
Children:2
Education:

Thomas Alexander Crerar (17 June 1876 – 11 April 1975) was a western Canadian politician and a leader of the short-lived Progressive Party of Canada. He was born in Molesworth, Ontario, and moved to Manitoba at a young age.

Early career

Crerar rose to prominence as leader of the Manitoba Grain Growers' Association in the 1910s. Although he had no experience as an elected official, he was appointed as Minister of Agriculture in Robert Laird Borden's Union government on October 12, 1917, to provide a show of national unity during the First World War. He was easily elected to the House of Commons of Canada for Marquette in the election of 1917.

On June 6, 1919, Crerar resigned from his position in protest against the high tariff policies of the Conservative-dominated government. He was strongly in favor of free trade with the United States, which would have benefited the western farmers.

Progressive Party of Canada

In 1920, he was selected as leader of the Progressive Party. In the 1921 election, he led the party to a landslide victory in western Canada, giving them 65 seats in the House of Commons. Crerar failed to hold the party together, however. He resigned as leader in 1922, and the party collapsed shortly thereafter.

Private sector work

Crerar spent some time in the private sector before returning to politics in 1929, as a member of William Lyon Mackenzie King's Liberal Party. Although once again not holding a seat in parliament, he was appointed Minister of Railways and Canals (Canada) on December 30, 1929, and won a by-election in Brandon on February 5, 1930. King's government was defeated in the general election that followed, however, and Crerar was personally defeated in his riding.

Return to politics

He returned to parliament in the 1935 election, as the member for the northern Manitoba riding of Churchill. He was once again appointed to King's cabinet, serving as Minister of Immigration and Colonization, Minister of Mines, Minister of the Interior and Superintendent-General of Indian Affairs from October 23, 1935, to November 30, 1936. On December 1, 1936, he was removed from most of his responsibilities and became simply Minister of Mines and Resources, holding the position until April 17, 1945.

Crerar was appointed to the Senate of Canada on April 18, 1945, and remained a Senator until his retirement on May 31, 1966. In 1962, Crerar considered it an "error" to give voting rights to Inuit and advocated revoking this right for Inuit in the eastern Arctic to vote.[1] In 1973, he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada. He died in 1975.

Notes and References

  1. Book: Duffy, R. Quinn . 1988 . Road to Nunavut: The Progress of the Eastern Arctic Inuit since the Second World War . registration . Montreal . McGill-Queen's University Press . j.ctt130hdm7 . 0774812427.