Regina Morning Leader
September 13, 1929. p.17
By Gee J. Johnson [Leader-Post Staff Writer]
HON. WALTER SCOTT FIRST PREMIER OF SASKATCHEWAN WHEN PROVINCE FORMED IN 1905; HON. A. E. FORGET FIRST LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR
WORK OF SCOTT MARTIN, DUNNING AND GARDINER REGIMES, COVERING MORE THAN SCORE OF YEARS, REVIEWED
Twenty-four years ago, almost to the day, a citizen of Saskatchewan was called upon to form a government. He, with three others selected by him, were formally sworn in to act as advisors to the representative of His Majesty King Edward VII and to form the government of a new province. On September 12, 1905, Hon. Walter Scott took office as the first Minister of the Crown. A few days before, September 4, to be exact, Saskatchewan was officially inaugurated as part of Confederated Canada.
And now, almost 24 years to the day and hour, another citizen has been called upon to form a government. For nearly a quarter of a century a government, professing the principles of Liberalism, has held the reins of office. Now, the administration of the business of the province is given to those who profess the principles of political parties known as Conservative, Progressive and Independent--a co-operative union of government.
Glancing back over the happenings of a quarter of a century of time, one finds much of interest. When the first government took office, its control was over an area still of a pioneer character. Overnight, some 200,000 people were given the right of self-government. It exercised that right by a general election held on December 13, 1905, at which the Liberal government of Mr. Scott was endorsed.
Right at the start, the people of the province took the liveliest interest in the administration of their affairs. Because of vast distances to travel, inadequate means of communication, the campaign of 1905, of necessity, was one of misunderstanding, with the consideration of many matters of no concern to the electorate. As leader of the opposition party there was F. W. G. Haultain, now Sir Frederick Haultain, Chief Justice of Saskatchewan, a man who knew the province like a book, who held many old-time Liberal supporters to his banner by proclaiming, at the start, a provincial rights and non-party campaign.
Throughout the political history of the province no record can be found of a party in opposition to the government of the day going into a campaign with brighter prospects than the Provincial Rights party of that day. Mr. Haultain had been premier of the North West Territories. He was known from one end of the Territories to the other. The first Saskatchewan elections were held a little over a year after the province was formed with still the atmosphere and backing of Territorial administration as a pronounced factor.
The Liberal party was headed by Walter Scott, now living in retirement on British Columbia. As his colleagues in the government which was seeking a mandate from the electors he had J. H. Lamont, attorney general, now a judge of the Supreme Court of Canada, Hon. W. R. Motherwell, Minister of Agriculture, now head of the same department for the dominion and J. A. Calder, Minister of Education, not Senator Calder. Being “the government” gave to Mr. Scott some advantage in the election while another factor in his favor was the result of the election in Alberta a short time before--the Liberal party being successful in the campaign.
In the light of the provincial elections held in June of this year, when the school question appeared to be a paramount issue, it is interesting to note that the same issue was quite prominent in the first general election. With it was coupled as of special interest the autonomy terms under which Saskatchewan took charge of its own affairs, and railway development.
With these as the issues of the day both parties went into the campaign. Those who remember the contest recall the intense difficulties under which it raged,--practically no railways, no telephones or telegraphs; wintry weather; constituencies of tremendous size. Kinistino, for instance, embraced an area 500 miles long with an average width of 140 miles; Battleford 600 miles long with an average width of 85 miles. Travel was by horse and buggy and modern conveniences of travel and communication were unknown.
December 13, 1905, came and the electorate went to the polls in 25 constituencies. Victory came to the Liberal party, 17 of the seats going into that column and eight into the Provincial Rights. Examining the list of successful candidates one finds names which have gone down into the political history of the province with some degree of fame.
There was D. J. Wylie, provincial rights member for Maple Creek, a rancher of fame in those days, now living in the twilight of a long and useful life. Years later, he followed the banner of Sir Frederick Haultain as a straight Conservative, and many will remember his bellowing voice as it roared through the legislative chamber. But they will also remember his kindliness out of the chamber, and his extremely sensitive nature. In Quick succession, glancing over the list, one notes D. D. Ellis, Moosomin, now in charge as medical officer of the Home for the Infirm at Wolseley; Hon. W. R. Motherwell, George Langley, afterwards a Minister of the Crown for years; Senator Calder; the venerable Thomas McNutt; J. T. Brown, now chief justice of the Court of King’s Bench and chairman of the Grain Inquiry Commission of recent days.
And so, with its majority of nine, the Liberal government faced the members at the first session of the Saskatchewan Legislature on March 15, 1906. Right from the start there was a nice observance of British parliamentary methods in the Legislature. Then, as now at a first session of a new Legislature, the Speaker was chosen from the floor in the usual British constitutional manner, and, reading the Journals of the House, one finds all through the proper Parliamentary procedure being followed.
Just in passing it should be noted that temperance legislation was a matter early brought to the attention of this new government. Before the first session was convened Premier Scott was presented with 19 reforms from a temperance delegation which were desired in liquor legislation. Right up until 1914 the liquor question was one of outstanding importance in the administrative life of the province, and after such systems as license control, bars and dispensaries had all been tried out under successive governments, the present system was evolved and even now threatens to become a more controversial subject than in the last few years.
The Hudson Bay railway, too, came into the limelight in those early days, and one finds Hon. Walter Scott being reported in the public press in the summer of 1906 as saying “The people of Western Canada refuse to take their eyes off the Hudson Bay route,” an in the next succeeding session the Liberal government passed a resolution calling for the completion of the route.
In those early days, too, were laid the foundation of many pieces of legislation which today have become so absorbed into the ordinary life of the province as to be almost passed unnoticed. For instance, municipal hail insurance, inter-provincial trade on a co-operative basis, definite policy of public works throughout the province, assistance to cattle producers in the sale of their produce, all were subjects which found their way into the statute books in the first two or three sessions, and all, today, developed to a degree unknown in any other province.
One passes over such unfortunate happenings as libel suits, charges of corrupt practices in the first election, the unseating of a member, and the like to the more pleasant debates which ensued over the location of the capital of the province. True, many hard-hitting speeches were made by those representatives who desired their own particular ridings to house the home of government. Visits were paid by the members to various places, Regina, Saskatoon and Prince Albert being the chief contenders. It was on May 23, 1906, that by resolution Regina was definitely decided upon, although an amendment to this choice in favor of Saskatoon was presented by W. C. Sutherland, then member for Saskatoon.
In these days of budgets being presented in the Legislature amounting to millions of dollars, it is interesting to note that old records show the requirements for the new province for the 14 months ending February 28, 1907, were $2,000,000 in round figures. Here are some of the items: Public Works, $895,000; Agriculture, $142,000; public health, $25,000; education, $289,000.
One passes over political events in the next year or two, with rapid development of the province in all directions. Grain acreage and production showed an increase in one year of 95 per cent.; nearly 300 miles of railway were laid in one year. Important legislation went into the statutes such as provision for the taxation of companies owning railways operating in the province upon their yearly incomes in the province; supplementary revenue tax; construction of many public buildings, reconstruction of municipal organizations; institution of a municipal telephone system.
The second election in the province was held on August 14, 1908. A redistribution had been passed in the session before dissolution and in 41 constituencies, polling was held on that day. The result of the vote was 27 Liberals and 14 Conservatives, a slightly greater proportion for the Liberals than in the 1905 election.
Four years after the province started its life as a self-governing part of Canada, it is interesting to note, it achieved, through the constant aid given to agriculture by that provincial department, third rank in the provinces of the Dominion in grain production. The wheat yield for 1909 was given as 90,225,000 bushels; oats, 105,465,000 bushels; barley, 7,833,000 bushels; flax, 4,448,700 bushels.
A survey of development of public policy under the Liberal regime in the first four years of the life of the province shows that as of the beginning of the year 1909, the Grand Trunk Railway had built across the province with three branch lines; the C.P.R. was pushing a branch line program, agriculture was being developed under the care of the department, a road program had been commenced, finances were in good shape, the province was well on the way to a solid development.
The famous Morang school book contract came under the review of a royal commission at the close of 1908 by reason of charges made by the opposition of improper practices by the then minister of education, J. A. Calder. The commission was composed of the late Chief Justice E. L. Wetmore and the present lieutenant-governor, then Mr. Justice Newlands, and completely exonerated Mr. Calder.
October 4, 1908, was a red letter day in the history of the province in that at that time the governor-general laid the cornerstone of the Parliament Buildings.
The first session of the 1909 Legislature is written into the records as being important in view of the fact that during this session the Liberal government made its first announcement of its definite railway policy. This policy provided, in brief, for the guaranteeing by the government of the principal and interest of bonds to an amount not greater than $13,000 a mile upon certain lines. These lines included 40 miles of the G.T.P. to Yorkton, 45 to Battleford, 110 to Regina; 40 miles of the C.N.R. Craven to Prince Albert branch, 120 miles between Aylesbury and Davidson to Goose Lake, 25 miles to the Souris coal fields, 135 miles in the Maryfield territory, 40 miles from Battleford to the north west and other smaller mileage. The total pledge of the government in the way of guarantee of bonds was $8,000,000.
Such matters of legislation in connection with the public health of the province, herd law, drainage, and such public work as the building of land title offices and courthouses, railways, steel bridges, the University and so forth were all passed and developed following the second provincial election. The taking over of the Bell telephone system and the development of telephones as a publicly owned and operated utility was one of the features of the Liberal administration of that day.
In these days of great co-operative marketing organisations such as the Wheat Pool and the Pool Elevators it is interesting to note that in 1909 one of the important issues of the day was the question of elevator control in the province by private companies. In the second session of the 1909 Legislature the government accepted a report from the committee on agriculture of the Legislature for the appointment of a royal commission to make searching inquiry in the practicability of creating and operating a system of elevators which would achieve the desire of the organized farmers of the province--government ownership and operation of elevators as a public utility by an independent commission.
In 1909 this Commission, consisting of Prof. R. Magill, Dalhousie University, George Langley and the late Fred Green of the S.G.G.A., was appointed and a few months later reported suggesting legislation to provide for a co-operative organisation of the farmers themselves on the principle of maximum amount of local control and ownership by the whole body of shareholders and management through a central board.
In the next year the government presented legislation to the Legislature based on the commission’s report from which there came the Saskatchewan Co-operative Elevator Company which operated as such for a number of years until under the Gardiner government new legislation came about which brought into practical being an elevator system now known as the Pool Elevators, Limited.
Location of the University of Saskatchewan at Saskatoon came in the early part of the year, the choice being made by the board of governors of that day. Shortly after announcement was made of the appointment of J. W. Rutherford, then deputy minister of agriculture, as dean of the projected College of Agriculture (a position he still holds), and John Bracken, now Premier Bracken of Manitoba but then superintendent of fairs, as one of the professors.
On October 14, 1910, Saskatchewan had its second lieutenant-governor in the person of the late G. W. Brown, succeeding Hon. A. E. Forget, who had been governor of the N.W.T. and for the first five years of provincial life of Saskatchewan. In the early part of the year many matters of public policy were discussed at country points, particularly by the Conservative party who appeared to anticipate an early election.
During the third session of the second legislature, in 1910-11, the first Workmen’s Compensation Act went into the statute books, W. F. A. Turgeon, then attorney-general, being its sponsor. This piece of legislation stood the test for nearly 20 years and was characterised on many occasions as the most effective compensation legislation in the Empire.
Agitation for the return of natural resources to the province commenced in this session and an amendment from the government benches to an opposition resolution, brought about the first--and only--fillibuster in the legislature in the history of the province. For 61 hours, without cessation, a debate was continued, members on both sides succeeding each other in day and night relays. The point was a proposed dissolution of the legislature with the opposition determined this should not happen without a revision of the election lists.
Saskatchewan’s third election was held in 1912. The appeal of the Liberal administration was based largely on its record of seven years administration, a roads program, construction of branch railway lines by way of guarantees, farm loans, development of the Souris coal fields, establishment of demonstration farms, prosecution of the western freight rates, while that of the Conservative opposition contained planks dealing with the return of the natural resources, completion of the Hudson Bay Railway, and several in the premier’s manifesto.
Forty-four Liberal candidates were elected as against eight Conservatives. In this election for the first time a third political group, unorganized, made its appearance, in that five Independents made their appearance. None were elected and all polled small votes. Many were elected with very small majorities, the leader of the Conservative party, Mr. Haultain, only winning with a majority of 50.
This election saw the entry into the Legislature of W. B. Willoughby, Moose Jaw, later to become leader of his party and still later a member of the Upper Chamber in Ottawa. S. R. Moore, now of Swift Current, one time editor of the West newspaper in Regina, and for many years a warm supporter of Mr. Haultain, also came into the Assembly as a result of this election, having been elected as a government supporter for Pinto Creek.
The following year saw come into existence the organization of the temperance advocates which had as its motto, “Banish the Bar.” In the December session Premier Scott introduced a bill providing for a plebiscite on the question “Are you in favor of bringing into force the Abolition of the Bar Act?” but, because of apparent disagreement in the temperance party on some details, the Premier announced withdrawal of the bill from the Legislature. This session was interesting by reason of the progress reported in the agricultural development of the province. Many co-operative creameries were in operation, live stock was becoming an ever increasing important part of agriculture, huge acreage was being opened up, and agricultural prospects were of the brightest.
In the second session of 1913 the Local Government Board act was passed, the travelling libraries system was instituted, changes were made in the personnel of the Highways Commission and the policy of the road building program, and the appointment of the first royal commission to investigate grain marketing conditions (George Langley, the late J. H. Haslam, Prof. E. H. Oliver and Charles A. Dunning).
Educational matters also received particular attention during this session. The members of the Assembly were informed by a report that as of Dec. 31, 1912, there were 2,855 school districts in the province as compared with 248 in 1906; pupils enrolled, 70,567 in rural and town public schools and nearly 10,000 in high schools. Even at this early date, consideration was being given by the government to the introduction of special agricultural education in the rural schools and the recommendations of a committee of the Assembly on the point were carried into the curriculum.
Saskatchewan has always been recognized as the chief province of Canada for its organizations with their annual conventions. It is interesting to note that as of the end of 1913 there were in existence, with official recognition, no less than 17 highly organized bodies, all representative of some phase of public service. One notes such bodies as the Western Canada Live Stock Association, Saskatchewan Horse Breeders, Stock Growers, Sheep Breeders, Rural Municipal Association, agricultural societies, swine breeders, poultry association and others, all still exercising a powerful influence on public opinion today.
And so, to the opening year of the war, 1914. On the first day of the war, August 4, Premier Scott officiated at the opening of the Regina Exhibition and in his address urged the people of the province to stand calm. The war session of the Legislature opened on September 15 and the government introduced and secured approval of legislation providing for certain monies for patriotic purposes, certain changes in municipal acts to permit of amelioration of tax enforcement provisions, a so-called moratorium act which gave the government power to enforce the closing of the bars and liquor houses and transferring to the government from the Legislature the powers of complete moratorium.
In 1915 the Scott government entered on its tenth year of administration, finding itself in the throes of war. The Farm Machinery Commission, appointed the year before, reported, and as a result of its recommendations legislation was passed which today is in operation under the title of the Implement Sales Act. On May 10 one of the most important sessions in the history of the province opened and before it was prorogued legislation on such subjects as seed grain advances, creation of a Court of Appeal, and a new school act was passed. Outstanding at this time was the public pronouncement of Premier Scott at Oxbow on March 18 of a definite governmental policy in connection with temperance legislation. Because of its importance at that time and on events which followed this policy is quoted: Retail liquor stores to close at 7:00 o’clock in the evening; to call the Legislature for consideration of a measure providing for abolition of the bars and club licenses and the taking over by the government of the wholesale liquor business of the province; to provide that after the close of war no bars or clubs shall operate until after the taking of a referendum on the question; to provide for government liquor dispensaries; to provide for opportunity for the electorate by referendum to decide upon retention or otherwise of dispensary system in 1919 or any subsequent year on presentation of proper petition.
On April 1 bars were ordered to be closed at 7:00 o’clock p.m., and sales in clubs and dining cars to close at that hour. A commission was appointed to enquire into the creation of a dispensary system which later reported in favor of the South Carolina system, votes were taken, a controlling commission set up, and the sale of liquor passed into the hands of the government.
There is no need here to inquire closely into the activities of Saskatchewan and the war as viewed from the point of view of government legislation. The records show that to all public patriotic bodies, both official and unofficial, the government lent its full support.
After 11 years of service as head of the government, during which time he “rocked the cradle of youthful Saskatchewan,” to quote a writer in 1916, Hon. Walter Scott, broken in health, retired as head of the government. In the session of 1916 came the famous Bradshaw charges against members of the legislature in connection with liquor legislation, against the highways department on road contracts and the public works department in the purchase of sites for buildings and the erection of the Battleford Mental Hospital.
After almost tragic scenes in the legislature, royal commissioners were appointed to enquire into all these charges but not before some of them had been investigated by the legislature itself through its committees. Five members of the assembly were arrested, charged with accepting bribes in connection with liquor legislation, five hotel men were facing charges of attempting to bribe members of the legislature, a highway deputy minister disappeared and was finally brought back under arrest, and, generally, extraordinary exposures resulted from the charges.
Out of it all, however, came the reports of different independent royal commissioners that no member of the government was involved in any of the charges of corruption. Another highlight of the year was the referendum which resulted in the abolition of the liquor store system of that day. War services of the government continued to be of a character calculated to give the maximum of assistance to the Empire in the world struggle.
On October 20, 1916, W. M. Martin, now Mr. Justice Martin, took over the reins of office as Premier and head of the government. Members of the Scott government joined with him in the persons of Messrs. Calder, Turgeon, Motherwell, McNab, Bell, and Langley, while Charles A. Dunning, then general manager of the Saskatchewan Co-operative Elevator Company was invited to join the cabinet, accepted the invitation and became Provincial Treasurer.
Premier Martin carried the government through a general election, only six Conservatives being elected. This election saw elected to the House soldier representatives for France and Belgium and Great Britain and the advent to the legislature of Harris Turner as one of the overseas representatives, a man destined later to become the leader of a progressive group in the Assembly.
In 1916, too, there came into existence the Farmers’ Non-Partisan League and a year later there were 3,000 members in the province with every promise of the organization becoming a powerful factor in provincial politics. However, it soon died out although in some parts of the province for a year or two it was a body which caused considerable trouble both to politicians and farmers generally.
Changes in the provincial cabinet, caused by the formation in federal politics of the Union Government, brought into the ministry S. J. Latta in charge of highways and W. E. Knowles as attorney-general. General progress was reported in all public activities in which governmental action or support was necessary. In 1920 the province celebrated its fifteenth anniversary and on Sept. 1 Premier Martin issued a message in which he spoke of the government, whether led by Walter Scott or himself, as sparing no effort “to meet the just demands of agriculture” and as having carried into operation “the most advanced labor legislation in the British dominions.” He referred to the development of the province in railway facilities and in other directions and prophesied greater progress in future years.
In this year C. M. Hamilton joined the cabinet as Minister of Agriculture and his first action was to appoint Miss Isabelle Cummings, now secretary in Ottawa to Hon. W. R. Motherwell, as secretary of the department. It was the first appointment of its kind in Canada. Reports brought to the legislature in its session of this year showed the province to be forging ahead and much legislation in the general public interest was passed.
This year, February, also saw the first move of the Saskatchewan Grain Growers’ Association to enter the provincial political arena as a distinct party, an action which a few years later was to cause its downfall and final amalgamation into what is now known as the Saskatchewan Section of the United Farmers of Canada.
A difficult year followed, with poor crops and strained financial conditions. Politically, there was a slight re-organization of the Liberal government, a triangle of leaders in the grain growers movement being created with the addition to the cabinet of J. A. Maharg, the other two being George Langley and C. A. Dunning. The trio, however, was broken by the sudden retirement from the government of George Langley over a question of interfering with the administration of justice. In the session which followed legislation was enacted having to do with the work of the equalization tax commission, the appointment of a tuberculosis commission and other acts in the public interest.
A “better farming” commission was appointed consisting of Dean Rutherford, John Bracken then president of Manitoba College, H. O. Powell of the Weyburn Security Bank, N. McTaggart of Gull Lake, George Spence of Notukeu, F. H. Auld, deputy minister of agriculture and Jack Byers. Their report recommended the conduct of a soil survey as the basis of a system of better farming, a recommendation which was adopted by the government and carried on over a period of years.
On June 2, 1921, Premier Martin carried through his second general election. Sixteen government candidates were elected by acclamation and the government was sustained by a larger vote, Premier Martin’s majority in Regina being over 7,000. Twelve Independents and two Conservatives were elected and Premier Martin had a majority in the House of 29.
On April 5, 1922, Premier Martin retired and Hon. Charles A. Dunning, now federal minister of Railways and Canals and member of the House of Commons for Regina, was called to the head of the government. He took into the cabinet with him Messrs. McNab, Latta and Hamilton, with J. A. Cross, K.C., J. G. Gardiner and J. M. Uhrich as new members.
Mr. Dunning specified his platform to be a continuation of Liberal policies as enunciated by Hon. Walter Scott when the province was created with further application of the co-operative principle to economic problems connected with production and marketing, a soil survey of the province, an investigation into the problem of tuberculosis and provision of facilities to cope with the disease, vigorous enforcement of the temperance act, continued educational progress, further development of the highways and telephone policies, development of the work of the Farm Loans Board, and continued effort for reduced freight rates and acquisition of the natural resources.
Mr. Dunning’s regime was notable for the policy of retrenchment which was instituted at the beginning of the career of the reconstructed government and continued throughout the years Mr. Dunning remained as head of the government. Many difficult problems were met by the government in the period from 1922 to 1926 at which time Mr. Dunning retired from provincial politics to enter the federal arena.
On February 26, 1926, J. G. Gardiner was called on to form a government. Messrs. Latta, Hamilton, Cross and Uhrich followed him and W. J. Patterson and T. C. Davis, K.C., were added to the cabinet, the former becoming provincial treasurer and the latter attorney-general. Mr. Gardiner took the portfolio at the start of Minister of Railways but two years later took charge of the education department, Mr. Latta taking over the work of the municipal department.
Mr. Gardiner remained at the head of the government from 1925 until the provincial elections of June 6, 1929, when although the Liberal party was returned with the largest individual membership, the government suffered defeat in the Legislature on September 6 by reason of the Conservative, Independent and Progressive members joining together on a vote of want of confidence in the government.
The policies of the Liberal party were continued by Mr. Gardiner during his term of office, one of the most notable incidents being the reorganization, financially and managerially, of the Saskatchewan Co-operative Creameries and the legislation respecting the disposition of the co-operative elevator system to the Pool Elevator, Ltd.
On September 9 a new government was called into existence because of the defeat of the Liberal government. Dr. J. T. M. Anderson, leader of the Conservative party, was called on by the lieutenant-governor to form a new administration. This he did, calling the new government a Co-operative Government.
So that after 24 years of power the Liberal members of the Legislature now cross to the opposition side of the Legislature. Within a day of defeat in the legislature official statement was made by the Liberal chiefs that it was the intention of the party to continue the preaching of the principles of Liberalism as laid down in the early days of the province and pointing to the legislation by the Liberal government on the statute books having to do with educational development, granting of the franchise to women, progressive action in regard to temperance, co-operative effort, public health, railway and highway development, hail insurance, control of sale of farm machinery, farm loans, and so forth, as evidence of beneficial effects which have followed in the wake of almost a quarter of a century of Liberal rule in the province.
