Thomas Alexander Crerar PC CC (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.

Thomas Crerar
Crerar, August 1919
Minister of Mines and Resources
In office
1 December 1936 – 17 April 1945
Prime MinisterW. L. Mackenzie King
Preceded byOffice Established
Succeeded byJames Allison Glen
Minister of the Interior
Minister of Mines
Minister of Immigration and Colonization
Superintendent-General of Indian Affairs
In office
23 October 1935 – 30 November 1936
Prime MinisterW. L. Mackenzie King
Preceded byThomas 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)
Succeeded byOffice Abolished
Minister of Agriculture
Acting
25 October 1935 – 3 November 1935
Prime MinisterW. L. Mackenzie King
Preceded byRobert Weir
Succeeded byJames Garfield Gardiner
In office
12 October 1917 – 11 June 1919
Prime MinisterSir Robert Borden
Preceded byMartin Burrell
Succeeded byJames Alexander Calder (acting)
Minister of Railways and Canals
In office
30 December 1929 – 6 August 1930
Prime MinisterW. L. Mackenzie King
Preceded byCharles Avery Dunning (acting)
Succeeded byRobert James Manion
Senator for Churchill, Manitoba
In office
18 April 1945 – 31 May 1966
Appointed byW. L. Mackenzie King
Member of Parliament
for Churchill
In office
14 October 1935 – 17 April 1945
Preceded byBernard Stitt
Succeeded byRonald Moore
Member of Parliament
for Brandon
In office
5 February 1930 – 27 July 1930
Preceded byRobert Forke
Succeeded byDavid Wilson Beaubier
Member of Parliament
for Marquette
In office
17 December 1917 – 28 October 1925
Preceded byWilliam James Roche
Succeeded byHenry Mullins
Personal details
Born
Thomas Alexander Crerar

(1876-06-17)17 June 1876
Molesworth, Ontario, Canada
Died11 April 1975(1975-04-11) (aged 98)
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Political party
Spouse
Jessie Hamilton
(m. 1906; died 1967)
Children2
Education
Profession
  • Farmer
  • grain merchant
  • managing director
  • teacher

Early career

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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

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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

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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

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Rt. Hon. W.L. Mackenzie King inspecting No. 110 (City of Toronto) Squadron, R.C.A.F. The aircraft in the background is Westland 'Lysander' II 417. [L-R]: Hon. T.A. Crerar, Air Marshal G.M. Croil, Rt. Hon. W.L. Mackenzie King, W/C W.D. Van Vliet, Hon. Norman Rogers, 13 January 1940.

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]: 227  In 1973, he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada. He died in 1975.

Electoral history

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1940 Canadian federal election: Churchill
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Thomas Crerar 8,276 62.5 +22.5
National Government Will Blakeman Scarth 4,963 37.5 +3.2
Total valid votes 13,239 100.0

Note: "National Government" vote is compared to Conservative vote in 1935 election.

1935 Canadian federal election: Churchill
Party Candidate Votes %
Liberal Thomas Crerar 3,603 40.0
Conservative Barney M. Stitt 3,091 34.3
Co-operative Commonwealth Alexander Stewart 2,313 25.7
Total valid votes 9,007 100.0

References

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