Saskatchewan Politics Research Guide: Charles Avery Dunning

Dunning (1885-1958) came to Canada as a youth and became a homesteader in Saskatchewan. First successful as a farm leader and in business, for 20 years he was active and influential in politics as a Liberal and ministerial associate of Mackenzie King. From 1940-58 he was chancellor of Queen's University.

Describes the unsuccessful political maneuvers designed to weaken Mackenzie King's hold on the Liberal Party, with particular attention paid to the activities of the western Progressives in advancing the cause of Charles A. Dunning, premier of Saskatchewan. Material based on personal interviews and unpublished papers of political leaders of the time, especially the papers of A. K. Cameron in the Public Archives of Canada.

Jimmy Gardiner succeeded Charles Dunning as premier of Saskatchewan in 1926. Both men had risen through the Liberal Party ranks and had farming backgrounds, and the two men interacted for many years in Saskatchewan and Canadian politics. Due mainly to differences in personalities, however, Gardiner and Dunning often feuded, a factor that influenced both Saskatchewan politics and national politics, since Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King wanted both men in his cabinet in the 1930's. Fort

After World War I disenchanted Canadian farmers organized the Progressive Party to establish Provincial and Federal Governments that would be responsive to the demands of western wheat growers. Prairie agriculture was depressed and the farmers were deserting the Liberal and Conservative Parties. More than any other person Liberal Premier Charles Avery Dunning saved Saskatchewan from falling to the Progressives. Dunning's considerable role in the 1925 national success of the Liberals earned him a

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(1926-1929; 1934-1935)

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