View source for Thomas Crerar

{{Short description|Canadian politician (1876–1975)}}
{{Use Canadian English|date=September 2021}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2021}}
{{more footnotes|date=March 2016}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix    = [[The Honourable]]
| name                = Thomas Crerar
| honorific-suffix    = {{post-nominals|country=CAN|PC|CC|size=100%}}
| image               = CRERAR.jpg
| alt                 = 
| caption             = Crerar, August 1919
| 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 (Canada)|Minister of the Interior]]<br>[[Minister of Mines (Canada)|Minister of Mines]]<br>[[Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship#Preceding offices responsible for immigration|Minister of Immigration and Colonization]]
<br>[[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)<br>
[[Wesley Ashton Gordon]] (as Minister of Mines and Minister of Immigration and Colonization)
| successor1           = ''Office Abolished''
| office2             = [[Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food|Minister of Agriculture]]
| primeminister2      = W. L. Mackenzie King
| term_start2         = 25 October 1935
| term_end2           = 3 November 1935
| predecessor2        = [[Robert Weir (politician)|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 Transport (Canada)#Minister of Railways and Canals (1879–1936)|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             = [[Senate of Canada|Senator]] for [[List of Manitoba senators#Churchill|Churchill, Manitoba]]
| appointed5          = W. L. Mackenzie King
| term_start5         = 18 April 1945
| term_end5           = 31 May 1966
| predecessor5        = 
| successor5          = 
| riding6             = [[Churchill (electoral district)|Churchill]]
| parliament6         = Canadian
| term_start6         = 14 October 1935
| term_end6           = 17 April 1945
| predecessor6        = [[Bernard Stitt]]
| successor6          = [[Ronald Moore (Canadian politician)|Ronald Moore]]
| riding7             = [[Brandon (electoral district)|Brandon]]
| parliament7         = Canadian
| term_start7         = 5 February 1930
| term_end7           = 27 July 1930
| predecessor7        = [[Robert Forke]]
| successor7          = [[David Wilson Beaubier]]
| riding8             = [[Marquette (federal electoral district)|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          = {{Birth date|1876|6|17|df=y}}
| birth_place         = [[Molesworth, Ontario|Molesworth]], [[Ontario]], Canada
| death_date          = {{Death date and age|1975|4|11|1876|6|17|df=y}}
| death_place         = [[Victoria, British Columbia|Victoria]], [[British Columbia]], Canada
| restingplace        = 
| party               = 
{{plainlist|
* [[Unionist Party (Canada)|Unionist]] (1917&ndash;1922)
* [[Progressive Party of Canada|Progressive]] (1921–1925)
* [[Liberal Party of Canada|Liberal]] (1930–1966)
}}
| children            = 2
| profession          = {{hlist|Farmer|grain merchant| managing director|teacher}}
| spouse              = {{marriage|Jessie Hamilton|1906|1967|end=died}}
| education           = 
{{plainlist|
* [[University of Manitoba]] ([[Legum Doctor|LLD]])
}}
| signature           = 
}}

'''Thomas Alexander Crerar''' {{Post-nominals|country=CAN|PC|CC}} (17 June 1876 – 11 April 1975) was a western [[Canadians|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 [[Unionist Party (Canada)|Union]] government on October 12, 1917, to provide a show of national unity during the [[World War I|First World War]].  He was easily elected to the [[House of Commons of Canada]] for [[Marquette (federal electoral district)|Marquette]] in the [[1917 Canadian federal election|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 of Canada|Progressive Party]]. In the [[1921 Canadian federal election|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 of Canada|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 (electoral district)|Brandon]] on February 5, 1930.  King's government was defeated in the [[1930 Canadian federal election|general election that followed]], however, and Crerar was personally defeated in his riding.

==Return to politics==
[[File:KingAircraftInspection1940.jpg|thumb|left|Rt. Hon. [[William Lyon Mackenzie King|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 [[George Croil|G.M. Croil]], Rt. Hon. W.L. Mackenzie King, W/C W.D. Van Vliet, Hon. [[Norman McLeod Rogers|Norman Rogers]], 13 January 1940.]]

He returned to parliament in the [[1935 Canadian federal election|1935 election]], as the member for the northern [[Manitoba]] riding of [[Churchill (electoral district)|Churchill]].  He was once again appointed to King's cabinet, serving as [[Minister of Immigration and Colonization]], [[Minister of Mines (Canada)|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.<ref name = "duffy88">{{cite book |last=Duffy |first=R. Quinn |date=1988 |title=Road to Nunavut: The Progress of the Eastern Arctic Inuit since the Second World War |url=https://archive.org/details/roadtonunavutpro0000duff |url-access=registration |location=Montreal |publisher=McGill-Queen's University Press |jstor=j.ctt130hdm7 |isbn=0774812427}}</ref>{{rp|227}} In 1973, he was made a Companion of the [[Order of Canada]]. He died in 1975.

== Electoral history ==
{{1940 Canadian federal election/Churchill}}
{{1935 Canadian federal election/Churchill}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Canadian Parliament links|ID=5198}}
* {{Canadian honour|Type=orc|ID=1907|accessdate=26 May 2010}}

{{CA-Ministers-of-the-Interior}}
{{CA-Ministers of Agriculture}}
{{CA-Ministers of Transport}}
{{CA-Ministers of Immigration and Colonization}}
{{CA-Superintendents-General of Indian Affairs}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crerar, Thomas}}
[[Category:1876 births]]
[[Category:1975 deaths]]
[[Category:Canadian senators from Manitoba]]
[[Category:Companions of the Order of Canada]]
[[Category:Liberal Party of Canada MPs]]
[[Category:Liberal Party of Canada senators]]
[[Category:Liberal-Unionist MPs in Canada]]
[[Category:Ministers of railways and canals of Canada]]
[[Category:Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Manitoba]]
[[Category:Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada]]
[[Category:Progressive Party of Canada MPs]]
[[Category:Persons of National Historic Significance (Canada)]]
[[Category:Ministers of the interior of Canada]]
[[Category:Canadian people of World War II]]
[[Category:20th-century members of the House of Commons of Canada]]
[[Category:20th-century members of the Senate of Canada]]