Saskatchewan Premier. Born and raised on a farm near Farquhar Ontario, he moved west in 1901, working on a threshing crew in Manitoba. He obtained a university degree and eventually settled in Lemberg, Saskatchewan in 1911, where he began a career as a school teacher and principal. Gardiner soon became involved in politics and was first elected to the Saskatchewan legislature as a Liberal candidate in a 1914 by-election. He rose through party ranks, eventually became Premier of Saskatchewan from 1926 to 1929. During his tenure as Premier, Ku Klux Klan recruiters from Ontario came to Saskatchewan and attracted thousands of members. Becoming alarmed at the growth of the KKK and their attacks on the ethnic minorities that settled the Canadian west, Gardiner began a crusade to eradicate them from the province. On June 28, 1928 before a crowd of over 1000 people at Lemberg, Saskatchewan he debated R. H. Hawkins, a Klan organizer from Virginia. His success at that debate contributed to the KKK's eventual demise in Saskatchewan. He was elected to a second term as Premier in 1934 but resigned in 1935 when he was offered the high profile position of Federal Agriculture Minister in the Liberal government of William Lyon Mackenzie King. He held the agriculture portfolio from 1935 until his retirement from politics in 1957. He spent his remaining days on his farm at Lemberg which he had purchased in 1916.
Saskatchewan Premier. Born and raised on a farm near Farquhar Ontario, he moved west in 1901, working on a threshing crew in Manitoba. He obtained a university degree and eventually settled in Lemberg, Saskatchewan in 1911, where he began a career as a school teacher and principal. Gardiner soon became involved in politics and was first elected to the Saskatchewan legislature as a Liberal candidate in a 1914 by-election. He rose through party ranks, eventually became Premier of Saskatchewan from 1926 to 1929. During his tenure as Premier, Ku Klux Klan recruiters from Ontario came to Saskatchewan and attracted thousands of members. Becoming alarmed at the growth of the KKK and their attacks on the ethnic minorities that settled the Canadian west, Gardiner began a crusade to eradicate them from the province. On June 28, 1928 before a crowd of over 1000 people at Lemberg, Saskatchewan he debated R. H. Hawkins, a Klan organizer from Virginia. His success at that debate contributed to the KKK's eventual demise in Saskatchewan. He was elected to a second term as Premier in 1934 but resigned in 1935 when he was offered the high profile position of Federal Agriculture Minister in the Liberal government of William Lyon Mackenzie King. He held the agriculture portfolio from 1935 until his retirement from politics in 1957. He spent his remaining days on his farm at Lemberg which he had purchased in 1916.
Bio by: Dick Mann
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