Fonds F622 - Canadian Council of Agriculture fonds

The year 1909 was the beginning of country-wide co-operation among organized farmers when E. A. Partridge of Saskatchewanand D. W. McCuaig and Roderick McKenzie of Manitoba proposed united action by organized farmers in all provinces. This bore fruit the following year when the annual meetingof the SGGA at Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, was also attended by delegates from Ontario,Manitoba and Alberta. The meeting formed the Canadian Council of Agriculture with D. W. McCuaig of Manitoba as President and E. C. Drury of Ontario as Secretary. The Council acted as a co-ordinating body of the provincial groups and was soon directing national action on a massive scale. In 1916 the UFO had affiliated to the Canadian Council of Agriculture and sections of the UFO program were incorporated into the Farmers' Platform adopted by the Council in that year. These sections included the nationalization of railways, a more progressive system of taxation and legislation more favourable to the establishment of co-operatives. By 1935 the Canadian Council of Agriculture was faltering and was revitalized under the name Canadian Chamber of Agriculture.