MLA and Cabinet Minister: 1916 – 1922

Dunning's interests turned to politics. The Liberal government of Walter Scott, Saskatchewan's first premier, was tainted with allegations of corruption. Scott resigned, and an outsider to provincial politics, William Melville Martin, succeeded him as Liberal leader and premier, with a mandate to clean up the government.^[8] Martin recruited Dunning to the new Liberal government.^[3] In October 1916, Martin brought Dunning into Cabinet, appointing him as Provincial Treasurer. Dunning then stood for election to the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan in a by-election held in the Kinistino constituency in November 1916. Unopposed, he was acclaimed a Member of the Legislative Assembly.^[9] Dunning held the position of Provincial Treasurer continuously for his ten years as an MLA.^[10]

Traditional politics were being challenged, as farmer movements had become politically active, creating new political parties throughout Canada. Dunning's political astuteness, and his strong background in farmer organisations, were significant factors in the Saskatchewan Liberal Party retaining power.^[1] During his time in provincial politics, Dunning persuaded the farmer's movement in Saskatchewan to support the provincial Liberals, and eventually the federal Liberal party as well, at a time when farmers elsewhere switched their support to the Progressive Party of Canada and the United Farmers.

In the general election of 1917, Dunning won a contested race for the seat of Moose Jaw County by obtaining twice the votes of his opponent. He remained the member for Moose Jaw County for the remainder of his time in provincial politics. Dunning ran unopposed in the general election of 1921, and won a contested race in the general election of 1925 by a 2.5 to 1 margin.

Between 1916 and 1922, Dunning held a series of Cabinet posts. In addition to his ten years as Provincial Treasurer, he also was appointed Provincial Secretary, Minister of Agriculture, Minister of Municipal Affairs, Minister of Railways, and Minister of Telephones.^[10]

Premier of Saskatchewan: 1922 – 1926

The continued political tensions between the federal Liberal Party and the farmer-influenced Progressives led to Dunning becoming Premier of Saskatchewan in 1922, at age 36.

Premier Martin, whose support for the federal Liberals led to Dunning becoming premier

The federal Liberals were increasingly unpopular in Saskatchewan, which contributed to the rise of the Progressives. The provincial Liberals continued to advance their position as a farmers' party, to the point that in 1921, Premier Martin severed the organizational ties between the Saskatchewan Liberal Party and the federal Liberal Party.^[11] He also recruited another popular farm leader, John Archibald Maharg. Like Dunning, Maharg had ties to the farmer co-operative movement, being the president of the Saskatchewan Grain Growers Association and the Saskatchewan Co-operative Elevator Company. Maharg agreed to support the Martin government, although he stood for election as an independent member, not as a Liberal.^[12] By maintaining a close connection to the farmers with the support of Dunning and Maharg, the Martin government was re-elected in the 1921 provincial election with a substantial majority, although some Progressive candidates were also elected, forming the official opposition. Martin kept Dunning as Provincial Treasurer, and appointed Maharg as Minister of Agriculture.^[10]

John Archibald Maharg, whose resignation ended Martin's government

The situation changed with the federal election late in 1921. The federal Progressives continued to oppose the unpopular federal Liberals. Premier Martin intervened in the election at the local level in Saskatchewan, campaigning for Liberal candidates, including the Liberal candidate in Regina.^[3] His support for the federal Liberals angered the Saskatchewan Grain Growers Association, who began to discuss the possibility of establishing a separate farmer party.^[3][11] Maharg accused Martin of acting in bad faith, and resigned from Cabinet. He crossed the floor and eventually became the leader of the opposition.^[12]

The contretemps between Martin and Maharg had the potential to split the provincial Liberal party. A few months after the federal election, Martin resigned as premier and as leader of the Liberal party. The Liberals chose Dunning as the new party leader, and he then became premier of Saskatchewan.^[3] His immediate task as premier was to repair relations with the farm movement. He met with representatives of the Saskatchewan Grain Growers Association, to reassure them that he still supported the farm movement, rather than the Liberal government in Ottawa, and that the provincial Liberals were in fact a farmer party.^[3][11] He also requested copies of resolutions from the SGGA annual convention, presumably to assist in setting government policy.^[11] Dunning's overtures were successful, and the SSGA pulled back from suggestions that they should use their organisational strength to establish a separate farmer party.^[11]

Dunning further established the position of the Liberal government in a series of by-elections, most of which resulted in Liberal candidates being elected. By the time of the next general election in 1925, Dunning had healed the rift with the farmers. The Liberals were re-elected with a substantial majority, and the Progressives were unable to build on their previous success in the 1922 election.^[11]

The main issue the Dunning government faced was the falling price of wheat, which resulted from a post-war depression. His government supported the re-establishment of the Canadian Wheat Board by the federal government.^[3] The Dunning government ended prohibition after a 1924 plebiscite, but sought to continue regulation through government-owned and operated liquor stores.

A 1926 calendar from the Saskatchewan Cooperative Elevator Company, its last year of operation.

Dunning also supported efforts towards voluntary pooling of farm products, and the nascent Saskatchewan Wheat Pool.^[3] His last major policy step as premier was to arrange for the enactment of legislation to authorise the sale of the Saskatchewan Cooperative Elevator Company to the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool,^[3] over the objections of Maharg, who was still on the board of the SCEC. The Wheat Pool bought the SCEC for $11 million.^[5] (The equivalent in 2021 would be $166.91 million.^[13]) Farmers who bought shares in the SCEC for $7.50 in 1911 when Dunning was general manager would receive $155.84 per share in 1926.^[5]

Potential Liberal leader

Prime Minister Mackenzie King recruited Dunning to federal politics in 1926

Western farmers had traditionally been a source of support for the federal Liberals, but in the 1921 federal election many farmers had instead supported the Progressive party.^[11] The new leader of the federal Liberals, William Lyon Mackenzie King, had managed to defeat the Conservatives led by Prime Minister Arthur Meighen, but only won a minority government. King was able to stay in power only by support from the Progressives.^[14] King was determined to rebuild the Liberals' farm support, particularly in western Canada.

In an effort to win back farmers, Mackenzie King began to court Dunning with his strong farm roots, encouraging him to enter federal politics. Campaigning in Saskatchewan at one point, with Dunning also on the speakers' platform, King spontaneously stated to the audience that he would like to see Dunning in the federal Cabinet.^[15] In 1926, Dunning accepted the invitation. Resigning as premier and leaving provincial politics, he was elected to the federal riding of Regina by acclamation in a by-election held in March, 1926, as a member of the federal Liberals.^[3][16]

Even though King brought Dunning to Ottawa, there was a risk for King, namely that Dunning could displace King as the leader of the Liberals. In the 1925 election, the Liberals had actually come in second in seats in the House of Commons, behind the Conservatives, and only held onto power through another minority government with Progressive support. King had also been personally defeated in his own riding in Ontario.^[17] He was only able to re-enter the Commons when the Liberal member for Prince Albert, Saskatchewan resigned his seat. King was elected in the Prince Albert by-election. King was able to stay in office as prime minister, but his position as party leader was not strong.^[18]

In light of the 1925 election results and King's personal defeat, some of the power brokers in the Liberal party began to consider whether Dunning would make a better leader than King. Quiet behind-the-scenes preparations started to be made, in case King stumbled badly and it was necessary to install Dunning as leader.^[17]

By June, 1926, King was no longer able to govern. His minority government, elected only half a year earlier in the 1925 election, depended on support from the Progressives, but a political scandal in the Customs department triggered the withdrawal of Progressive support. Dunning, now in the House of Commons, vigorously defended the Liberal government, providing strong support for King, but knowing that King's defeat might well make him Liberal leader.^[19] Facing a vote of censure in the Commons which, if passed, would likely bring down his government, on June 28, 1926, King requested that the Governor General, Viscount Byng of Vimy, dissolve Parliament and call a general election. Byng refused, relying on the reserve power invested in him by the Imperial government. King immediately resigned, and Byng called on Meighen, now the Leader of the Opposition, to form a government.^[20]

The Liberals and Dunning were now in opposition. King's status as party leader was even more in doubt. The movement among leading Liberals to draft Dunning as a replacement as party leader grew stronger, now almost out in the open.^[19]

However, the party standings in the House of Commons were so close that Meighen was unable to put together a stable government. Appointed as prime minister on June 28, 1926, Meighen lost a vote of confidence in the Commons by one vote only a few days later, at 2 a.m. on July 2, 1926.^[21] Meighen in turn requested that the Governor General dissolve Parliament. This time Byng granted the dissolution, with the general election set for September.

King campaigned on the basis that Byng's refusal to grant him a dissolution, and then in turn granting a dissolution to his political opponent, was unwarranted Imperial interference in Canadian affairs. The controversy, known as the King-Byng Affair, was a winning platform for King and the Liberals. They were returned to power, although still with a minority government.^[22]

Doubts about King's status as party leader ended. Dunning was re-elected to his Regina seat by 900 votes and King again appointed him to Cabinet, no longer viewing him as a threat.^[23][24]

Minister of Railways and Canals: 1926 – 1929

When Dunning had been elected to the House of Commons in March 1926, King had immediately appointed him to the powerful position of Minister of Railways and Canals in the federal Cabinet.^[16] King re-appointed him to the same portfolio after the Liberals were returned to office in September, 1926.^[16] The position was one of particular importance to western farmers, who were dependent on the national railway system to get their products to markets.

During his time as Minister of Railways and Canals, Dunning established himself as a friend of the Western farmer.^[4] Decisions made during Dunning's tenure included his accession to a petition from area farmers to have the Canadian National Railways build a branch line through his old home of Beaver Dale to Parkerview, Saskatchewan. He also settled a longstanding debate by choosing Churchill, Manitoba as the terminus of the Hudson Bay Railway.^[3][4] Upon completion of the railway and port facilities in 1931, Churchill became the closest Canadian port to Liverpool. The shipping route to Churchill was 1,600 kilometres shorter than the overland route to Montreal. Dunning was also a staunch supporter of Sir Henry Thornton, the U.S.-born Englishman who, in 1922 had taken over the presidency of the Canadian National Railways.

Minister of Finance: 1929 – 1930

In 1929, when Dunning was still a relatively young man at age 44, King appointed him the federal Minister of Finance.^[16] As in his previous portfolio, Dunning earned a reputation for hard work and fairness. It was said that it was typical of Dunning that, although feeling ill, he remained on his feet throughout the reading and passage of his first set of estimates as Minister of Finance. As soon as the estimates were passed, Dunning collapsed and was rushed to the hospital to be treated for appendicitis.

Dunning was not only interested in domestic politics. He was also keenly interested in international politics, and particularly, in Canada's relationship with his "old country", the United Kingdom. Dunning participated in Canada's delegation to the League of Nations.

In 1930, when the United States proposed the draconian Smoot-Hawley tariff, Canada's response was the Dunning tariff with increased duties and further tariff preference for the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth countries.^[25] The opposition Conservatives criticised the tariff on the basis that the imperial preference was prejudicial to Canadian interests.^[26]

Defeat in the 1930 election

Canadians went to the polls in the general election of July, 1930, at the beginning of the Great Depression. The Conservatives under their new leader, Richard Bennett, defeated King and the Liberals, winning a majority government. Although Bennett had opposed the Dunning tariff while in opposition, the Conservatives maintained the tariff, which stayed in effect until renegotiated in the late 1930s.

Dunning lost his Regina seat by over 3,500 votes (obtaining only two-thirds of the winner's total). Safe Liberal seats were offered to Dunning, but he turned them down, thinking that a business career would protect his family's financial future. He restarted his business career reorganizing an under-performing subsidiary of the Canadian Pacific Railway, thereafter establishing a reputation as a brilliant re-organizer of insolvent companies.

Minister of Finance: 1935 – 1939

King and the Liberals regained power in the 1935 general election. Now firmly in control of the Liberal party and the government, he immediately went to Dunning, pressing him to re-enter politics.^[3] King convinced Dunning that he was needed in the tough economic times created by the Great Depression. A sitting Member of Parliament was persuaded to step aside, and Dunning was yet again acclaimed, in a 1936 by-election held in the constituency of Queen's in Prince Edward Island. Dunning returned to the Finance portfolio. This time, one of Dunning's legacies was the establishment of the Central Mortgage Bank,^[27] the predecessor to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.

Dunning was still sometimes mentioned as a possible successor to King,^[28] but in 1938, Dunning had a heart attack.^[3] Unable to carry on the stress of his Cabinet position, and locked in a perpetual conflict with the other Saskatchewan minister in the Cabinet, Jimmy Gardiner, in 1939 Dunning retired from politics.^[29]

Summary

Dunning served the third-shortest term of the fifteen Premiers of Saskatchewan. As premier, Dunning won one majority government, in the general election of 1925. He served one continuous term, from April 5, 1922, to February 26, 1926,^[35] and was in office as premier for a total of 3 years, 327 days.

Dunning was first elected as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan in 1916, and was re-elected in the general elections of 1917, 1921 and 1925. He was acclaimed in the 1916 by-election, and again in the 1921 general election. Dunning won two contested constituency elections (in 1917 and 1925) by significant margins.^[9] His total time as a member of the Legislative Assembly from 1916 to 1926 was 9 years, 105 days.

Dunning entered federal politics in 1926, being elected to the House of Commons of Canada by acclamation in a by-election in March 1926.^[16] He was re-elected in the general election in the fall of 1926.^[16] He lost his seat in the general election of 1930, but was re-elected by acclamation in by-election in 1935, this time from the riding of Queen's in Prince Edward Island. He served in the Commons for a total of 8 years, 6 months, 10 days.^[16]

Dunning stood for election a total of nine times, provincial and federal. He was elected by acclamation five times, won contested elections three times, and was defeated once. His total time as an elected representative, provincial and federal, was 17 years, 200 days.

1925 General election

Dunning led the Liberal Party in one general election, in 1925, and won a majority government.

¹ Premier when election was called; Premier after the election.
² Co-Leader of the Opposition when the election was called; Co-Leader of the Opposition after the election.

Saskatchewan constituency elections

Dunning stood for election to the Legislative Assembly four times, once in a by-election and in three general elections, in two different ridings (Kinistino and Moose Jaw County). He was acclaimed twice, and won twice by substantial margins.^[9]

Federal constituency elections, 1926 to 1935

After leaving provincial politics, Dunning stood for election to the House of Commons five times. He was elected to the House of Commons three times in one year, all from Regina, and defeated once. He later was elected from Queen's in Prince Edward Island.^[16]