Rupert David Ramsay (1899 – 24 August 1962) was a Canadian politician who served as the leader of the

Progressive Conservative Party of Saskatchewan The Progressive Conservative Party of Saskatchewan is a conservative political party in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. Founded in 1905 by former Northwest Territories Premier Frederick Haultain, the party was first known as the Provincial ...

from 1944 to 1949. Born in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

in 1899, Ramsay grew up in an agricultural environment and pursued agriculture professionally, serving in various positions before becoming a

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

and department head at the

University of Saskatchewan The University of Saskatchewan (U of S, or USask) is a Universities in Canada, Canadian public university, public research university, founded on March 19, 1907, and located on the east side of the South Saskatchewan River in Saskatoon, Saskatch ...

. He led the Progressive Conservative Party in two elections: the

1944 Saskatchewan general election The 1944 Saskatchewan general election, the tenth in the history of the province, was held on June 15, 1944 to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan. The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, under the leadership of Tommy Do ...

and the

1948 Saskatchewan general election The 1948 Saskatchewan general election, the eleventh in the history of the province, was held on June 24, 1948, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan. The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation government of Premier Tommy Do ...

. The party performed poorly in both elections, never winning a single legislature seat. Ramsay announced his resignation from the leadership post in 1948 and officially resigned in 1949, after which he continued to work at the University of Saskatchewan until his death in 1962.

Early life and education

Ramsay was born in 1899 in

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, and moved in 1905 to

Bladworth Bladworth (Canada 2016 Census, 2016 population: ) is a village in the Provinces and territories of Canada (Not to be confused with maple syrup), Canadian province of Saskatchewan within the Rural Municipality of McCraney No. 282 and Division No. ...

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...

with his father, who specialized in raising Clydesdale horses and farming seed grains. Ramsay graduated from the University of Saskatchewan with a Bachelor's of Science and Arts degree in 1929. In 1932, he graduated from the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

with a Master's of Science degree, specializing in animal nutrition.

Before politics

Aside from a one-year stint with the Industrial and Development Council of Canadian Meat Packers, Ramsay worked with the University of Saskatchewan's Agricultural Extension Department as a livestock specialist throughout the 1930s and early 1940s.

Politics

Context

The Conservative Party of Saskatchewan faced a general decline in popularity during the 1930s due to the

Great Recession The Great Recession was a period of market decline in economies around the world that occurred from late 2007 to mid-2009.

, which started shortly after Conservative

Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of govern ...

J.T.M. Anderson took office. To be competitive against the new

democratic socialist Democratic socialism is a left-wing economic and political philosophy that supports political democracy and some form of a socially owned economy, with a particular emphasis on economic democracy, workplace democracy, and workers' self-mana ...

Co-operative Commonwealth Federation The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF; , FCC) was a federal democratic socialism, democratic socialistThe following sources describe the CCF as a democratic socialist political party: * * * * * * and social democracy, social-democ ...

, the party adopted what was then considered a radical platform, which called for some policies the Conservatives traditionally opposed, including the provision of

universal healthcare Universal health care (also called universal health coverage, universal coverage, or universal care) is a health care system in which all residents of a particular country or region are assured right to health, access to health care. It is genera ...

, and rebranded itself as the Progressive Conservative Party.

Leadership election

On February 15, 1944, H.E. Keown officially resigned from the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party during the leadership convention that was to choose his successor. In his farewell address, Keown expressed a desire for his "successor as leader to be a man closely identified with agriculture." The leadership convention chose Ramsay, who was then a professor at the University of Saskatchewan, much to the delight of establishment members who desired an agricultural leader from Saskatoon. The

Regina Leader-Post The ''Regina Leader-Post'' is a broadsheet newspaper published in Regina, Saskatchewan, owned by Postmedia Network. Founding The newspaper was first published as ''The Leader'' in 1883 by Nicholas Flood Davin, soon after Edgar Dewdney, Lieutenan ...

, which generally supported the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

at the time, spoke highly of Ramsay in an editorial. As leader, Ramsay was heavily supported by the federal Progressive Conservative Party, which paid his salary as party leader since he simultaneously served as the Director of Organization in Saskatchewan for the federal party.

1944 election

Liberal Premier

William John Patterson William John Patterson (May 13, 1886 – June 10, 1976) was a Liberal politician and the sixth premier of Saskatchewan from 1935 to 1944. He was first elected to the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan in the 1921 election. He succeeded Jam ...

called an election for June 15, 1944. Patterson had been in office for six years but was able to extend his government's mandate due to

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Ramsay's Progressive Conservatives ran a total of 39 candidates—not a full slate of 52. Ramsay's signature agricultural policy called for "fair prices for farm products by expanding trade by progressively lowering the

barriers to trade Trade barriers are government-induced restrictions on international trade. According to the theory of comparative advantage, trade barriers are detrimental to the world economy and decrease overall economic efficiency. Most trade barriers work o ...

." Despite this and many other novel platform commitments, the election was traded by voters as a two-way competition between the Liberal Party and the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation.

Tommy Douglas Thomas Clement Douglas (20 October 1904 – 24 February 1986) was a Scottish-born Canadian politician who served as the seventh premier of Saskatchewan from 1944 to 1961 and leader of the New Democratic Party from 1961 to 1971. A Bap ...

' Co-operative Commonwealth Federation overwhelmingly won the election with 53% of the popular vote, filling 47/52 legislature seats. In second place, the Liberals won 35% of the popular vote, filling the remaining seats. Ramsay's Progressive Conservatives won 12% of the popular vote and no seats—their third successive loss.

1948 election

In the election of June 24, 1948, Ramsay faced now-Premier Tommy Douglas with his Co-operative Commonwealth Federation and the new leader of the Liberal Party, Walter Tucker, a former Member of Parliament. Tucker had sought to convince individual Progressive Conservative constituency associations not to run candidates against Liberal candidates to avert a vote-split. Ramsay refused to discuss Tucker's proposed formal coalition of the Liberal and Progressive Conservative campaigns. Ramsay ran on a new platform that promised a wheat stabilization fund to provide security for farm income, and cooperation with the federal government as they developed a national universal healthcare plan. Ramsay's party only fielded nine candidates to run in the 52 ridings. The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation was re-elected with 48% of the popular vote and 31/52 seats, while the Liberals won 31% of the popular vote and 19 seats. Both Ramsay's Progressive Conservatives and the new Social Credit Party won 8% of the vote and no seats.

Resignation

Following his loss in 1948, Ramsay announced that he would resign his leadership once a successor was found, although the party's executives delayed the leadership convention in hope that he would change his mind and continue to serve. In his final report to the party's executives, he wrote that he believed the "that Progressive Conservatives are through provincially in Saskatchewan." Ramsay's favoured candidate,

Alvin Hamilton Francis Alvin George Hamilton (March 30, 1912June 29, 2004) was a Canadians, Canadian politician. Hamilton led the Progressive Conservative Party of Saskatchewan from 1949 until he was elected to the House of Commons of Canada in the 1957 Canadi ...

, was elected to replace him on October 12, 1949.

After politics

After resigning as party leader, Ramsay led the Memorial Union Building Fund at the University of Saskatchewan. Later, from 1951 to 1953, he served as the General Secretary of the Agricultural Institute of Canada in Ottawa. He then served as the Director of the University of Saskatchewan's Agricultural Extension Department until his death in 1962. Ramsay advocated for a farmers' market in the suburbs of Saskatoon. He also helped to establish the University of Saskatchewan's Farm and Home Week and its Seed Fair, and contributed to revisions of the ''Guide for Farm Practice in Saskatchewan''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ramsay, Rupert 1899 births 1962 deaths Saskatchewan political party leaders University of Saskatchewan alumni University of Minnesota alumni Academic staff of the University of Saskatchewan