Life and career
Born in St. Catharines,Ontario,the son of William Garson and Margaret Annable,Garson came to Manitoba with his parents in 1901. He received a Bachelor of Law degree from the University of Manitoba in 1918 and was called to the bar a year later. He practised law in Ashern,Manitoba,from 1919 to 1928. Garson was first elected to the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba for the riding of Fairford in 1927 as a Progressive,defeating incumbent Liberal Albert Kirvan. He defeated again Kirvan in 1932,and faced only minor competition for the remainder of his time in the Manitoba legislature. In early 1932,Garson was one of the founding members of the province's Liberal-Progressive coalition.
Garson was sworn in as provincial Treasurer on September 21,1936. He also became minister of the Manitoba Power Commission on November 4,1940,and Minister of Public Utilities on May 15,1941. He continued to hold all of these positions after succeeding John Bracken as Premier on January 14,1943. He resigned the MPC and Utilities portfolios in 1944.
Garson's government was perhaps slightly more interventionist than those of Bracken and his eventual successor Douglas Campbell. Garson's ministry began a program of rapid rural electrification,and made some effort to service the needs of returning soldiers after World War II. All the same,he rejected demands from the Manitoba Co-operative Commonwealth Federation to introduce programs in public housing and old-age pensions.
Under Garson's leadership,the "Liberal-Progressive" alliance became a united party—albeit one that was dominated by former Progressive politicians. His ministry also retained close ties to the federal Liberal government of William Lyon Mackenzie King.
Garson moved to federal politics in 1948,at the behest of new Liberal Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent. On November 15,1948,Garson was sworn in as Minister of Justice and Attorney General;he was elected to the federal parliament in a by-election for the rural seat of Marquette the next month. For the next nine years,Garson would be the dominant cabinet minister from Manitoba in St. Laurent's government. He also served as Solicitor General of Canada from August 7,1950,to October 14,1952.
Garson lost his seat in 1957,the year that Progressive Conservative leader John Diefenbaker formed a minority government. Indeed,Diefenbaker's Tories won victory mainly by ousting many Liberal MPs from the Prairies,including Garson. He retired from political life. In 1971,he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada.
John George Diefenbaker was the 13th prime minister of Canada, serving from 1957 to 1963. He was the only Progressive Conservative party leader between 1930 and 1979 to lead the party to an election victory, doing so three times, although only once with a majority of the seats in the House of Commons.
The 1957 Canadian federal election was held June 10, 1957, to select the 265 members of the House of Commons of Canada of the 23rd Parliament of Canada. In one of the greatest upsets in Canadian political history, the Progressive Conservative Party, led by John Diefenbaker, brought an end to 22 years of Liberal rule, as the Tories were able to form a minority government despite losing the popular vote to the Liberals.
John Bracken was a Canadian agronomist and politician who was the 11th and longest-serving premier of Manitoba (1922–1943) and later the leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada (1942–1948).
Liberal-Progressive was a label used by a number of candidates in Canadian elections between 1925 and 1953. In federal and Ontario politics, there was no Liberal-Progressive party: it was an alliance between two parties. In Manitoba, a party existed with this name.
The Manitoba Liberal Party is a political party in Manitoba, Canada. Its roots can be traced to the late 19th century, following the province's creation in 1870.
The Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba is a centre-right political party in Manitoba, Canada. It is currently the governing party in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba, after winning a substantial majority in the 2016 election and maintaining a majority in the 2019 election.
Douglas Lloyd Campbell was a politician in Manitoba, Canada. He served as the 13th premier of Manitoba from 1948 to 1958. He was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba for 47 years, longer than anyone in the province's history.
Errick French Willis was a politician in Manitoba, Canada. He served as leader of the province's Conservative Party between 1936 and 1954, and was responsible for beginning and ending the party's alliance with the Liberal-Progressive Party. He also served as Manitoba's 15th Lieutenant Governor between 1960 and 1965.
The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (Manitoba) (CCF), known informally as the Manitoba CCF, was a provincial branch of the national Canadian party by the same name. The national CCF was the dominant social-democratic party in Canada from the 1930s to the early 1960s, when it merged with the labour movement to become the New Democratic Party. The Manitoba CCF, created in 1932, played the same role at the provincial level.
James Allison Glen, was a Canadian parliamentarian and Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada from 1940 to 1945.
John Stewart McDiarmid was a Manitoba politician. He held senior ministerial positions in the governments of John Bracken, Stuart Garson and Douglas Campbell, and served as the province's 14th Lieutenant Governor between 1953 and 1960.
William Morton was a politician in Manitoba, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1927 to 1958, and was a cabinet minister in the governments of John Bracken, Stuart Garson and Douglas Campbell. His father, Thomas Lewis Morton, was a member of the assembly from 1888 to 1903.
Ivan Schultz was a politician in Manitoba, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba as a Liberal-Progressive from 1930 to 1955, and was a prominent cabinet minister in the governments of John Bracken, Stuart Garson and Douglas Campbell.
Sauveur Marcoux was a politician in Manitoba, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba as a Liberal-Progressive from 1936 until the time of his death, and was a cabinet minister in the governments of John Bracken, Stuart Garson and Douglas Campbell.
James O. McLenaghen was a politician in Manitoba, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1927 until his death, and was a cabinet minister in the governments of John Bracken, Stuart Garson and Douglas Campbell.
Norman Leslie Turnbull was a politician in Manitoba, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1936 to 1949 as a representative of the Social Credit League, and was a cabinet minister in the governments of John Bracken and Stuart Garson.
John Cameron Dryden was a politician in Manitoba, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1941 to 1949, and was a cabinet minister in the governments of Stuart Garson and Douglas Campbell.
Gunnar Solmunder (Solly) Thorvaldson, was a politician in Manitoba, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1941 to 1949, and in the Senate of Canada from 1958 until his death. Originally elected as a Conservative, he sat as a Progressive Conservative after the party changed its name in 1943.
Gordon Minto Churchill, was a Canadian politician. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1946 to 1949 as an independent, and in the House of Commons of Canada from 1951 to 1968 as a Progressive Conservative. He served in the cabinet of Prime Minister John Diefenbaker.
Robert Alexander Hoey was a politician in Manitoba, Canada. He was a member of the House of Commons of Canada from 1921 to 1925, served in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1927 to 1936, and was a cabinet minister in the government of John Bracken.
