Robert Weir, PC

Queen's Privy Council for Canada

The Queen's Privy Council for Canada ), sometimes called Her Majesty's Privy Council for Canada or simply the Privy Council, is the full group of personal consultants to the monarch of Canada on state and constitutional affairs, though responsible government requires the sovereign or her viceroy,...

 (December 5, 1882 – March 7, 1939) was a Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 politician.

Weir was born in Wingham

Wingham, Ontario

Wingham is a community located in the municipality of North Huron, Ontario, Canada, which is located in Huron County...

, Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

 and was a teacher by training. After working in Ontario he moved to Regina

Regina, Saskatchewan

Regina is the capital city of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The city is the second-largest in the province and a cultural and commercial centre for southern Saskatchewan. It is governed by Regina City Council. Regina is the cathedral city of the Roman Catholic and Romanian Orthodox...

, Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....

 where he taught, worked as an actuary, public school inspector, farmer and horse, cattle and hog breeder. He fought in World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 and was wounded at the Third Battle of Ypres.

He was elected to the Canadian House of Commons

Canadian House of Commons

The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...

 in the 1930 federal election

Canadian federal election, 1930

The Canadian federal election of 1930 was held on July 28, 1930 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 17th Parliament of Canada...

 becoming the Conservative MP

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 for Melfort

Melfort (electoral district)

Melfort was a federal electoral district in Saskatchewan, Canada, that was represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1925 to 1953. It was created in 1924 from Prince Albert riding, and was abolished in 1952 when it was redistributed into Humboldt—Melfort, Mackenzie, Prince Albert, and...

, Saskatchewan.

He was appointed to the Cabinet as Minister of Agriculture

Minister of Agriculture (Canada)

The Minister of Agriculture is a Minister of the Crown in the Cabinet of Canada, who is responsible for overseeing several organizations including Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Canadian Dairy Commission, Farm Credit Canada, Canadian Food Inspection Agency, National Farm Products Council and...

 under Richard Bennett

R. B. Bennett

Richard Bedford Bennett, 1st Viscount Bennett, PC, KC was a Canadian lawyer, businessman, politician, and philanthropist. He served as the 11th Prime Minister of Canada from August 7, 1930, to October 23, 1935, during the worst of the Great Depression years...

 at a time when farmers were faced with the drought known as the "Dust Bowl

Dust Bowl

The Dust Bowl, or the Dirty Thirties, was a period of severe dust storms causing major ecological and agricultural damage to American and Canadian prairie lands from 1930 to 1936...

" as well as the general crisis of the Great Depression

Great Depression

The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...

 which caused wheat prices to collapse from $1.28 to 60 cents a bushel within three years.

Under Weir's tenure, agricultural researchers attempted to teach farmers how to prevent soil drifting that caused the Dust Bowl and initiated a major grasshopper control campaign in 1933 that reduced crop losses.

The National Products Marketing Act, which attempted to establish a national marketing board

Marketing board

A marketing board is an organization created by many producers to try to market their product and increase consumption and thus prices. They most commonly exist to help sell farm products such as milk, eggs, or beef and are funded by the farmers of those crops. Marketing boards often also receive...

 was declared unconstitutional in 1934 for exceeding the federal government's jurisdiction.

Weir's Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration Act passed in April 1935. The law provided money to farmers to encourage them to improve their farming practices, conserve water supplies and adopt new land use practices. He also reformed and expanded scientific research by the Department of Agriculture in conjunction with the National Research Council

National Research Council of Canada

The National Research Council is an agency of the Government of Canada which conducts scientific research and development.- History :...

.

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