Alexander James McPhail (December 23, 1883 – October 21, 1931) was a

Scottish-Canadian Scottish Canadians are people of Scottish people, Scottish descent or cultural heritage, heritage living in Canada. As the third-largest ethnic group in Canada and amongst the first Europeans to settle in the country, Scottish people have made a ...

agricultural reformer, and the first president of the

Saskatchewan Wheat Pool The Saskatchewan Wheat Pool was a grain handling, agri-food processing and marketing company based in Regina, Saskatchewan. The Pool created a network of marketing alliances in North America and internationally which made it the largest agricul ...

. The

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designated him a

Person of National Historic Significance Persons of National Historic Significance (National Historic People) are people designated by the Canadian government as being nationally significant in the history of the country. Designations are made by the Minister of the Environment on the re ...

in 1971.

Early life

Alexander McPhail was born in

Paisley, Ontario Paisley is an unincorporated community and village in the municipality of Arran–Elderslie, Bruce County in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Paisley is defined by its position at the confluence of the Saugeen River and the Teeswater River, and at t ...

, the eldest of eight or nine siblings. In 1902, when he was nineteen, his parents died. He eventually took his homestead West, settling in

Bankend, Saskatchewan Bankend is a locality in the central part of Saskatchewan, Canada. Other communities in the area include Foam Lake, Ituna, Leslie, Wishart, West Bend and Leross. Bankend is located between the Touchwood Hills and the Beaver Hills. Bankend ...

in 1906. In 1913, McPhail joined the Saskatchewan Department of Agriculture. There he promoted various political and economic changes for prairie farmers. After the dismissal of P.F. Brendt, because of his German nationality as of tension caused by the

Great War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, McPhail resigned his position in 1918. Concurrently, he had been enlisted in the military as a member of the domestic militia. He then became a livestock drover in Elfros, Saskatchewan. During this period he became involved with the

Progressive Party of Canada The Progressive Party of Canada, formally the National Progressive Party, was a federal-level political party in Canada in the 1920s until 1930. It was linked with the provincial United Farmers parties in several provinces, and it spawned the P ...

and was a member of the "Ginger Group". McPhail Telegram

In 1922, he became the Secretary of the Saskatchewan Grain Growers Association, replacing J.B. Musselman. McPhail held this position until his resignation in 1924. In 1924, McPhail became the first president of the

, with George Robertson of Wynyard as secretary, after canvassers promoted pooling wheat acquired up more than 50 percent of the acreage in the province. His administration was involved with the purchase of the elevator system owned by the Saskatchewan Co-operative Elevator Co. He would be president until his death in 1931. He was also instrumental in forming the Central Sales Agency to handle the crops of the three prairie provinces. The Agency, by August 1931, fell into debt, requiring all three provincial pools it balance the dues. On October 21, 1931, at the age of 47, McPhail died after an operation at the Regina General Hospital.

Political views

McPhail was a firm believer in voluntary marketing, going so far as to campaign against compulsory marketing. He was in opposition against high salaries for top managers at the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool, stating: "Seven thousand a year should be enough for any man if his heart is in the work". He, himself, only had a salary of $4,000 a year, comparable to what he could have earned farming.

Legacy

There is a plaque dedicated to McPhail on the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool Building at 2625 Victoria Avenue in

Regina, Saskatchewan Regina () is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The city is the second-largest in the province, after Saskatoon, and is a commercial centre for southern Saskatchewan. As of the 2021 C ...

Harold Innis Harold Adams Innis (November 5, 1894 – November 9, 1952) was a Canadian professor of political economy at the University of Toronto and the author of seminal works on media, communication theory, and Canadian economic history. He helped devel ...

identified himself with McPhail's character. In compiling McPhail's diary, he describes McPhail as having "a strong sense of humour … as well as a hard agnostic bent of mind which resisted emotionalism and made imposition difficult.... He disliked publicity... He read widely, and particularly biography..." In the same work, Innis quotes an uncited source's description of McPhail, who "loathed cynicism, smartness, and pomposity in equal degrees. He admired brains and respected honesty.… It was difficult for him to unbend physically or mentally … no use for cards in any form, or any time-wasting pastimes except conversation".

References

External links

Alexander James McPhail Papers
held at th
Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, University of Toronto
{{DEFAULTSORT:McPhail, Alexander James 1883 births 1931 deaths 19th-century Scottish people Canadian people of Scottish descent Persons of National Historic Significance (Canada)

Early life

Political views

Legacy

References

Further reading

External links