The United Farmers of Canada was a radical farmers organization. It was established in 1926 as the United Farmers of Canada (Saskatchewan Section) as a merger of the Farmers' Union of Canada and the Saskatchewan Grain Growers' Association.MacPherson, Ian
United Farmers of Canada
, ''Encyclopedia of Canada'', accessed February 14, 2008 The name United Farmers came from the movements that had been established and run for election, in some cases taking power, in several provinces such as the

United Farmers of Ontario The United Farmers of Ontario (UFO) was an agrarian and populist provincial political party in Ontario, Canada. It was the Ontario provincial branch of the United Farmers movement of the early part of the 20th century. History Foundation and r ...

, the

United Farmers of Alberta The United Farmers of Alberta (UFA) is an association of Alberta farmers that has served different roles in its 100-year history – as a lobby group, a successful political party, and as a farm-supply retail chain. As a political party, it forme ...

and federally as 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 ...

. The UFC campaigned in the late 1920s for a "100% pool system" in which the government would market all grain – an idea that was ultimately adopted in part in 1935 with the creation of the

Canadian Wheat Board The Canadian Wheat Board (french: Commission canadienne du blé, links=no) was a marketing board for wheat and barley in Western Canada. Established by the Parliament of Canada on 5 July 1935, its operation was governed by the Canadian Wheat Bo ...

and also operated educational programs for farmers and called for reforms in the health care system and education. With the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

and the

Dust Bowl The Dust Bowl was a period of severe dust storms that greatly damaged the ecology and agriculture of the American and Canadian prairies during the 1930s. The phenomenon was caused by a combination of both natural factors (severe drought) an ...

the Saskatchewan Section became more militant under the leadership of

George Hara Williams George Hara Williams (November 17, 1894 – September 12, 1945) was a Canadian farmer activist and politician.Dale-Burnett, LisaWilliams, George (1894–1945), ''Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan, accessed February 12, 2008 Biography Born in Binsca ...

and decided to enter electoral politics on a socialist platform. In 1932, the UFC(SS) joined with the

Independent Labour Party The Independent Labour Party (ILP) was a British political party of the left, established in 1893 at a conference in Bradford, after local and national dissatisfaction with the Liberals' apparent reluctance to endorse working-class candidates ...

in Saskatchewan to form the

Farmer-Labour Group There have been various groups in Canada that have nominated candidates under the label Labour Party or Independent Labour Party, or other variations from the 1870s until the 1960s. These were usually local or provincial groups using the Labour Pa ...

which contested the 1934 Saskatchewan election winning five seats. The FLP affiliated with the new

Co-operative Commonwealth Federation The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF; french: Fédération du Commonwealth Coopératif, FCC); from 1955 the Social Democratic Party of Canada (''french: Parti social démocratique du Canada''), was a federal democratic socialism, democra ...

and became the

Saskatchewan CCF CCF can refer to: Computing * Confidential Consortium Framework, a free and open source blockchain infrastructure framework developed by Microsoft * Customer Care Framework, a Microsoft product Finance * Credit conversion factor converts the a ...

which went on to take power in

1944 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 2 – WWII: ** Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command French Army B, part of the Sixth United States Army Group in Nor ...

. The United Farmers of Canada (Alberta Section) was formed in 1938 by radical members of the declining

and was reorganized in 1943 as the Alberta Farmers' Union. In 1949 the UFC(SS) became the Saskatchewan Farmers' Union. The Interprovincial Farm Union Council was formed in 1945 by these and other provincial organizations which, in 1960, became the National Farmers Union.

References

{{Authority control 1926 establishments in Saskatchewan 1949 disestablishments in Canada Agrarian parties in Canada Agricultural organizations based in Canada Defunct agrarian political parties Farmers' organizations Organizations based in Saskatchewan Political parties disestablished in 1949 Political parties established in 1926 Progressivism in Canada Social democratic parties in Canada Saskatchewan New Democratic Party