Thomas Walter Scott
After Saskatchewan became a province in 1905, the first man to sit in the big chair as premier was Thomas Walter Scott.
So let’s dive into the life, of that first premier of the prairie province.
Thomas Walter Scott was born on Oct. 27, 1867, only a few months after Canadian Confederation in London Township, Ontario.
Born out of wedlock to his parents George and Isabella, something he kept secret for his entire life, he was primarily raised by his mother and grandmother early in his life. His father died when he was a baby.
When he was four, his mother married a local farmer, and Walter became the step-son in a new family.
He moved out west in 1885 to Manitoba at the age of 18 to work on his uncle’s farm. When he arrived, his uncle was not there, as he was at Batoche fighting in the North West Resistance against Louis Riel.
Without his uncle around, Scott took a job with the Weekly Manitoba Liberal and it was there he learned the art of journalism.
One year later, he moved to Regina to begin a new life in the new capital of the North-West Territories.
In 1892, Scott became a partner in the Regina Standard, which lasted until the following year.
From 1894 to 1895, he was the owner and editor of the Moose Jaw Times, and then in 1895 he bought the Regina Leader and was the editor of that newspaper until 1900. To supplement his income, he bought land in and around Regina.
In his first editorial, he stated that he was tied to no party or policy that was not for the benefit for the west.
During this time in 1890, he married Jessie Read and they adopted Jessie’s niece Dorothy. The couple had no children of their own.
The same year he left the Regina Leader, Scott was elected to the House of Commons as a Liberal. He became known for his attacks on the CPR in the House of Commons, which helped raise his profile in the Liberal Party and in Canada.
He was re-elected again in 1904 and played a central role in helping to create the province of Saskatchewan.
While he initially supported creating one large province called Buffalo, he changed his view and sided with the Laurier government in its creation of Alberta and Saskatchewan.
On Aug. 16, 1905, the new Liberal Party of Saskatchewan held a leadership convention to choose its leader. Scott was the unanimous choice and in his acceptance speech, he stated he would provide the new province with an open and clean government.
While Frederick Haultain, who was the Premier of the North West Territories, was a natural choice to become the first premier of Saskatchewan, he hurt his chances by opposing the creation of two provinces rather than one.
Laurier appointed Amedee E. Forget to be Lt. Governor of Saskatchewan, and Forget then named Scott as Premier of Saskatchewan.
On Sept. 5, 1905, Scott was sworn in as premier.
He said on that day,
“On Tuesday, Sept. 5, the Lt. Governor invited me to form the first Saskatchewan government, which task I accepted. I was sworn in at government house at 5 p.m. that day.”
The Leader-Post said,
“From printer’s devil to the premiership of the new province of Saskatchewan in about 20 years is the amazing stretch accomplished by Walter Scott.”
A few months later on Dec. 13, 1905, the province’s first election was held. Scott and the Liberals ran on the slogan of Peace, Progress and Prosperity.
The election was easily won by the Liberals, who took 16 seats, while Frederick Haultain and the Provincial Rights Party won nine.
In March 1906, Scott opened the first legislative session in Saskatchewan’s history. The main issue he dealt with was the naming of the capital of the province.
While Scott wanted Regina to remain the capital, he found out that two-thirds of his caucus wanted Saskatoon to be the capital. Scott demanded the Regina be the capital, and eventually those in his caucus followed him.
The Montreal Star wrote,
“For the first time since the Saskatchewan Act was introduced in Parliament, Regina citizens have become agitated over the question of the location of the permanent capital of the province.”
On May 23, 1906, the vote to move the capital to Saskatoon was held, and was defeated 21-2.
The Winnipeg Tribune wrote,
“Regina has been all excitement on the question during the past few days and the legislative chamber was crowded to the doors with Saskatoon and Regina people when the matter came before the House this afternoon.”
While serving as premier, Scott was also the Minister of Public Works. As a result, he was in charge of finding a location for the Legislative Building in Regina. In June 1906, the location was chosen and work began to develop the legislature and the public park, now called Wascana Park, around it.
Scott also appointed the first Royal Commission in the province’s history, whose task was to look at local government. The recommendations of the Royal Commission led to the Rural Municipality Act three years later, which created 300 Rural Municipalities in the province, each 840 square kilometres in size.
His government also appointed Francis Dagger, an expert in telephones, to study the possibility of a provincial telephone service. He recommended that rural residents form their own co-operative companies to provide telephone services to subscribers.
Within a year of becoming premier, seeing that the automobile was becoming the new form of transportation, Scott and his government spent $100,000 on highway construction. That dollar figure would continue to increase throughout Scott’s time in office.
Public education was also expanded during his first term as premier, with the number of schools rising from 405 to 2,747 in the seven years from when Saskatchewan became a province.
Another major task during that first term was creating a provincial university, something he promised during the province’s first election. Since Regina was to be the capital, it was decided that Saskatoon would get the provincial university. He chose Walter Charles Murray from Dalhousie University to be the first president of the University of Saskatchewan. Scott told him,
“This is a great country. It needs big men with large ideas.”
The amount of work that Scott put in during his first term in office took a toll on his health. In the winter of 1906-07, he dealt with pneumonia. This resulted in Scott leaving the province every winter for a warmer place. During this time, he also dealt with bouts of depression, with his time away from work in Saskatchewan helping.
It was no wonder his health was declining. Along with serving as premier, he also served as the Minister of Public Works, Minister of Railways and Minister of Municipal Affairs.
In 1908, Scott and the Liberals won 27 seats, reducing the Conservative’s share of seats down to 14.
The Victoria Daily Times wrote,
“There was intense interest in the Saskatchewan elections. Thousands of people gathered around the newspaper offices watching the returns. There was great rejoicing there among the Liberals over the return of Honourable W. Scott.”
Entering into his second term as premier, his government passed several acts including one that provided care for neglected children. His government also built an asylum in North Battleford, and a penitentiary in Prince Albert. It was Scott’s goal to ensure the government was decentralized, and the major centres received something for their local economy.
His government also backed railway construction bonds, up to $13,000 per mile, so that the Canadian Northern Railway and the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway would build new rail lines in the province. This worked, and 1,600 kilometres of new lines would be constructed over the coming years.
During this time, Scott continued to leave Saskatchewan each winter to escape to warmer climates. He travelled to the Caribbean and Mediterranean, and talked with doctors around the world. He continued to play baseball, go horseback riding and play golf. His wife rarely went with him on these trips.
Each time he returned in the spring, he was refreshed and full of ideas for what the government could do in the coming spring, summer and autumn.
By 1912, Scott had served as premier for seven years and was moving into another election. Once again, his Liberal Party easily won, taking 46 seats out of the 54 available in the province. He slowed down in his workload at this point, with only his job as premier and Minister of Education.
After the election, in October 1912, Prince Arthur, the son of Queen Victoria, opened the finished provincial legislature. The estimated cost of construction was supposed to be $750,000 but by the time it was finished it had cost $1.8 million.
Early in 1913, Scott, who was also the Minister of Education, passed legislation that required Catholics in the province to support their own schools. This met a great deal of opposition, as it had previously in provinces like Manitoba and New Brunswick. Eventually, Scott compromised by allowing French language instruction for one hour a day.
During that year, he also flew in a plane for the first time. He went up 1.2 kilometres with Ruth Law in a Wright biplane. When she asked if he was frightened, he said not at all but after they landed he said,
“I’ll rest for a few moments to think it over. I feel a bit dizzy.”
After the First World War broke out, his government pledged that all MLAs would give 10 per cent of their salaries to the Canadian Patriotic Fund, and the province would donate 1,500 horses to the war effort.
During his third term, the issue of women’s suffrage was increasing in importance. Scott had always been a supporter of women voting but he worried his government did not have a mandate from the people to make such a large change in the policy of the province. Nonetheless, on Feb. 14, 1916, Saskatchewan passed legislation that allowed women to vote in provincial elections.
Scott was also a supporter of the temperance movement, and on July 1, 1915, he announced that all drinking establishments in the province would close. They would be replaced by provincially run liquor stores. He also held a referendum on the matter of alcohol banning and 80 per cent of voters voted in favour of prohibition.
By the mid-part of the decade, those around Scott were feeling that his time away from the province was a detriment. John Dafoe, a journalist in Winnipeg, wrote that beginning in 1912,
“Walter has been neither physically nor mentally capable of carrying the premiership.”
The war was only adding to the pressure on Scott, as was growing scandals within his government. His health was also continuing to decline. At one point during the war years, he was stricken with pneumonia. Eventually, doctors told him that he had to take time away from his work as it was impacting his health. In early 1916, he was confined to his home for several weeks due to ill health.
By 1916, Scott was dealing with depression that led to bouts of anger in the Legislature. There was also a growing scandal over allegations that the Liberals were receiving kickbacks for various public contracts. A few Liberal backbenchers were convicted, and Scott chose to step down on Oct. 16, 1916. A full investigation of Scott and his cabinet cleared them of any wrongdoing.
When he resigned, the message put forward was that he needed to leave the job due to his health, rather than any news of a scandal.
The Saskatoon Star Phoenix wrote,
“Word was received from Mr. Scott yesterday that after consultation his medical adviser declares that he must give up all work and responsibility for some considerable time and for a period of at least one year, in order to regain his health. Under these circumstances, Mr. Scott felt there was nothing else for him to do but to resign.”
After he left politics, Scott moved to Victoria, B.C. with his wife but his mental health continued to decline.
He attempted to do some journalism work, but for the most part lived the remainder of his life with his wife in quiet solitude. He did some traveling. He told the Nanaimo Daily News early in 1936,
“I have seen all the world’s advertised scenic attractions, except those of South Africa. Let me tell you that the greatest of all is your Forbidden Plateau.”
In 1935, Scott made his final visit to Saskatchewan to help campaign for the Liberal Party during the federal election at a large rally attended by William Lyon Mackenzie King.
Later in 1936, he was committed to a private psychiatric home in Guelph, Ontario. Two years later, while walking in the home, he fell and broke his leg.
In the days after he broke his leg, he refused to get into his bed and a bed had to be made for him on the floor.
On March, 23, 1938, Scott was walking with crutches in a corridor in the psychiatric home when he suddenly fell over.
The Saskatchewan Legislature stood with bowed heads in tribute to Scott after news of his death was released to the public.
Premier Patterson stated,
“It is with sincere regret that I have to inform the legislature of the death of Honourable Walter Scott…Saskatchewan owes a great deal to Walter Scott. It is seldom given to a man in his lifetime to see his efforts appreciated but history will record the great debt this province owes him.”
By that point, only one member of the Legislature, D.A. Hall, had served with Scott during his premiership.
An autopsy stated that he died of a heart condition caused by a clogged artery. His body was transported back to British Columbia and was buried in Victoria.
The Regina Leader-Post wrote of him after his death,
“He fought for the west through his newspapers from his seat in the House of Commons and from his office in the Saskatchewan Legislative building. He fought liquor, his efforts leading to the prohibition period in Saskatchewan. He fought for women’ suffrage, his work leading to the women of the province obtaining a vote. And he had a lifelong fight with his health, never robust.”
In Saskatchewan, a statue of Scott stands at the Legislature. Several buildings are named for him, including a school in Regina.
