About C.D. Howe

C.D. Howe was a cabinet minister for 22 years, first in the government of Mackenzie King, and then in the government of Louis St. Laurent. Nicknamed the "Minister of Everything," C.D. Howe was forthright and forceful, and more interested in getting things done than in policy. He mobilized Canada for World War II, turning the Canadian economy from one based primarily on agriculture to one based on industry, and after the war turned it into a consumer economy spurred by veterans.

Birth and Death

Born 1886 in Waltham, Massachusetts, United States

Died 1960 in Montreal, Quebec

Education

Engineering degree - Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Career Highlights of C.D. Howe

Created a national air service, Trans-Canada Airlines (later Air Canada)

Created the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) as a Crown corporation

Created the National Harbours Board

Restructured the debt-ridden Canadian National Railway (CNR)

Established the St. Lawrence Seaway

Established Canada's nuclear industry

Initiated the Trans-Canada Pipeline

Professional Career of C.D. Howe

• Engineer
• Taught at Dalhousie University in Halifax
• Businessman - designed and built grain elevators

Political Affiliation

Liberal Party of Canada

Riding (Electoral District)

Port Arthur (Ontario)

C.D. Howe's Political Career

• C.D. Howe was first elected to the House of Commons in 1935.
  
• He was appointed Minister of Railways and Canals and also Minister of Marine. The two departments were soon combined into the Ministry of Transport. C.D. Howe oversaw the reorganization of Canadian National Railways, and the creation of the National Harbours Board and Trans-Canada Airlines, the forerunner of Air Canada.
  

• In 1940, C.D. Howe was appointed Minister of Munitions and Supply in charge of war production for Canada. As head of the War Supply Board, and with the authority of the War Measures Act, C.D. Howe created a huge rearmament program using "dollar-a-year men," business executives called to Ottawa to reorganize the economy. The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, which created more than 100 aerodromes and landing fields and trained over 130,000 airmen, was one of the results.
  
• In 1944, C.D. Howe was appointed Minister of Reconstruction, and then Minister of Reconstruction and Supply, and began turning the economy toward consumer needs.
  
• C.D. Howe became Minister of Trade and Commerce in 1948.
  
• In 1951, with the growth of the Cold War, C.D. Howe became Minister of Defence Production as well as Trade and Commerce and oversaw the growth of the Canadian aircraft industry.
  
• In 1956, C.D. Howe forced the plan for the Trans-Canada Pipeline, a gas pipeline from Alberta to central Canada, through Parliament but paid heavily when the Liberal government lost the next election and he lost his seat.
  
• C.D. Howe retired from politics in 1957 at the age of 70.