One of the early political figures who had an important impact on the farming industry of western Canada was a farmer from the Beaverdale district west of Yorkton.

C. A. (Charles) Dunning was born in England in 1885 and came to Yorkton in 1902 where he worked as a farm hand until he filed for a homestead in the Beaverdale district in 1903.

As a director and later vice-president of the Territorial Grain Growers Association, he played a role in the establishment of a provincial hail insurance scheme which came into being in 1913.

He was one of the founders of the Saskatchewan Co-operative Elevator Company in 1911 and became the general manager of the company from 1911 to 1916. During those years the company became the largest single grain handling company in the world.

In 1915 he entered politics and became provincial treasurer. In the next six years he held a variety of cabinet posts and in 1926 became Premier of the province. One of his last acts as premier was to arrange the sale of the Saskatchewan Co-operative Elevator Company to the newly-organized Saskatchewan Wheat Pool.

Entering federal politics, his first cabinet portfolio was Minister of Railways and Canals. Later he became Minister of Finance in the King government. During his stay in federal politics, he was always a champion for the western farmer.

He played an important role in the completion of the Hudson Bay Railway and the selection of Churchill as its terminal.

For the last 19 years of his life, he was considered one of Canada's leading financiers.

Mr. Dunning died in Montreal in 1958.

In 1973 he was posthumously inducted into the Saskatchewan Agricultural Hall of Fame. His nomination came from the United Grain Growers of Saskatchewan and the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool.

Among his nephews and nieces still living here are Margaret Preston, Betty Schmidt and Sybil Dodds, all of Yorkton.

Major C. D. Livingstone

Major C. D. Livingstone's stay in Yorkton in the early part of the last century was short, but he had an impact.

He came to Yorkton in 1908 to practice law and became a partner in the firm of Livingstone, Wilson and Wilson.

In 1911 he ran as Conservative candidate for the constituency of McKenzie, but was defeated. That same year he became alderman of the city of Yorkton and in 1912 was named deputy mayor. In 1913 he was elected mayor.

He was on the building committee of St. Andrew's church and was a founder of the Yorkton Canadian Club.

When World War One was declared, he enlisted and took officers training in Winnipeg. He left for France in 1915 and was killed in action October 12, 1916.

The local chapter of the International Order of Daughters of the Empire (IODE), which was active in Yorkton for many years, was named for Major Livingstone.