Identity area
Type of entity
Person
Authorized form of name
Taggart, James Gordon 1892-1974
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Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
History
James Taggart was born on September 28, 1892 in Parrsboro, Nova Scotia, the son of a farmer. Taggart attended school at River Hebert and attended the Colleges of Agriculture at Truro and Guelph graduating in 1912 with a B.S.A. in Field Husbandry. Following a brief term of employment as an agricultural representative for the Ontario government, Taggart taught at the agricultural schools at Olds and Vermilion, Alberta. He became the principal of the Vermilion school in 1919.
In 1921 he became Superintendent of the Swift Current Experimental Station, a position he held until he was elected to the Saskatchewan Legislature in 1934 as M.L.A. for Swift Current. Taggart served as the Minister of Agriculture from 1934 to 1944. He was head of the Dominion Bacon Board from 1939 to 1941. He became Food Administrator for the Wartime Prices and Trades Board. In 1947 he was appointed Director-in-Chief of Agricultural Services. In 1949 he was named federal Deputy Minister of Agriculture, a position he held until 1959. He was the recipient of two honorary degrees and the Order of the British Empire. Taggart died in Toronto in June, 1974.