John Walter Jones was a politician and farmer in Prince Edward Island

Prince Edward Island

Prince Edward Island is a Canadian province consisting of an island of the same name, as well as other islands. The maritime province is the smallest in the nation in both land area and population...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. An agronomist, he was instrumental in introducing the potato

Potato

The potato is a starchy, tuberous crop from the perennial Solanum tuberosum of the Solanaceae family . The word potato may refer to the plant itself as well as the edible tuber. In the region of the Andes, there are some other closely related cultivated potato species...

 crop to the island, which was to become a staple of the economy. In 1935, he received the King George V medal as the best farmer in the province.

Born in Pownal, he first ran for public office in the 1921 federal election

Canadian federal election, 1921

The Canadian federal election of 1921 was held on December 6, 1921 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 14th Parliament of Canada. The Union government that had governed Canada through the First World War was defeated, and replaced by a Liberal government under the young leader...

 as a Farmer

United Farmers of Canada

The United Farmers of Canada was a radical farmers organization. It was established in 1926 as the United Farmers of Canada as a merger of the Farmers' Union of Canada and the Saskatchewan Grain Growers Association...

-Progressive

Progressive Party of Canada

The Progressive Party of Canada was a political party in Canada in the 1920s and 1930s. It was linked with the provincial United Farmers parties in several provinces and, in Manitoba, ran candidates and formed governments as the Progressive Party of Manitoba...

 candidate, but failed to win a seat in the Canadian House of Commons

Canadian House of Commons

The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...

.

He was first elected to the Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island

Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island

The Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island, along with the Lieutenant-Governor, forms the parliament of the province. The General Assembly meets at Province House, which is located at the intersection of Richmond and Great George Streets in Charlottetown....

 as a Liberal

Prince Edward Island Liberal Party

The Prince Edward Island Liberal Party is a major political party in the province of Prince Edward Island, Canada. The PEI Liberals are aligned with the federal Liberal Party of Canada. The party is led by Robert Ghiz, a former member of the staff of the Prime Minister's Office under Prime Minister...

 in 1935. In 1943, he became the 20th Premier

Premier of Prince Edward Island

The Premier of Prince Edward Island is the first minister for the Canadian province of Prince Edward Island. They are the province's head of government and de facto chief executive.The current Premier of Prince Edward Island is Robert Ghiz.-See also:...

 of the province when Thane A. Campbell was appointed as a judge.

The government of "Farmer Jones" repealed strict prohibition

Prohibition

Prohibition of alcohol, often referred to simply as prohibition, is the practice of prohibiting the manufacture, transportation, import, export, sale, and consumption of alcohol and alcoholic beverages. The term can also apply to the periods in the histories of the countries during which the...

, and created the PEI Liquor Control Commission to regulate the sale of liquor. He had to proceed by order-in-council

Order-in-Council

An Order in Council is a type of legislation in many countries, typically those in the Commonwealth of Nations. In the United Kingdom this legislation is formally made in the name of the Queen by the Privy Council , but in other countries the terminology may vary.-Assent:Although the Orders are...

 because the lieutenant governor

Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island

The Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island is the viceregal representative in Prince Edward Island of the Canadian monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, who operates distinctly within the province but is also shared equally with the ten other jurisdictions of Canada and resides predominantly in her...

, as a prohibitionist, refused to give Royal Assent

Royal Assent

The granting of royal assent refers to the method by which any constitutional monarch formally approves and promulgates an act of his or her nation's parliament, thus making it a law...

 to the necessary legislation. In 1947, his government broke a strike at Canada Packers, a meat-packing plant, by seizing the plant, employing strike

Strike action

Strike action, also called labour strike, on strike, greve , or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became important during the industrial revolution, when mass labour became...

-breakers and outlawing trade union

Trade union

A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...

 affiliation with national or international unions in the name of "protect(ing) the farm interest".

He left provincial politics in 1953 to accept an appointment to the Canadian Senate

Canadian Senate

The Senate of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the House of Commons, and the monarch . The Senate consists of 105 members appointed by the governor general on the advice of the prime minister...

.

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