Rupert Ramsay

Rupert David Ramsay (1899 – 24 August 1962), born in Toronto, was a Canadian politician who served as the leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Saskatchewan from 1944 to 1949.

Ramsay grew up in an agricultural environment and pursued agriculture professionally, serving in various positions before becoming a professor and department head at the University of Saskatchewan.

He led the Progressive Conservative Party in two elections: the 1944 Saskatchewan general election and the 1948 Saskatchewan general election. The party never achieved a single legislative position and performed poorly in both elections.

After officially resigning from the leadership position in 1949, following releasing an announcement in 1948, Ramsay continued to work at the University of Saskatchewan until his death in 1962.

As leader, Ramsay was heavily supported by the federal Progressive Conservative Party, which paid his salary as party leader since he simultaneously served as the Director of Organization in Saskatchewan for the federal party.

1948 election In the election of June 24, 1948, Ramsay faced now-Premier Tommy Douglas with his Co-operative Commonwealth Federation and the new leader of the Liberal Party, Walter Tucker, a former Member of Parliament. Tucker had sought to convince individual Progressive Conservative constituency associations not to run candidates against Liberal candidates to avert a vote-split. Ramsay refused to discuss Tucker's proposed formal coalition of the Liberal and Progressive Conservative campaigns.

Resignation Following his loss in 1948, Ramsay announced that he would resign his leadership once a successor was found, although the party's executives delayed the leadership convention in hope that he would change his mind and continue to serve. In his final report to the party's executives, he wrote that he believed the "that Progressive Conservatives are through provincially in Saskatchewan."

Ramsay's favoured candidate, Alvin Hamilton, was elected to replace him on October 12, 1949.

After politics After resigning as party leader, Ramsay led the Memorial Union Building Fund at the University of Saskatchewan. Later, from 1951 to 1953, he served as the General Secretary of the Agricultural Institute of Canada in Ottawa. He then served as the Director of the University of Saskatchewan's Agricultural Extension Department until his death in 1962.

Ramsay advocated for a farmers' market in the suburbs of Saskatoon. He also helped to establish the University of Saskatchewan's Farm and Home Week and its Seed Fair, and contributed to revisions of the Guide for Farm Practice in Saskatchewan.