Robert Weir

Robert Weir was a Canadian politician, born 5 December 1882 in Wingham, Ontario, and died 7 March 1939. A teacher by training who later worked in Regina, Saskatchewan as an actuary, public school inspector, farmer and horse, cattle and hog breeder, he fought in the First World War and was wounded at the Third Battle of Ypres. Elected as the Conservative MP for Melfort in 1930, he was appointed Minister of Agriculture under Richard Bennett from 8 August 1930 to 23 October 1935, during the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression, overseeing soil-drift prevention efforts, a 1933 grasshopper control campaign, the short-lived National Products Marketing Act, and his own 1935 Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration Act, which funded farmers to conserve water and adopt new land-use practices.