Minister of Everything

This title is an acquisition.

When C.D. Howe was elected to Parliament in 1935 he was 50 years old, had enjoyed a brilliant career as a consulting engineer in the grain trade.  He was immediately given a cabinet post as Minister of Marines, Railways and Canals, which was later changed to become Minister of Transport.  During the Second World War he served as Minister of Munitions and Supplies, and later as Minister of Reconstruction and Minister of Trade and Commerce.  He served as a cabinet minister for 22 years, under Prime Ministers Mackenzie King and Louis St. Laurent.  During the war, and the immediate postwar period, the Canadian construction and manufacturing industry was under tight government control, and C.D. Howe was the ulitimate controller.  This period saw Canada transformed from a farm economy to an industrial one, and brought unprecedented prosperity. C.D. Howe became know as the "Minister of Everything" because it seemed as though nothing could be done in the country without his blessing, but with it all obstacles were swept away.