C. D. Howe

Clarence Decatur Howe (15 January 1886 – 31 December 1960) was an American-born Canadian engineer, businessman and Liberal Party politician. Howe served as a cabinet minister in the governments of William Lyon Mackenzie King and Louis St. Laurent continuously from 1935 to 1957. He is credited with transforming the Canadian economy from agriculture-based to industrial. During the Second World War, his involvement in the war effort was so extensive that he was nicknamed the "Minister of Everything".

Thunder Bay connections

C. D. Howe journeyed to Northwestern Ontario in mid-1913 to become chief engineer for the Board of Grain Commissioners, which was headquartered in Fort William; he supervised the construction of terminal grain elevators, including the first one built for the Board in nearby Port Arthur. After marrying Alice Worcester in 1916, he established C. D. Howe and Company, with both the company headquarters and the marital home in Port Arthur, building grain elevators throughout the West. He and Alice raised five children, though he took little part in their upbringing. In the early 1920s he declined requests to stand for alderman in Port Arthur but was elected to the local school board in 1921, serving two two-year terms and a final year as its chairman. In 1935 he was elected to the House of Commons for the new riding of Port Arthur, a seat he held until 1957.

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