James G. Taggart, federal Deputy Minister of Agriculture and honourary Doctor of Laws degree recipient, speaks from podium during Alumni Association banquet held at Bessborough Hotel.
Bio/Historical Note: James Gordon Taggart was born in 1892 in Parrsboro, Nova Scotia and raised in River Hebert, Nova Scotia. He attended public and high school in River Hebert, followed by post-secondary studies at the Nova Scotia Agricultural College and then the Ontario Agricultural College. Taggart was principal of the School of Agriculture in Vermilion, Alberta before entering the federal public service and becoming superintendent of the Swift Current Dominion Experimental Farm for the Department of Agriculture. Taggart was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan under the ministry of Premier William John Patterson and served in the provincial cabinet as Minister of Agriculture. Following his tenure in provincial politics, Taggart served as Deputy Minister for the federal Department of Agriculture from 1949 to 1959. He was invested as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire. Taggart died in Toronto in 1974. Taggart was posthumously inducted to the Saskatchewan Agricultural Hall of Fame in 1976.