John Walter Jones

J. Walter Jones (April 14, 1878-March 31, 1954) was a Prince Edward Island politician and farmer. An agronimist, he was instrumental in introducing the potato crop to the island which was to become a staple of the economy and in 1935 he received the King George V medal as the best farmer in the province. He first ran for public office in the 1921 federal election as a Farmer-Progressive candidate but failed to win a seat in the Canadian House of Commons. He was first elected to the provincial legislature as a Liberal in 1935. In 1943 he became Premier when Thane A. Campbell was appointed to the bench.

The government of '"Farmer Jones" repealed strict prohibition creating instead the PEI Liquor Control Commission to regulate the sale of liquor. He had to proceed by order-in-council because the lieutenant-governor, as a prohibitionist, refused to give Royal Assent to the necessary legislation. In 1947 his government broke a strike at Canada Packers by seizing the plant, employing strike breakers and outlawing trade union affiliation with national or international unions in the name of "protect(ing) the farm interest". He left provincial politics in 1953 to accept an appointment to the Canadian Senate.