William Richard Motherwell was born in Perth, Ont. and attended the Ontario Agricultural College before heading west. He eventually settled in Saskatchewan, where he became the provincial ag minister in 1906.
He served as Canada’s ag minister twice: once from 1921 to 1926, and again from 1926 to 1930. Both tenures were under Prime Minister Lyon Mackenzie King.
As federal ag minister, Motherwell helped Canada adopt a new plan to control bovine tuberculosis after a British embargo against Canadian cattle ended in 1923.