Penniless when he arrived, within a year Dunning filed for his own homestead under the Dominion Lands Act in the Beaver Dale district, west of Yorkton.

[2][3] Satisfied that a permanent move to Canada made sense, he convinced the remainder of his family to come to Saskatchewan, operating a farm in partnership with his father.

Dunning was appointed a provisional director of a board that had only a few months to raise the necessary capital to build a line of rural grain elevators.

At age 25, the youngest man on the board, Dunning watched as each one of his seniors turned down the critical job of organizing the capital campaign.

Scott resigned, and an outsider to provincial politics, William Melville Martin, succeeded him as Liberal leader and premier, with a mandate to clean up the government.

Dunning's political astuteness, and his strong background in farmer organisations, were significant factors in the Saskatchewan Liberal Party retaining power.

In the general election of 1917, Dunning won a contested race for the seat of Moose Jaw County by obtaining twice the votes of his opponent.

[10] The continued political tensions between the federal Liberal Party and the farmer-influenced Progressives led to Dunning becoming Premier of Saskatchewan in 1922, at age 36.

[3] His support for the federal Liberals angered the Saskatchewan Grain Growers Association, who began to discuss the possibility of establishing a separate farmer party.

[11] Dunning's overtures were successful, and the SSGA pulled back from suggestions that they should use their organisational strength to establish a separate farmer party.

[11] The main issue the Dunning government faced was the falling price of wheat, which resulted from a post-war depression.

[3] The Dunning government ended prohibition after a 1924 plebiscite, but sought to continue regulation through government-owned and operated liquor stores.

[11] The new leader of the federal Liberals, William Lyon Mackenzie King, had managed to defeat the Conservatives led by Prime Minister Arthur Meighen, but only won a minority government.

In an effort to win back farmers, Mackenzie King began to court Dunning with his strong farm roots, encouraging him to enter federal politics.

In the 1925 election, the Liberals had actually come in second in seats in the House of Commons, behind the Conservatives, and only held onto power through another minority government with Progressive support.

Quiet behind-the-scenes preparations started to be made, in case King stumbled badly and it was necessary to install Dunning as leader.

The movement among leading Liberals to draft Dunning as a replacement as party leader grew stronger, now almost out in the open.

Dunning was re-elected to his Regina seat by 900 votes and King again appointed him to Cabinet, no longer viewing him as a threat.

[23][24] When Dunning had been elected to the House of Commons in March 1926, King had immediately appointed him to the powerful position of Minister of Railways and Canals in the federal Cabinet.

[4] Decisions made during Dunning's tenure included his accession to a petition from area farmers to have the Canadian National Railways build a branch line through his old home of Beaver Dale to Parkerview, Saskatchewan.

[citation needed] In 1929, when Dunning was still a relatively young man at age 44, King appointed him the federal Minister of Finance.

It was said that it was typical of Dunning that, although feeling ill, he remained on his feet throughout the reading and passage of his first set of estimates as Minister of Finance.

Safe Liberal seats were offered to Dunning, but he turned them down, thinking that a business career would protect his family's financial future.

He restarted his business career reorganizing an under-performing subsidiary of the Canadian Pacific Railway, thereafter establishing a reputation as a brilliant re-organizer of insolvent companies.

A sitting Member of Parliament was persuaded to step aside, and Dunning was yet again acclaimed, in a 1936 by-election held in the constituency of Queen's in Prince Edward Island.

He was also chair of Allied Supplies Limited, a company created by the federal government to co-ordinate the production of munitions and explosives.

[31] The Chancellor Dunning Trust Lectureship was established by an anonymous donor, to "promote the understanding and appreciation of the supreme importance of the dignity, freedom, and responsibility of the individual person in human society".

[16] He lost his seat in the general election of 1930, but was re-elected by acclamation in by-election in 1935, this time from the riding of Queen's in Prince Edward Island.

[9] The by-election was called on the resignation of the sitting Liberal member, Edward Haywood Devline, to give Dunning, who had been appointed Provincial Treasurer, an opportunity to win a seat in the Legislation Assembly.

The by-election was called on the resignation of the sitting Liberal member, Francis Nicholson Darke, to create a vacancy for Dunning.