James Garfield Gardiner PC (30 November 1883 – 12 January 1962) was a Canadian farmer, educator, and politician. He served as the fourth premier of Saskatchewan, and as a minister in the Canadian Cabinet.

Gardiner was first elected to the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan in 1914, served as Minister of Highways (1922–1926) in the government of Premier Charles A. Dunning from 1922, and succeeded Dunning as premier in 1926. A highly-partisan Liberal, his government lost its majority in the legislature in the 1929 election both from patronage scandals and partly through an anti-French, anti-Catholic and anti-immigrant campaign waged by the Ku Klux Klan.^[1] Although the Conservative Party had won fewer seats, it was able to defeat the Gardiner government through a motion of no confidence and then formed a "co-operative government" with the support of some Progressive Party and independent Members of the Legislative Assembly.

As Leader of the Opposition, Gardiner accused James Anderson's Conservative government of bigotry and alleged that it was linked with the Klan.^[2] Gardiner defeated Anderson in the 1934 election and became premier a second time. In 1935, he was involved in negotiations to end the On-to-Ottawa Trek in Regina.

Gardiner left provincial politics later in 1935 to join the federal cabinet of Liberal Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King as Minister of Agriculture. He was elected to the House of Commons a few months later. Gardiner held the agriculture portfolio for 22 years until the 1957 federal election resulted the Liberal government bring defeated. Gardiner also served as the first Minister of National War Services, during July 12, 1940 – June 10, 1941.^[3] Gardiner was a powerful figure in both the King and St. Laurent governments.

In 1947, he was sworn of the Imperial Privy Council, which allowed him use of the prenominal honorific The Right Honourable.

Gardiner ran for the leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada at the 1948 Liberal leadership convention but lost to Louis St. Laurent. He remained in the House of Commons of Canada until he lost his seat in the 1958 Diefenbaker sweep.

Gardiner was married three times: first to Rosetta Jane Gardiner in 1912, then to Violet McEwen in 1917 and finally to Isabella (Scott) Christie in 1944. His son James Wilfrid Gardiner served in the Saskatchewan Legislative Assembly.^[4] His other son, Pilot Officer John Edwin (1919–1942), serving with Number 403 Squadron, RCAF, was killed in action while providing air cover and support during the Dieppe Raid on August 19, 1942.^[5] The Gardiner family farm was near Lemberg, Saskatchewan.

As premier of Saskatchewan in 1928, Gardiner championed the Saskatchewan Sanitoria and Hospitals Act, the first legislation to provide free hospitalization and treatment for victims of tuberculosis anywhere in North America. It was passed unanimously by the provincial legislature on January 1, 1929, and is probably one of his least-known legacies to Saskatchewan public policy.^[6]

As Minister of National War Services during World War II, Gardiner made a way for conscientious objectors in Canada to perform alternate, non-military service. After a delegation from Canada's Anabaptist peace churches was stymied by deputy ministers, they approached Gardiner directly, where they got a much warmer reception; as Gardiner was a member of the United Church of Canada, which is also theologically committed to global peace. The National War Services Regulations were amended by Parliament on December 24, 1940, to allow for alternate service.^[7]

Saskatchewan's Gardiner Dam, declared open on June 21, 1967, is named after him.

In 2006, the CBC agreed to pull the movie Prairie Giant: The Tommy Douglas Story from all broadcasts in response to criticism about its portrayals of Gardiner.^[8]