His community sent him to the House of Commons in 1979 as the Progressive Conservative candidate for the brand-new riding of Portage-Marquette. He won the riding again in 1980 and 1984. In 1988 he was the MP for Lisgar-Marquette.
“My riding is a great productive agricultural one,” he said in the House on July 17, 1980. Not only are vegetables grown in the riding, but they are also processed at Portage la Prairie and Carberry. Many diverse crops are grown. We also find considerable livestock including both cattle and hogs. I thank the people of Portage-Marquette for seeing fit to return me here for a second term in this House of Commons.”
Mayer held multiple positions within Prime Ministers Brian Mulroney and Kim Campbell’s governments that were tied to agriculture.
In 1984, for example, Mulroney appointed Mayer as minister of state for the Canadian Wheat Board.
His responsibilities included signing long-term trade deals allowing countries to import wheat and barley grown by western Canadian farmers.
His other titles included minister of state for grains and oilseeds, and as the minister of western economic diversification.
Mayer participated in the negotiations of the Canada/United States Free Trade Agreement that was signed in 1987, and in the discussions that led to the formation of the World Trade Organization in 1995.
In between those events, in 1993, Mayer became minister of agriculture.
One of his accomplishments as minister was the appointment of the Producer Payment Board, which recommended ways to transfer grain rail subsidies to farmers.
“The railways received $520 million annually in Crow Rate benefits. Because the government couldn't afford to invest new money in grain subsidies, it sought alternate means of supporting farmers,” a government bio says.
His work in Ottawa and in his community earned him a Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame induction in 2005.
“Charlie Mayer was a farmer who saw a need to improve the opportunities available to him and others like him across Western Canada and succeeded in doing so,” his hall of fame biography says. “He provided leadership locally, provincially, nationally, and globally for the betterment of grain production and marketing on a fair basis.”
Online, multiple ag organizations paid tribute to the late minister.
“He was always a champion for farmers, both when he was in office as an MP and Minister and in the years that followed,” Keystone Agricultural Producers said on X.
“Charlie served as Minister of Agriculture and held several key roles during his time in public office, championing farmers and fighting for market freedom,” the Wheat Growers Association said. “He was never in it for praise — he did what he believed was right for our industry.”