Charles Fisher (politician, 1808)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Charles Fisher (1868)

Charles Fisher (born August 15 or September 16, 1808 in Fredericton , New Brunswick , † December 8, 1880 ibid) was a Canadian politician and judge . He was Prime Minister of New Brunswick from 1854 to 1856, a second term followed from 1857 to 1861. As one of the fathers of the Confederation , he was one of the pioneers of the Canadian state founded in 1867. From 1867 he was a member of the lower house for a year , then chief judge in his home province.

Life

After studying jurisprudence Fisher received approval as 1831 lawyer and opened a law firm in Fredericton . In 1834 he ran for a seat in the parliament of the then colony for the first time, but it was only three years later that he was elected. In the following years he campaigned for greater autonomy and self-government for the New Brunswick colony. From 1848 he belonged to the colonial government, but lost his seat in parliament in the June 1850 election. In January 1851 he also resigned as a member of the government.

In the 1854 election, Fisher was re-elected, and on November 1 of that year he formed a new government with the support of the Liberal majority of MPs. For the first time, this had full power of disposal. In addition, Fisher served as Attorney General . His government implemented various reforms in the areas of education, administration and voting rights. However, the introduction of alcohol prohibition met with strong opposition in the population, which is why he lost a vote of no confidence in May 1856 . The subsequent Conservative government of John Hamilton Gray stayed in power for only one year, so Fisher became Prime Minister again on June 1, 1857. During his second term in office he actively supported the construction of the Intercolonial Railway . While he dealt mainly with court hearings, he left most of the administrative duties to the Provincial Secretary Samuel Leonard Tilley . Fisher's tenure ended on March 19, 1861, when Tilley overthrew him for his involvement in a minor corruption scandal.

Fisher remained a Member of Parliament in New Brunswick. In 1864 he was a delegate at the Québec Conference , which was negotiating the unification of the colonies in British North America to form a federal state. Supporters of the Canadian Confederation suffered a major defeat in the 1865 election, with both Tilley and Fisher losing their seats in parliament. But the anti-Confederationists around Albert James Smith soon gambled away the trust of the electorate. In late 1865, Fisher won a by-election and managed to revive the unification movement. In Peter Mitchell's government he was represented as Attorney General from April 1866. In December 1866 he took part in the London Conference to clarify the last constitutional questions of the newly founded state of Canada.

For the first Canadian general election in September 1867, Fisher stood as a candidate for the Liberal Party and won the constituency of York. After initial enthusiasm, however, he was increasingly disappointed with federal politics and resigned after a little over a year. Thereupon he was appointed to the Supreme Court of the Province of New Brunswick in October 1868, of which he was a member until his death.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Fisher, Charles
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian politician and judge
DATE OF BIRTH August 15, 1808 or September 16, 1808
PLACE OF BIRTH Fredericton , New Brunswick
DATE OF DEATH December 8, 1880
Place of death Fredericton , New Brunswick