Luc Letellier de Saint-Just

Luc Letellier de Saint-Just

Luc Letellier de Saint-Just , PC (born May 12, 1820 in Rivière-Ouelle , Lower Canada , † January 28, 1881 there ) was a Canadian politician . He was a member of the Senate from 1867 to 1876 and was Canada's Minister of Agriculture for three years. He then served as Vice Governor of the Province of Québec until 1879 .

biography

Saint-Just studied at the Petit Séminaire de Québec and worked as a notary from 1841 . In February 1851 he won a by-election in the Kamouraska constituency and moved into the lower house of the province of Canada . But in November of the same year he lost the seat again to Jean-Charles Chapais . He had more consistent success when he was elected to the Upper House of Canada in 1860. From May 1863 to March 1864 he was Secretary of Agriculture in John Sandfield Macdonald's Liberal government.

Letellier rejected the formation of a Canadian state, but resigned himself when it did take shape. In November 1867 he was appointed senator and led the liberal opposition in the Canadian upper house until it came to power in November 1873. Prime Minister Alexander Mackenzie then accepted him into the federal cabinet as Minister of Agriculture. He was able to convince the governor general to lift the death penalty against Ambroise-Dydime Lépine , the right hand man of Métis rebel leader Louis Riel .

Governor General Lord Dufferin swore him in on December 15, 1876 as Lieutenant Governor of Québec. His administration caused controversy. On March 1, 1878, he dismissed the conservative provincial government of Charles-Eugène Boucher de Boucherville , although it had a majority of 20 seats in the National Assembly and dominated the Legislative Council in a ratio of 2: 1. Saint-Just took the view that the government was incompetent and corrupt in the area of ​​railway legislation. Boucherville called his deposition a "coup" and complained to the Governor General. After the Conservatives won the lower house election in 1878 and restored the federal government, they tried to have Saint-Just deposed. Governor General Lord Argyll forwarded the request to the Colonial Office in London . This gave him the instruction to meet the demand of the Canadian government, whereupon he removed Saint-Just on July 25, 1879 from his office.

Web links

• Luc Letellier de Saint-Just . In: Dictionary of Canadian Biography . 24 volumes, 1966–2018. University of Toronto Press, Toronto ( English , French ).
• Luc Letellier de Saint-Just - biographical information on the website of the Canadian Parliament (English)
• Biography on the Québec National Assembly website (French)