Thomas Robert McInnes

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Thomas Robert McInnes

Thomas Robert McInnes ( Gaelic : Tòmas Raibeart Mac Aonghais ; born November 5, 1840 in Lake Ainslie , Nova Scotia , † March 19, 1904 in Vancouver ) was a Canadian politician and doctor . From 1878 to 1881 he was a member of the House of Commons , from 1881 to 1897 he represented British Columbia in the Senate , after which he was the sixth lieutenant governor of this province until 1900 .

biography

McInnes, the son of Scottish immigrants, studied medicine at Harvard University and Rush Medical College in Chicago . After serving in the Union Army during the Civil War , he returned to Canada and practiced in Dresden, Ontario . In 1874 he moved to New Westminster in the province of British Columbia, where he ran a major medical practice. The following year he joined the Freemasons . He also worked as a coroner and director of a psychiatric institution.

From 1876 McInnes was Mayor of New Westminster. In March 1878, as an independent candidate, he won the by-election for a seat in the House of Commons , which he was able to successfully defend six months later in the House of Commons election in 1878 . Canadian Prime Minister John Macdonald named him a senator in December 1881 . In 1890, McInnes introduced a bill to make Gaelic (the third most widely spoken language in the country at the time) the official language. The Senate, however, declined to go into this with 42 votes to 7.

On the recommendation of Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier, Governor General Lord Aberdeen McInnes sworn in as Lieutenant Governor on December 1, 1897. When he took office, the political situation in British Columbia was extremely unstable, as there were no parties and governments could not rely on fixed majorities. McInnes made matters worse by dismissing and appointing heads of government several times without the support of parliament.

In August 1898, he called on John Herbert Turner to resign because he could not form a government due to a stalemate. McInnes then wanted to appoint Robert Beaven , who was not even represented in Parliament, which is why his choice finally fell on Charles Augustus Semlin . Semlin's reign was marked by numerous controversies. When he refused to hold a new election at the behest of the lieutenant governor in January 1900, he was immediately replaced by the unpopular Joseph Martin . After only three and a half months, Martin's fall was followed by a vote of no confidence. The next head of government, James Dunsmuir , complained to the Canadian Prime Minister about the deputy governor's improper conduct. After a resignation was ignored, Laurier McInnes removed from office on June 20, 1900 and replaced him by Henri-Gustave Joly de Lotbinière .

His son William Wallace Burns McInnes was also a member of the House of Commons and Commissioner of the Yukon Territory .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Thomas Robert McInnes. Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon, accessed July 23, 2010 .
  2. ↑ Michael Kennedy: Gaelic Nova Scotia - An economic, cultural and social impact study. (PDF (4.21 MB)) (No longer available online.) Nova Scotia Museum, 2002, pp. 35–37 , archived from the original on September 28, 2011 ; accessed on July 23, 2010 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / museum.gov.ns.ca
  3. ↑ a b BC's juiciest political scandal. In: Henri-Gustave Joly de Lotbinière. University of Victoria, accessed July 23, 2010 .
personal data
SURNAME McInnes, Thomas Robert
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Mac Aonghais, Tòmas Raibeart
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian politician, Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia
DATE OF BIRTH November 5, 1840
PLACE OF BIRTH Lake Ainslie , Nova Scotia
DATE OF DEATH March 19, 1904
Place of death Vancouver