David Laird

David Laird, PC ( born March 12, 1833 in New Glasgow, Prince Edward Iceland, † January 12, 1914 in Ottawa ) was a Canadian politician and journalist. He was from 1873 to 1876 of liberal deputies of the lower house and was during this time as Minister of the Interior of the Federal Government. From 1876 to 1881 he served as Vice- Governor of the Northwest Territories.

Biography

The son of Alexander Laird, one originating from Scotland shipbuilder and politician who received his secondary education at the Central Academy in Charlottetown. He then studied at the theological seminary of the Presbyterian in Truro ( Nova Scotia ). Instead of becoming a priest, founded Laird 1859 in Charlottetown, the Patriot newspaper, which became the leading liberal publication on Prince Edward Iceland. In the following years he took over at the local level, various offices. In 1864 he married the daughter of the then Postmaster General Lemuel Owen.

1871 Laird was elected to the Parliament of Prince Edward Iceland. In 1872 he was a member of a short time the government in the following year he negotiated in Ottawa on the accession of the colony to 1867 created the Canadian province of. In September 1873, the citizens of Prince Edward Iceland chose the first time their representatives for the Canadian House of Commons. Laird went to the Liberal Party and was elected to the Queens County. After flying up the Pacific scandal, the newly added members were responsible for the decision to the no-confidence vote against the Conservative Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald.

The new Prime Minister Alexander Mackenzie took Laird on November 7, 1873, the Interior Minister in the Federal Cabinet on; at the same time he also held the office of Superintendent of Indian Affairs. In 1874 he brought in Parliament by the Indian Act, which regulates the legal situation of First Nations today. In the same year he acted with the Cree and Saulteaux of the contract No 4, who pioneered the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway the way.

On October 6, 1876 Laird resigned as Member of Parliament and Minister. The following day, he was appointed Deputy Governor of the Northwest Territories, the swearing took Governor General Lord Dufferin in front. 1877 Laird certain Battleford as a new administrative headquarters of the Northwest Territories, which thus Fort Livingstone replaced. Among his most important tasks was the establishment of education, the building of infrastructure and the enforcement of law and order. His term lasted until December 3, 1881.

1882 Laird returned back to Charlottetown and ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the House of Commons; Also in 1887 he was defeated. In addition, he went back to his newspaper Patriot until he moved to Winnipeg in 1898, Wilfrid Laurier once had appointed him Indian agent for the Province of Manitoba. From 1903 to 1905 he chaired the Manitoba Historical Society. From 1909 he worked in Ottawa as a consultant to the Department of Indian Affairs.