David Lewis Macpherson

Sir David Lewis Macpherson, KCMG, PC ( born September 12, 1818 in Inverness, Scotland, † August 16, 1896 at sea) was a Canadian politician and businessman. In the construction of the Canadian railway system, he played a leading role. From 1867 until his death he was a member of the Senate, from 1883 to 1885 he was Minister of the Interior.

Biography

At the age of 16, Macpherson followed the example of his siblings and emigrated to Canada. He first worked as a clerk in the ship transport company of his brother in Montreal in 1842 and Senior Partner. In 1844 he married the daughter of a respected merchant. Together with Alexander Galt and Luther Hamilton Holton Tilloch he took over the majority of the Montreal and Kingston Railway, which formed part of a planned link between Montreal and Hamilton. He participated in a construction company that had been awarded the contract to extend the Grand Trunk Railway to Upper Canada.

1853 settled down Macpherson in Toronto. He was involved in the founding of the Toronto Rolling Mills Company, the rails delivered to the Grand Trunk Railway. He was also a director of the Bank of Upper Canada. His interest in acquiring the manufacturing rights to the Intercolonial Railway led him into politics. In 1864 he was elected to the Parliament of the Province of Canada. 1867 he was appointed as a Senator. Macpherson belonged to the arbitral tribunal which regulated the financial management of the separation of the province of Canada in the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. He fought successfully the legislative proposal by Finance Minister John Rose on the revision of the banking system; some of his own suggestions were incorporated in the Banking Act of 1871.

From 1880 to 1883 was chairman Macpherson ( speaker ) of the Senate and Minister without portfolio. 1883 appointed him Prime Minister John Macdonald of the Interior. He sought to promote immigration to western Canada in areas along the planned route of the Canadian Pacific Railway, but in the absence of a railway line favored the settlers plots in the western United States. Problems with land rights, the postponement of decisions and generally a lack of understanding of the concerns of the Métis led to the 1885 Northwest Rebellion in the present province of Saskatchewan. In August of the same year he resigned as minister.

In his last years Macpherson suffered from diabetes. Every year he spent the summer and autumn in Europe, mainly in his villa in Sanremo on the Italian Riviera. In August 1896, he died during the crossing from England to Canada, he was buried in Toronto.