200 years ago: The birth of Sir Oliver Mowat

On July 22, 1820, Sir Oliver Mowat, the son of Scottish Presbyterian immigrants, was born in Kingston, Upper Canada. He was a lawyer who articled under future Canadian Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald, but the two eventually became political rivals. Sir Oliver had a long career in local (Toronto), provincial, and federal politics, but was best known for his time as Premier and Attorney General of Ontario. He governed the province from 1872-1896, the longest tenure in the province's history.

Sir Oliver's time in office was characterized by his consistently successful defense of the constitutional rights of the provinces, in opposition to the strong federal government preferred by Sir John A. Macdonald's Conservative Party and government. He was lauded for his ability to manage differences between Roman Catholics and Protestants in Ontario at a time when such differences mattered.

Sir Oliver resigned as Premier in order to enter federal politics; when Wilfrid Laurier led the Liberals to victory in the 1896 federal election, he appointed Sir Oliver to the Senate, serving as Government Leader in the Senate, while also holding the offices of Minister of Justice and Attorney General in Mr. Laurier's cabinet (1896-1897). Sir Oliver left politics in November 1897 to accept the office of Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario; he died in office on April 19, 1903 at the age of 82.

For the purposes of this blog, it's worth noting--and hard to believe in the multicultural self-immolating monstrosity that still officially uses the name "Canada" in 2020--but a Premier of Ontario--and a Liberal, at that--was also a public defender of the Christian faith. Submitted for your approval, links to free downloads of the texts of two of his addresses:

Christianity and Some of Its Evidences: An Address (1890)

Christianity and Its Influence (1898)

On a related note, July 22, 2020 marked the 70th anniversary of the death of William Lyon Mackenzie King, whose 22 years as Prime Minister of Canada (1921-1926, 1926-1930, 1935-1948) remain a Canadian and Commonwealth record. He was also a Liberal, but with the Communists, anarchists, and nihilists currently destroying any aspect of Canadian and Western civilization they can get their hands on, it won't be long until he's removed from the Canadian $50 bill. Hypersensitive Trudeaupian Canadian readers who can't stand the sight of such an obviously politically-incorrect individual on the currency are welcome to ease their consciences by sending any $50 bills in their possession to this blogger, who isn't afflicted with such hypersensitivity.

See also my posts:

70 years ago: Canadian Prime Minister Mackenzie King invokes God and speaks in favour of a new world order (September 4, 2011)

75 years ago: Canadian Prime Minister Mackenzie King calls World War II a "crusade" to "save our Christian civilization" (December 31, 2014)