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'{{Infobox Officeholder | honorific-prefix = | name = Sir Alexander Tilloch Galt | honorific-suffix = | image = Sir Alexander Galt.jpg | caption = Sir Alexander Tilloch Galt in 1869 | imagesize = 180px | constituency_MP = [[Sherbrooke (Town of)]] | parliament = Canadian | predecessor = District created | successor = [[Edward Towle Brooks]] | term_start = 1867 | term_end = 1872 | order2 = 1st | office2 = Canadian Minister of Finance | predecessor2 = Office created | successor2 = [[Sir John Rose, 1st Baronet]] | term_start2 = July 1, 1867 | term_end2 = November 7, 1867 | primeminister2 = [[John A. Macdonald]] | order3 = 1st | office3 = Canadian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom | predecessor3 = Position created | successor3 = [[Charles Tupper]] | term_start3 = 1880 | term_end3 = 1883 | birth_date = {{birth date|1817|09|06}} | birth_place = [[Chelsea, London|Chelsea]], [[England]] | death_date = {{death date and age|1893|09|19|1817|09|06}} | death_place = [[Montreal]], [[Quebec]] | nationality = | spouse = | party = [[Liberal-Conservative Party|Liberal-Conservative]] | relations = [[John Galt (novelist)|John Galt]], father | children = | residence = | alma_mater = | occupation = | profession = | cabinet = | committees = | portfolio = | religion = | signature = | website = | footnotes = }} '''Sir Alexander Tilloch Galt''', [[Order of St Michael and St George|GCMG]], [[Queen's Privy Council for Canada|PC]] (September 6, 1817 &ndash; September 19, 1893) was a politician and a father of [[Canadian Confederation]]. He was born in [[Chelsea, England]], the son of Scottish novelist and colonizer, [[John Galt (novelist)|John Galt]] by his wife Elizabeth, only daughter of [[Alexander Tilloch]].<ref name="skelton">{{cite book | last = Skelton | first = Oscar | title =The Life and Times of Alexander Tilloch Galt | publisher = Oxford University Press | year = 1920}}</ref><ref name="springett">{{cite book | last = Springett | first = Evelyn | title = For My Children's Children | publisher = Unity Press | year = 1937 | location = Montreal}}</ref> He was a first cousin of [[Sir Hugh Allan]] of [[Montreal]]. ==Politics== He was a member of your mom [[Great Coalition]] government in the [[Province of Canada]] that secured Confederation between 1864 and 1867. He became a leading figure in the creation of the Coalition when he was asked to become [[premier of the Province of Canada]] by then Governor General Sir [[Edmund Walker Head]]. Doubting his own ability to demand the loyalty of the majority of members of the [[Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada|Legislative Assembly]], he turned down the position, but recommended that [[George-Étienne Cartier]] and [[John A. Macdonald]] be asked to become co-leaders of the new government.<ref name="skelton" /> In return, Cartier and Macdonald asked him to become Inspector-General of Canada. He accepted the post on the condition that Macdonald and Cartier made Confederation a key platform in their new government. In 1858, Alexander Tilloch Galt made a motion in the Legislature at Kingston recommending that the Province of Canada ask the British Government to create a federal union of [[British North America]] ([[Canada East]] and [[Canada West|West]], [[Prince Edward Island]], [[Colony of Newfoundland|Newfoundland]], [[New Brunswick]], and [[Nova Scotia]]) and [[Rupert's Land]] (owned by the [[Hudson's Bay Company]]). The motion succeeded, and Alexander Galt, [[John Ross (Canadian politician)|John Ross]], and Sir George-Étienne Cartier went to London to begin the long process of convincing the British to make British North America into the first sovereign Dominion within the [[British Empire]]. As Inspector General, Galt reformed the Province of Canada's banking system trade policies. He was the main architect of the [[Cayley-Galt Tariff]], which protected colonial businesses and caused consternation in both Britain and the United States.<ref name="harris">{{cite book | last = Harris | first = Jane | title = Stars Appearing: The Galts Vision of Canada | publisher = Volumes Publishing | year = 2006 | location = Kitchener | isbn = 978-0-9780985-0-6}}</ref> July 1, 1867, Canada East and West, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia became the first provinces in British North America to form the Dominion of Canada. Galt served as the first Minister of Finance in the new confederation. As minister of Finance, he reversed many of his earlier policies, promoting trade within the British Empire. Following a strong disagreement with [[Macdonald]] and [[Cartier]] concerning the fate of the Commercial Bank of Canada, Galt resigned from government, ending his career as an MP. <ref>{{cite book|last=Skelton|first=Oscar D.|title=The Life and Times of Sir Alexander Galt|year=1920|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Toronto|pages=422-427.}}</ref> Nevertheless, Galt remained an important figure in Canadian business and politics. In 1877, The British appointed him as their representative in the [[Halifax Fisheries Commission]] concerning American fishing rights in Canadian waters. Following a rapprochement with the re-elected [[Macdonald]], Galt was sent to London to be Canada's informal representative there. As this was the only important office of the Canadian government overseas at the time, he also travelled to France and Spain to negotiate trade deal with those nations. The British government knew of these trips and was not pleased that Canada had developed a foreign policy separate from the Empire. The British demanded that Galt's position be formalized, and in late 1880, he became the first Canadian [[High Commissioner]] in [[London]].<ref name="skelton" /><ref name="harris" /> He left his post on 1 June 1883.<ref>{{Cite DCB|6112}}</ref> Today, Sir Galt has a street name after him. Avenue Galt in the borough of [[Verdun, Quebec]] in the city of [[Montreal]] where he had lands <ref>http://ville.montreal.qc.ca/portal/page?_pageid=1560,11245605&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL</ref> ==Family== [[File:George Caverhill House.JPG|thumb|The Galt house on Simpson Street in the [[Golden Square Mile]] at [[Montreal]]]] On February 9, 1848, Galt married Elliott Torrance, the daughter of [[John Torrance]], of Saint-Antoine Hall, [[Montreal]]. She died on May 25, 1850, shortly after giving birth to their only son, Elliott. Later he married her younger sister, Amy Gordon Torrance. Amy gave birth to 7 daughters and 2 more sons. They lived in [[Montreal]] at their house within the [[Golden Square Mile]], which Galt built in about 1860. Galt appears to have had a very non-sectarian approach to religious faith and although the grandson of a [[Calvinist]] [[theologian]], Alexander Galt supported both the [[Methodist]] and [[Anglican]] churches while his wife, Amy, was a lifelong [[Presbyterian]].<ref name="harris"/> ==Business ventures== [[File:Galt Historic Railway Park; Stirling, AB.jpg|thumb|left|300px|The [[Galt Historic Railway Park]] in [[Warner County No. 5, Alberta]]]] Sir Alexander Galt and his son Elliott Torrance Galt co-founded the city of [[Lethbridge]], Alberta in 1883, when he established a coal mine on the banks of the [[Oldman River]] in the southwest portion of the [[District of Alberta]], Northwest Territories. The Canadian Post Office refused to accept the name Lethbridge for the community until 1885 because there was another town with the same name in the Dominion of Canada. Sir Alexander Galt laid out the street plan of Lethbridge's present location in 1885 after his settlement was moved to the prairie level from the river valley. Canada's Governor General, the [[Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 5th Marquess of Lansdowne|Marquess of Landsdowne]], demonstrated the Dominion government's support of the Galt enterprises, by opening the Galts' railway in September 1885 in Lethbridge.<ref name="skelton" /><ref name="harris" /> Galt's company, the [[North Western Coal and Navigation Company]] went through a variety of name changes as it moved into railways, and irrigation enterprises. Prime Minister Sir [[Wilfrid Laurier]] dedicated the Galt Hospital addition, which houses the Galt Museum, in 1910.<ref name="skelton" /><ref name="harris" /> ==Legacy== A [[Galt Gardens|public park]] and a [[Galt Museum & Archives|museum]] (formerly a hospital) in Lethbridge are named after him. Galt was the founding president of [[The Guarantee Company of North America]] in 1872, providing fidelity bonds to guarantee the sty of employees of railroads and government, which still exists today as the largest provider of surety bonds in all of Canada in public works and government services. Alexander Galt is interred in the [[Mount Royal Cemetery]] in [[Montreal, Quebec]]. In [[Lennoxville, Quebec]], the Alexander Galt High School was named in his honour. He was portrayed by [[Patrick McKenna]] in the 2011 [[CBC Television]] film ''[[John A.: Birth of a Country]]''. ==Notes== {{Reflist}} == References == * {{QuebecMNAbio|galt-alexander-tilloch-3335}} {{wikisource author}} *{{DictCanbio|ID=6112}} *{{CanParlbio|ID=58f95d4a-405c-4d1a-9620-64d8034ce53a}} *[http://www.northpine.ca/galt/ Alexander Galt Research Page] {{CanMinFinance}} {{Canadian High Commissioners to the United Kingdom}} {{Authority control|VIAF=59936615}} {{Persondata <!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]]. --> | NAME = Galt, Alexander Tilloch | ALTERNATIVE NAMES = | SHORT DESCRIPTION = Canadian politician | DATE OF BIRTH = September 6, 1817 | PLACE OF BIRTH = [[Chelsea, London|Chelsea]], [[England]] | DATE OF DEATH = September 19, 1893 | PLACE OF DEATH = [[Montreal]], [[Quebec]] }} {{DEFAULTSORT:Galt, Alexander Tilloch}} [[Category:1817 births]] [[Category:1893 deaths]] [[Category:Canadian Anglicans]] [[Category:Canadian Ministers of Finance]] [[Category:High Commissioners of Canada to the United Kingdom]] [[Category:English emigrants to pre-Confederation Canada]] [[Category:Fathers of Confederation]] [[Category:Conservative Party of Canada (1867–1942) MPs]] [[Category:History of Quebec]] [[Category:Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George]] [[Category:Canadian knights]] [[Category:Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Quebec]] [[Category:Members of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada]] [[Category:Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada]] [[Category:History of Lethbridge]] [[Category:People from Chelsea, London]] [[Category:Canadian people of Scottish descent]] [[Category:Anglophone Quebec people]] [[Category:Persons of National Historic Significance (Canada)]] [[Category:People educated at Reading School]] [[ja:アレクサンダー・ティロック・ガルト]]'