Charles Tupper

Picture: Canadian Encyclopedia

Charles Tupper was born in Nova Scotia in 1821 and died in England in 1915, the last survivor of the Fathers of Confederation.

After his medical education in Edinburgh, Dr.Tupper returned to established a practice. He was first president of the Canadian Medical Association.

Tupper first ran for the Nova Scotia Assembly in 1855, and after serving as Provincial Secretary, he became Premier in 1864. A delegate to the Charlottetown, Quebec and London conferences, he won a federal seat in the new Dominion in 1867.

Like D'Arcy Magee, he stood aside from taking a cabinet post in the interest of bringing in other Nova Scotians and promoting national unity. After 1869, when the "better terms" agreement brought Joseph Howe into the cabinet, Tupper held various portfolios. During the building of the CPR, he was the Minister of Railways and Canals.

Sir Charles Tupper became High Commissioner to the United Kingdom in 1864, but returned to Canada a few years later to serve once more in the Macdonald's Conservative cabinet as Minister of Finance.

In 1896, he returned to Canada from his duties in England once again, to serve as Minister of State in the government of Mackenzie Bowell. After being passed over as party leader in favour of Bowell and Thompson, he finally became Prime Minister, but he served in this role for only ten weeks. The Conservative Party suffered a dramatic defeat in the election of 1896 and the Liberals came to power under Laurier.

The Conservative party had lost credibility in Quebec after many years in power and some serious scandals, and Laurier's Liberals swept to victory on a platform of moderate policies, setting the stage for the future domination of Liberal governments.

Tupper served as opposition leader until the following election in 1900, when he was defeated and retired from politics. He lived for awhile in Vancouver, where his name is commemorated in Sir Charles Tupper Secondary School. Later he moved to Bexleyheath in England, where he died in 1915.