George Brown (Canadian politician)

Early political career

Election win and opposition member

In 1848, Reformers won the majority of seats in the Province of Canada legislature and an administration was formed with Robert Baldwin and Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine serving as co-premiers. By the following year, two factions formed among the Reformers over disagreements among secularising clergy reserves, whether the Province of Canada should be annexed by the United States, and how much influence should be given to Reformers who participated in the Upper Canada Rebellion. Brown remained aligned with the Reform party while others split off to form the Clear Grit movement. He joined the Toronto Anti-Clergy Reserves Association in May 1850 to advocate for the abolition of clergy reserves; he did not think French-Canadian reformers would support these measures, but thought that promoting this policy would prevent further Reform defections to the Clear Grits.

In April 1851, Brown ran in a byelection to represent Haldimand County in the Canadian parliament but lost to William Lyon Mackenzie. In the following session of parliament, Baldwin and Lafontaine announced their retirement from politics, and Hincks assumed leadership of the western Reform movement. Hincks renewed his rivalry with Brown, criticising the Globe for opposing state support for religious institutions. In the fall of 1851, Brown bought agricultural land in Kent county, Upper Canada, to begin work as a farmer. Later that year, Reformers in Kent county, including Alexander Mackenzie and Archibald McKellar, encouraged Brown to run in the upcoming Canadian parliament election for the constituency of Kent county. Brown accepted their offer and was nominated as a Reform candidate, even though he planned to campaign against the current Reform ministry's state support for religious institutions. He also campaigned in support of representation by population, free trade agreements with British colonies and the United States, and the development of transportation infrastructures like rail lines and canals. Brown won the election as an independent Reform candidate, defeating Arthur Rankin, the Reformer's ministry-approved candidate, and a Tory opponent.

Brown supported an administration led by Hincks and Augustin-Norbert Morin as successors to the Baldin-Lafontaine government, though he criticised the government for abandoning liberal ideals. Brown worked to end state support for religious institutions, opposed government funding for a religious separate school system and endorsed representation by population in the legislature. His newspaper, the Globe, still had widespread circulation and on October 1 started publishing every day as the Daily Globe to compete with other newspapers who had previously started to publish daily. Brown's support deteriorated when scandals against Hincks were reported in the fall of 1853 and Brown toured Canada West, demanding new leadership for the Reform party. For the 1854 general election, the constituency he represented was split into two and he decided to run in Lambton, as he was not confident that he could win the other Kent constitutency. At the election's conclusion, Hincks formed a new Liberal-Conservative administration with Allan MacNab, causing Brown to become a member of the opposition.

Brown worked with his opposition colleagues, including former Clear Grit rivals, Reformers who abandoned Hincks, and the Parti Rouge, to criticise the governing coalition. For these efforts, Brown assumed an unofficial role as one of the leaders of the opposition members. He also bought two Grit-aligned newspapers and merged their staffs to his Globe paper. In May 1855, the Canadian legislature passed a bill that allowed the creation of Roman Catholic-based separate school boards in Upper Canada. This was seen as French-Canadian encroachment into Upper Canadian matters, as the bill passed without the support of the majority of Upper Canadian parliamentarians. Brown used the event to campaign for representation by population, in which electoral districts would be divided so that each one contained a roughly equal number of electors. Brown's pursuit of that goal of correcting what he perceived to be a great wrong to Canada West was accompanied at times by stridently critical remarks against French Canadians and the power exerted by the Catholic population of Canada East over the affairs of a predominately anglophone and Protestant Canada West. However, he did not want the dissolution of the Canadas as much of Canada West's trade went through Canada East along the St. Lawrence River, and splitting the union would give the eastern province control over the waterway before they entered Canada West.

In 1852, Brown founded, organised, and provided the credit for the development of the town of Bothwell, in his constituency of Lambton, and set aside farmland for his own use. In 1856, John A. Macdonald accused Brown of falsifying evidence and coercing witnesses in the Royal Commission on the Kingston Provincial Penitentiary in 1848. A committee of inquiry produced a report that was non-committal of Brown's guilt. Macdonald's accusations and subsequent investigation caused a political rivalry to deepen between Brown and Macdonald.

1857 election and subsequent legislature

Brown helped organize a political convention on January 8, 1857, to unite his followers with Clear Grits and Liberals who left the Hincks administration. Brown served as one of the meeting's "joint secretaries of the local committee". This convention marked the Reform party's transition away from a radicalism and towards a political ideology more closely aligned with the liberal ideology in Britain. The meeting adopted a new political platform for Reformer that was mostly of the political positions of Brown and his newspaper.

An election for the Parliament of the Province of Canada was held in November 1857. Brown did not want to run for the seat in Lambton because its constituency concerns took up much of his time and he wanted to focus on Reform party matters. Brown accepted the candidacy nomination for North Oxford because it would have fewer constituency affairs and, since it often elected Liberal candidates, he could campaign for other Liberal candidates elsewhere in the province. In Toronto, a petition circulated for Brown to run for one of its two seats. It was signed by groups that traditionally did not support Reform candidates, such as Orangemen, who felt that Conservative candidates were cooperating too much with French Canadians. Brown decided to run in both constituencies, focusing his attention on the Toronto campaign. Brown was elected in both constituencies, and his Reformers won the majority of seats in Canada West. His allies in the Parti Rouge were unsuccessful in Canada East and Brown returned to the legislature as an opposition member.

In the legislative session after the election, Brown served as the de facto leader of the opposition. On July 28, 1858, the cabinet of the Macdonald-Cartier administration resigned when the legislature rejected Ottawa as the new permanent capital of the province. Edmund Walker Head, the governor-general of Canada, asked Brown to form a new administration. Brown did not have a majority of support in the legislature, and he negotiated a cabinet under a co-premiership with Antoine-Aimé Dorion. Brown and the other members of his cabinet resigned their seats in parliament to run in a by-election, as was required by law. On August 2, the parliament passed an amendment stating that they did not approve of the administration, and Brown asked Head to call a general election. Head declined Brown's request, and on August 4, Brown resigned as co-Premier. Macdonald and Cartier were able to form a new ministry with Alexander Tilloch Galt.

On August 28, Brown won the by-election that was called because of his short appointment to the cabinet during the Brown-Dorion administration. Brown toured the province, giving speeches at various Reform gatherings that denounced the Cartier-Macdonald administration. In the 1859 Toronto mayoral election, the first where the electorate would directly vote for mayor, Brown organised the Municipal Reform Association to nominate Adam Wilson as the Reformer candidate; Wilson won the election over Conservative opponents.

In 1859 Brown and other Upper Canadian Reformers organised a convention in Toronto to discuss the governance of the province, in the hopes that agreeing to a unified policy would prevent divisions within the movement on the issue. Brown favoured creating a federalist system with the provinces (Canada West and Canada East) obtaining more control over its governance, as he felt this system would repel American encroachment into British North American territory west of Upper Canada and restrain what he saw as corruption exampled by the Conservative administration. Brown's speech at the convention supporting a federal government was positively received by the delegates, who passed resolutions supporting Brown's favoured policy positions. On April 30, 1860, Brown proposed a bill in the Province of Canada's legislature to form a convention that would discuss federalism. Brown convinced the majority of Reformers to support his resolution. The bill was defeated, but Reformers' support for federalism was documented in the vote.

Brown continued operating and investing in business ventures throughout Upper Canada. In the Globe he announced a new layout for the paper that allowed more text to be printed on each page; this was made possible by investments into new, copper-faced type. In Kent he sold some of the acres of land at his property and a cabinet factory to recover from financial difficulties, but gained a profit from his mills which sold hardwood to American lumber-dealers.

Election defeat and marriage

Brown became sick in 1859 and its residual effects continued into 1860, exasperated by the stress of leading the Reform faction in parliament and growing financial concerns with his businesses. Brown's health deteriorated and in the winter of 1861, he stayed in his bed for over two months to recover, missing the entire 1861 parliamentary session. In the 1861 election, the Toronto Reform Association nominated Brown to be its candidate in the constituency of Toronto East. Brown struggled to campaign despite his health problems, and gave passionate speeches by the end of the campaign. He also struggled with having accomplished few of his proposed policies while he was a legislator. His Conservative opponent, John Willoughby Crawford, campaigned on similar policies to those that Brown advocated for, stating that if elected he would be a member of the ruling party and could accomplish policies that Brown struggled with as an opposition legislator. Crawford won the election, ending Brown's tenure as a legislator.

Although Conservative factions won another majority of seats in the parliament, their position was weak and only a few votes against the government could cause it to be disbanded. Even though Brown was defeated, he was still seen as a leader of the Liberal movement in Canada West and inquired with his Liberal eastern counterparts about forming a government should the Conservative coalition be defeated. When his inquiries were rejected, Brown used the opportunity to withdraw from public life, refusing requests to speak at rallies. In 1862 Brown's illness was still affecting him and he traveled to Great Britain to recover. He spent a month in London. While there he had a chance meeting with Tom Nelson, a schoolmate of his in Royal High School. Nelson convinced Brown to visit him in Edinburgh, where Brown met Nelson's sister Anne. Brown moved to a location close to the Nelson home, and courted Anne. She was of Scottish descent and helped shift his worldview and his views of the rights of minority groups. Five weeks after their first meeting, on November 27, they were wed at the Nelson's home. The couple departed to Toronto just over a week later.

Return to legislature

With his health recovered Brown desired to return to politics, but also committed to his wife that his time in politics would be temporary and not his career, as she wanted to spend more time with him. In March 1863 the constituency of South Oxford held a byelection, and Reformers selected Brown as their candidate, even though he was unfamiliar with the riding's concerns. Brown won the by-election and when he returned to the legislature, he refrained from participating in major debates, instead investigating the various factions to determine who he wanted to align himself with.

Although he had aligned himself with Reform politicians in previous sessions, Brown was considered an outsider as he was not at the legislature during debates about secularism in schools and representation by population in the previous months. John A. Macdonald proposed a motion of no confidence against the moderatly-Liberal joint-administration of John Sandfield Macdonald and Antoine-Aimé Dorion, intending to form a new administration that was more Conservative and hoping a vote would create division within the Upper Canadian Reform-Liberal faction. Brown opposed the motion in a speech in the legislature, stating that while he did not approve some of the moderate policies of the Macdonald-Dorion administration, he thought they were a better option than a conservative administration. While Macdonald's motion was successful, the Liberal party remained mostly united. Instead of forming a new ministry with Macdonald, Sandfield Macdonald requested that the governor-general, Charles Monck, call an election, which was granted. Brown declined John Sandfield's invitation to join a reconstituted ministry if Reformers were successful after the election, and instead made a deal to support a ministry that included Dorion as co-premier, invite other Reformers into the ministry and to implement representation by population.

In the general election, Brown defeated Ephraim Cook in the constituency of South Oxford. Conservatives won the majority of seats in Canada East while Reformers won the majority of seats in Canada West and barely had a majority in the legislature. When Parliament returned, Reformers wanted Brown to be elected as the Speaker of the House, but Brown declined, stating he wanted a candidate who could garner more votes from Lower Canadian legislators: after Brown consulted with the executive administration, Reformers elected Lewis Wallbridge. In mid-January 1864, Brown's daughter Margaret was born. On January 15, Brown began publishing Canada Farmer, focusing on rural Canadian affairs; the journal was financially successful.

Canadian legislators were worried that the United States government would terminate the Canadian–American Reciprocity Treaty. Sandfield Macdonald offered Brown a position in Washington D.C. as a Canadian emissary to advocate for the treaty's continuation; Brown refused, indicating that he did not want to leave Canada for a significant period of time. The Canadian legislature was besieged by deadlock, making governing the province difficult. Brown proposed a resolution to establish a select committee to investigate the sectional problems in Canada and propose solutions; the resolution passed the legislature two months later with Brown as the committee's chairman. Brown announced the committee's recommendations on June 14 for a new federal system of government, either within the Province of Canada or with other provinces within British North America. That same day, the MacDonald-Taché administration was dissolved. Brown stated that he would support any administration that committed to solving the deadlock in the legislature. Brown, MacDonald, Taché, and George-Étienne Cartier agreed to form an administration later called the Great Coalition to seek a federal union with the Atlantic provinces. Brown became the president of the council, a cabinet-level position, under the premiership of Taché.

Confederation

Brown attended the Charlottetown Conference where Canadian delegates outlined their proposal for Canadian Confederation with the Atlantic provinces. On September 5, 1864, Brown outlined the proposed constitutional structure for the union. The conference accepted the proposal in principle and Brown attended subsequent meetings in Halifax, Nova Scotia and Saint John, New Brunswick to determine the details of the union.

During the Quebec Conference, Brown argued for separate provincial and federal governments. He hoped the provincial government would remove local concerns from the federal government, which he thought were more politically divisive. He also argued for an appointed Senate because he saw upper houses as inherently conservative and believed they protected the interests of the rich. He wished to deny the Senate the legitimacy and power that naturally follow with an electoral mandate. He was also concerned that two elected legislative bodies could create a political deadlock, especially if different parties held a majority of seats in each body. The result of the Quebec Conference was the Quebec Resolutions. Brown presented the Quebec Resolutions in a speech in Toronto on November 3. Later that month, he travelled to England to begin discussions with British officials about Canadian confederation, the integration of the North West Territories into Canada, and the defence of British North America from possible American invasion.

Brown realized that satisfaction for Canada West could only be achieved with the support of the French-speaking majority of Canada East. In his speech in support of Confederation in the Legislature of the Province of Canada on February 8, 1865, he spoke glowingly of the prospects for Canada's future, and he insisted that "whether we ask for parliamentary reform for Canada alone or in union with the Maritime Provinces, the views of French Canadians must be consulted as well as ours. This scheme can be carried, and no scheme can be that has not the support of both sections of the province." Although he supported the idea of a legislative union at the Quebec Conference, Brown was eventually persuaded to favour the federal view of Confederation, which was closer to that supported by Cartier and the Bleus of Canada East, as it was the structure that would ensure that the provinces retained sufficient control over local matters to satisfy the need of the French-speaking population in Canada East for jurisdiction over matters that it considered to be essential to its survival. Brown remained a proponent of a stronger central government, with weaker constituent provincial governments.

In May and June, Brown was part of a delegation sent to London to continue discussions about confederation with British officials. The British government agreed to support Canadian confederation, defend Canada if attacked by the US, and help with establishing a new trade agreement with the US. In September, Galt and Brown represented the Province of Canada at the Confederate Trade Council, a meeting of Canadian colonies to negotiate common trade policies after the colonies' reciprocity trade agreement with the United States was terminated. During the meeting, Brown spoke with Maritime delegates to gather support for the Canadian confederation, as support for the project was decreasing in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. He supported the council's resolution to pursue trade policies that reduced tariffs with the US. The administration for the Province of Canada disagreed and sought to increase tariffs on American goods. Brown, frustrated with his cabinet colleagues over this issue, resigned from the Great Coalition on December 19.

Brown renewed relationships with Rouge colleagues to strengthen the Reform party's political prospects in Canada West. He lost an election in Southern Ontario for a seat in the new legislature. He determined that too many Reformers joined Macdonald and the Conservatives during the Great Coalition, and the public supported this non-partisan administration. He declined to run in safer constituencies and went on a holiday to Scotland.

Post-parliamentary career

In 1866, Brown bought an estate near Brantford, Upper Canada, and herded shorthorn cattle. He continued writing and editing the Globe and was consulted by Grit officials in issues concerning provincial and Canadian politics. Brown fought numerous battles with the typographical union from 1843 to 1872. He was forced to pay union wages after tense negotiations and strikes.

In 1874, Prime Minister Alexander Mackenzie asked Brown to negotiate a new reciprocity treaty with the US. He negotiated with the United States Secretary of State Hamilton Fish from February until June 18, when a draft of their treaty was proposed in the US Congress. The Congress did not pass the bill into law and it was set aside when Congress adjourned four days after the treaty was proposed.

Brown was appointed to the Canadian senate in 1874 and attended his first session the following year. He supported Mackenzie when Edward Blake and the Canada First movement expressed their frustrations with Mackenzie's leadership. His attendance in the senate was sporadic as he focused on the business affairs at his ranch. He travelled to England in February 1876 to raise capital to create a new company based on raising cattle, and obtained a charter for the new company upon his return to Canada in May. His company struggled to be financially successful and two fires in December 1879 destroyed many of the buildings on the property.

Death

In 1880 the Globe was also struggling financially as Brown paid for updating the newspaper's printing press in order to produce multi-page and machine-folded papers. On March 25, 1880, a former Globe employee, George Bennett, burst into Brown's office; he was recently fired by a foreman and wanted a certificate that showed he had worked for the paper for five years. Brown did not recognise the man, so asked him to speak with the foreman. The two men argued and Bennett pulled out a gun. Brown grabbed for the gun, but it fired a bullet into Brown's thigh. Bennett was secured by other men and the wound was deemed minor. Brown left the office and stayed in his Toronto home to recover. His leg became infected and he obtained a fever and delirium. On May 9, 1880, Brown died in his Toronto home. Brown was buried at Toronto Necropolis. Bennett was subsequently charged and hanged.

His wife, Anne Nelson, returned to Scotland thereafter where she died in 1906. She is buried on the southern terrace of Dean Cemetery in Edinburgh. The grave also commemorates George Brown. In 1885 his daughters Margaret and Catherine were two of the first women to graduate from the University of Toronto.

Political philosophy and views

Brown was raised as a member of the Church of Scotland. Canadian historian J. M. S. Careless described the family's faith as further from the Calvinist interpretation of the bible and more closely followed the tenets of the evangelical movement of the 1800s. Brown advocated for a Puritan separation between politics and religion; he believed that political liberty could only be achieved if religious institutions were not involved in politics, and while he believed everyone should be Christian, he thought political institutions should not influence religion. In 1850, although he was against giving state money to religions in clergy reserves, he was willing to tolerate it in order to maintain an allegiance between the Upper Canadian Reformers and French Canadian Catholic Reformers.

Brown was against slavery and believed that the largest fault of the United States was the enslavement of people in American southern states. He was part of the Elgin Association, a group of mostly Free Kirk people that purchased land in Kent county for escaped slaves to live on. He also wrote editorials in The Globe defending a settlement of escaped slaves in Buxton from hostile white inhabitants in Kent. He was also an executive member of the Anti-Slavery Society of Canada.

Throughout the Province of Canada's existence, Brown advocated against dissolving the union. In the 1850s he was worried that a dissolved union would cause the St Lawrence River, a major thorough way for trade, to be hampered by the two jurisdictions imposing different rules on their section of the river. When choosing how to transport their goods, farmers to the west of Upper Canada might use the Erie Canal in the United States instead (as this route would have one set of rules) and potentially setting up American annexation of those lands. Instead, Brown wanted a federal union that would have jurisdiction over joint concerns while each section would create laws for their own territory. Brown advocated for representation by population as a way to ensure the French population did not have out-sized power. He wanted to maintain the defensive and trade advantages that a unified province would have and looked to incorporate the Maritime provinces into the union.

Legacy

Brown's residence, formerly called Lambton Lodge and now called George Brown House, at 186 Beverley Street, Toronto, was named a National Historic Site of Canada in 1974. It is now operated by the Ontario Heritage Trust as a conference centre and offices.

Brown also maintained an estate, Bow Park, near Brantford, Ontario. Bought in 1826, it was a cattle farm during Brown's time and is currently a seed farm.

Toronto's George Brown Polytechnic (founded 1967 as George Brown College) is named after him. A statue of Brown can be found on the front west lawn of Queen's Park and another on Parliament Hill in Ottawa (sculpted by George William Hill in 1913).

He was portrayed by Peter Outerbridge in the 2011 CBC Television film John A.: Birth of a Country.

George Brown appears on a Canadian postage stamp issued on August 21, 1968.

Electoral record