Biography of Alexander T. Galt

Alexander T. Galt was born on September 6, 1817 in London, England. Alexander Galt first came to Canada in 1828 with his dad and stayed here for two years before returning to England. In 1835, he returned to Canada as a clerk to the Sherbrooke British America Land Company office. He returned to Canada in 1844 as a commissioner of the British America Land Company, a position he held until 1855. Galt sever in the Legislative Assembly of Canada from 1849-1850, representing the county of Sherbrooke as an independent. In 1853, Galt returned to Sherbrooke and remained in Canadian politics until 1872. When the government of the province of Canada desolved in 1858, Governor General Edmund Walker Head asked Galt to form a new government. Galt refused, but suggested that George Cartier form a new government with Sir John A. Macdonald. In the new government, Alexander Galt became Finance Minister. Galt, Carter and John Ross traveled to England in 1858 to propose the confederation of Canada to Queen Victoria. The idea was shelved until 1862. In the new government of Canada, Galt was appointed the first ever Finance Minister of the Dominion of Canada. However, Galt was forced to resign a year later because of the bankruptcy of the Commercial Bank of Kingston. He left politics permanently in 1872 over protest of a number of government policies. The rest of his political career was spent abroad as Canada’s representative abroad until 1883, when he returned to the business world. He stayed there till his health failed in 1890 and he died at his home in Montreal, Quebec on September 19, 1893.

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