James McDonald, (1 July 1828 – 3 October 1912) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

lawyer, politician, and judge. He was born in

Bridgeville, Nova Scotia Bridgeville is a community in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located in Pictou County. It is on Nova Scotia Route 348 and the East River of Pictou. Though now sparsely populated, Bridgeville was the scene of substantial iron mining op ...

, the son of Alexander McDonald and Janet Fraser. McDonald moved to

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

Upper Canada The Province of Upper Canada (french: link=no, province du Haut-Canada) was a part of British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of th ...

in 1834 with his family but the family later returned to

New Glasgow, Nova Scotia New Glasgow is a town in Pictou County, in the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. It is situated on the banks of the East River of Pictou, which flows into Pictou Harbour, a sub-basin of the Northumberland Strait. The town's population was 9,075 ...

. McDonald studied law with Martin Isaac Wilkins and was called to the bar in 1851. In 1855, he married Jane Mortimer. He was elected to the

Nova Scotia House of Assembly The Nova Scotia House of Assembly (french: Assemblée législative de la Nouvelle-Écosse; gd, Taigh Seanaidh Alba Nuadh), or Legislative Assembly, is the deliberative assembly of the General Assembly of Nova Scotia of the province of Nova Scotia ...

for Pictou County in 1859. McDonald was reelected in 1863 and was named chief railway commissioner. In 1864, he was named financial secretary and served in that post until 1867 when he was an unsuccessful candidate for a federal seat. In 1871, McDonald was again elected to the Nova Scotia assembly for

Pictou County Pictou County is a county in the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. It was established in 1835, and was formerly a part of Halifax County from 1759 to 1835. It had a population of 43,657 people in 2021, a decline of 0.2 percent from 2016. Furthermo ...

. McDonald was appointed by

John A. Macdonald Sir John Alexander Macdonald (January 10 or 11, 1815 – June 6, 1891) was the first prime minister of Canada, serving from 1867 to 1873 and from 1878 to 1891. The dominant figure of Canadian Confederation, he had a political career that sp ...

to the parliamentary committee to investigate allegations related to the

Pacific Scandal The Pacific Scandal was a political scandal in Canada involving bribes being accepted by 150 members of the Conservative government in the attempts of private interests to influence the bidding for a national rail contract. As part of British Colu ...

in 1873. He resigned his seat after he was elected to the House of Commons in 1872. From 1878 to 1881, he was the

Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada The minister of justice and attorney general of Canada () is a dual-role portfolio in the Canadian Cabinet. The officeholder in the role of Minister of Justice () serves as the minister of the Crown responsible for the Department of Justice an ...

References

External links

Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''
* Canadian people of Scottish descent Progressive Conservative Association of Nova Scotia MLAs Conservative Party of Canada (1867–1942) MPs Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Nova Scotia Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada People from Pictou County Nova Scotia pre-Confederation MLAs 1828 births 1912 deaths {{NovaScotia-politician-stub