View source for Asa Belknap Foster

{{short description|Canadian politician}}

{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix = The Hon.
| name             = Asa Belknap Foster
| image            = AsaBelknapFoster23.jpg
| cabinet          =
| term_start       = October 23, 1867
| term_end         = February 10, 1876
| birth_date       = {{birth date|1817|04|21}}
| birth_place      = [[Newfane, Vermont|Newfane]], [[Vermont]]
| death_date       = {{death date and age|1877|11|01|1817|04|21}}
| death_place      = [[Montreal]], [[Quebec]]
| profession       =
| party            = [[Conservative Party of Canada (historical)|Conservative]] 
| office           = [[Senate of Canada|Senator]] for [[List of Quebec senators#Bedford|Bedford, Quebec]]
| predecessor      = 
| successor        = [[Gardner Green Stevens]]
| appointed        = Royal Proclamation
| portfolio        =
| footnotes        =
| religion         =
| spouse           =
| relations        = [[Sewell Foster]], father
| children         =
|}}
'''Asa Belknap Foster''' (April 21, 1817 &ndash; November 1, 1877) was a [[Quebec]] businessman and political figure. He represented Bedford division in the [[Senate of Canada]] from 1867 to 1876 as a [[Conservative Party of Canada (historical)|Conservative]] member.

He was born in [[Newfane, Vermont]] in 1817, the son of [[Sewell Foster]], and settled near [[Waterloo, Quebec|Waterloo]] in [[Lower Canada]] with his parents in 1822. He worked with his uncle in [[New England]] as a railway contractor from 1837 to 1852. He then returned to Waterloo, becoming a merchant and continued to work on railways, including the South Eastern Counties Junction Railway, the [[Canada Central Railway]] and the [[Brockville and Ottawa Railway]]. He was elected to represent [[Shefford (federal electoral district)|Shefford]] in the [[Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada|Legislative Assembly]] in an 1858 by-election; he resigned in 1860 and was elected to the [[Legislative Council of the Province of Canada|Legislative Council]] for Bedford. He served until [[Canadian Confederation|Confederation]] when he was named to the Senate. He served as lieutenant in the local militia and was elected mayor for [[Waterloo, Quebec|Waterloo]] in 1867. The Conservatives believed that Foster had provided information to the [[Liberal Party of Canada|Liberal]]s that led to the [[Pacific Scandal]]; this belief was encouraged when Foster was given contracts to construct railways by the Liberals in 1874 and 1875. Foster was bankrupt by 1877 and was briefly imprisoned for debt in [[Vermont]]. He died of heart disease in [[Montreal]] in 1877.

==References==
* {{Quebec MNA biography|foster-asa-belknap-3223}}
* {{DictCanbio|ID=4989}}
* {{Canadian Parliament links|ID=4113}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Foster, Asa Belknap}}
[[Category:1817 births]]
[[Category:1877 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Newfane, Vermont]]
[[Category:Politicians from Estrie]]
[[Category:Canadian senators from Quebec]]
[[Category:Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada from Canada East]]
[[Category:Members of the Legislative Council of the Province of Canada]]
[[Category:Conservative Party of Canada (1867–1942) senators]]
[[Category:19th-century mayors of places in Quebec]]
[[Category:People imprisoned for debt]]
[[Category:American emigrants to pre-Confederation Quebec]]
[[Category:Anglophone Quebec people]]