View source for James David Edgar

{{Short description|Canadian politician}}
{{Use Canadian English|date=January 2023}}
{{more footnotes needed|date=October 2020}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix = [[The Honourable]] Sir
| name             = James David Edgar
| honorific-suffix =  [[Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George|K.C.M.G]], [[Queen's Privy Council for Canada|P.C.]]
| image            = James David Edgar.jpg
| constituency_MP1  = [[Monck (electoral district)|Monck]]
| parliament1       = Canadian
| predecessor1      = [[Lachlin McCallum]]
| successor1        = [[Lachlin McCallum]]
| term_start1       = 1872
| term_end1         = 1874

| constituency_MP2 = [[Ontario West]]
| parliament2      = Canadian
| predecessor2     = [[George Wheler (mill owner)|George Wheler]]
| successor2       = [[Isaac James Gould]]
| term_start2      = 1884
| term_end2        = 1899
| order           = 
| office          = 7th [[Speaker of the House of Commons (Canada)|Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada]]
| predecessor     = [[Peter White (Canadian politician)|Peter White]]
| successor       =[[Thomas Bain]]
| term_start      =	August 19, 1896
| term_end        =  July 31, 1899
| birth_date       = {{birth date|1841|8|10}}
| birth_place      = Hatley, Canada East
| death_date       = {{death date and age|1899|7|31|1841|8|10}}
| death_place      = Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| nationality      = 
| spouse           = 
| party            = [[Liberal Party of Canada|Liberal]]
| relations        = 
| children         = 
| residence        = 
| alma_mater       = 
| occupation       = 
| profession       = 
| religion         = 
}}
'''Sir James David Edgar''', {{Post-nominals|country=CAN|KCMG|PC|QC}} (August 10, 1841 &ndash; July 31, 1899) was a [[Canadians|Canadian]] [[politician]].

In his twenties, Edgar was a law student, legal editor of the ''[[Toronto Globe]]'', an [[alderman]] on [[Toronto]]'s [[city council]] and an organizer for the [[Liberal Party of Canada|Liberal Party]] in [[Ontario]]. He was also rare among English Canadians of the time for his sympathy for the rights of [[French-Canadian]]s. Edgar was married to [[Matilda Ridout Edgar|Matilda Ridout]] and together they had nine children.

Born in [[North Hatley, Quebec|Hatley]], [[Canada East]] (later [[Quebec]]), Edgar was educated at the Lennoxville Classical School (now [[Bishop's College School]]), where his father James Edgar was appointed the Second Master by the Rev. [[Lucius Doolittle]], [[Rector (ecclesiastical)|Rector]] of [[Sherbrooke]].<ref>McLean, M. J., &amp; Stamp, R. M. (1998). My dearest wife the private and public lives of James David Edgar and Matilda Ridout Edgar. Toronto: Natural Heritage/Natural History.</ref> It was reported that despite the young age than his classmates, he is a hard-working student in his class. After the death of his father in 1850, he continued his education in [[Quebec City]]. He moved to Toronto as an adult and became a lawyer in 1864. He was elected an alderman in 1866, and was a supporter of [[George Brown (Canadian politician)|George Brown]] and the [[Reform Party (historical)|Reform Party]]. He ran as a [[Ontario Liberal Party|Liberal]] in the [[1871 Ontario general election|1871 Ontario provincial election]], but was defeated by a margin of four votes in his attempt to win a seat in the provincial legislature.

He was first elected to the [[House of Commons of Canada]] in the [[1872 Canadian federal election|1872 federal election]], and became [[Parliamentary Whip|Whip]] in the [[caucus]] of [[Alexander Mackenzie (politician)|Alexander Mackenzie]]. He helped bring down the [[Conservative Party of Canada (historical)|Conservative]] government over the [[Pacific Scandal]]. However, despite the election of a Liberal government in the ensuing election, Edgar was defeated in his own [[electoral district (Canada)|riding]].

In 1874, he started a railway company called the [[Ontario and Pacific Junction Railway]]. This was an attempt to build a line between Toronto and [[Lake Nipissing]]. In 1881, it was renamed the ''Ontario and Sault Ste. Marie Railway''. Both ventures failed to win a contract. Fred Cumberland, a partner in the O&PJR venture, formed a rival company called the [[Northern and Pacific Junction Railway]]. In 1888, the N&PJR merged with the [[Grand Trunk Railway]].

Edgar was undaunted by these setbacks and in 1889 started a new company called the [[Belt Line Railway (Toronto)|Belt Line Railway]] in Toronto. The city's steep ravines made access to some areas very difficult. The land developers of these areas required either a commuter railway or a system of bridges to ease access to their properties for buyers. This new venture sought to build a commuter rail line in Toronto connecting downtown with undeveloped neighbourhoods as far north as [[Eglinton Avenue]] between the [[Don River (Toronto)|Don River]] and the [[Humber River (Toronto)|Humber River]]. Eventually two rail loops were built with 44 stations in total. The passenger railway opened in 1892 but ran for only two years, four months before going bankrupt. (The city built bridges, eventually.)

He used his experience to become the Liberal's railway [[Shadow Cabinet|critic]] when he returned to Parliament (and the [[parliamentary opposition|Opposition benches]]) through an 1884 [[by-election]].

In the 1880s, Edgar became a vocal opponent of the [[Protestant Protective Association]], an anti-Catholic political party associated with the [[Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario|Ontario Conservative Party]]. He argued in favour of tolerance and cooperation between English and French Canadians as well as between [[Protestant]]s and [[Catholic]]s. He also argued against the concept of [[Imperial Federation]], for greater Canadian independence from Britain, and in favour of [[reciprocity (Canadian politics)|reciprocity]] with the [[United States]].

When the Liberals formed a government under [[Wilfrid Laurier]] following the [[1896 Canadian federal election|1896 federal election]], Edgar was nominated to become [[Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada]], and was given a [[knighthood]] by [[Victoria of the United Kingdom|Queen Victoria]]. Edgar was in poor health, however, and died in 1899 prior to the end of this term.

== Electoral record ==
{{1871 Ontario general election/Monck}}
{{1872 Canadian federal election/Monck}}
{{1874 Canadian federal election/Monck}}
{{CanElec1-by|22 June 1875|Due to unseating of Lachlin McCallum, 12 May 1875}} 
{{CANelec|CA|Liberal-Conservative|[[Lachlin McCallum]]|1,333}}
{{CANelec|CA|Liberal|James David Edgar|1,329}}
{{end}}
{{1878 Canadian federal election/Monck}}
{{1882 Canadian federal election/Monck}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
{{wikisource|works=or}}
* {{DictCanbio|ID=6084}}
* {{Canadian Parliament links|ID=8068}}
* Russell, C.H. 1996. Tightening the belt: a history of the Toronto Belt Line Railway. [http://www.toronto.ca/archives/ City of Toronto Archives]
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=James David Edgar |sopt=t}}
* {{Librivox author |id=8631}}
*[https://aims.archives.gov.on.ca/scripts/mwimain.dll/144/DESCRIPTION_WEB/WEB_DESC_DET?SESSIONSEARCH&exp=sisn%20600 J. D. Edgar family fonds], Archives of Ontario

{{Speakers of the Canadian House of Commons}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Edgar, James David}}
[[Category:1841 births]]
[[Category:1899 deaths]]
[[Category:Bishop's College School alumni]]
[[Category:Speakers of the House of Commons of Canada]]
[[Category:Canadian Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George]]
[[Category:Canadian King's Counsel]]
[[Category:Lawyers in Ontario]]
[[Category:Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada]]
[[Category:Toronto city councillors]]
[[Category:Canadian people of Scottish descent]]
[[Category:19th-century Canadian lawyers]]
[[Category:19th-century members of the House of Commons of Canada]]
[[Category:Liberal Party of Canada MPs]]
[[Category:Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Ontario]]
[[Category:19th-century Canadian municipal councillors]]