Education
Born in Hatley, Canada East (later Quebec), Edgar was educated in Lennoxville and Quebec City.
lawyer Speaker of the House of Commons
Born in Hatley, Canada East (later Quebec), Edgar was educated in Lennoxville and Quebec City.
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 in Ontario. He was also rare among English Canadians of the time for his sympathy for the rights of French-Canadians. Edgar was married to Matilda Ridout and together they had nine children.
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 and the Reform Party. He was first elected to the Canadian House of Commons in the 1872 federal election, and became Whip in the caucus of Alexander Mackenzie.
He helped bring down the Conservative government over the Pacific Scandal. However, despite the election of a Liberal government in the ensuing election, Edgar was defeated in his own 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. In 1888, the North&PJR merged with the Grand Trunk Railway.
Edgar was undaunted by these setbacks and in 1889 started a new company called the Belt Lincolnshire 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 and the 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 critic when he returned to Parliament (and the Opposition benches) through an 1884 by-election. He also argued against the concept of Imperial Federation, for greater Canadian independence from Britain, and in favour of reciprocity with the United States. When the Liberals formed a government under Sir Wilfrid Laurier following the 1896 federal election, Edgar was nominated to become Speaker of the Canadian House of Commons, and was given a knighthood by Queen Victoria.
Edgar was in poor health, however, and died in 1899 prior to the end of this term.
