MOWAT, Sm Oliver, Canadian statesman: b. Kingston, Ontario, 22 July 1820; d. Toronto, 19 April 1903. He was educated in Kingston and Toronto, studied law in Kingston and be gan practice in that city, afterward moving to Toronto. He took high rank in his profession, especially as an equity lawyer. In 1856 he was appointed Queen's Counsel, and from that date until 1859 he served as a member of a commis sion appointed to revise and consolidate the statutes of Canada and Upper Canada. From 1857 to 1864 he was in the legislative assembly of United Canada, and in 1858 was provincial secretary. In 1863-64 he was postmaster-gen eral, and in the latter year he served in the Quebec Conference, as one of the Fathers of Confederation from Upper Canada. From 1864 to 1872 he was vice-chancellor of Upper Canada, in the latter year, on the urgent solicitation of the Liberal leaders in the province, retiring from the bench to re-enter political life. From that date until 1896 he was premier of Ontario, hold ing office with conspicuous ability for 24 consecutive years. In his first session
(1873) he passed the Municipal Loan Fund Act, which put an end to the financial muddle caused by frenzied municipal aids to railway construc tion at an earlier period. To him is largely due the credit of the revision and codification of the provincial laws, embodied in The Revised Statutes of 1877.) He was brought into conflict with Sir John A. Macdonald on the question of provincial autonomy, Mowat re garding the provincial legislature as sovereign within its own sphere, and his reading of the British North America Act was in this connec tion borne out on repeated occasions by the Imperial Privy Council, notably in the On tario boundary dispute. In 1896 he entered the Laurier ministry as Minister of Justice, and was president of the senate. In 1897 he was appointed lieutenant-governor of Ontario. Altogether Mowat gave 45 years to the public service. -Le was created K.C.M.G. in 1892. Consult Biggar's 'Life of Sir Oliver Mowat' (2 vols., Toronto 1905).