CARTIER, SIR GEORGE TIENNE, BARONET

born Sept. 6, 1814, St. Antoine, Lower Canada [now Quebec] died May 20, 1873, London statesman, Canadian prime minister jointly with Sir John Macdonald (185862), and promoter of federation and the improvement of Anglo-French relations in Canada. Cartier practiced as a lawyer until 1837, when he took part in the rebellion that sent him into several months of exile in the United States. Elected as a Liberal to the Canadian Legislative Assembly in 1848, he was appointed provincial secretary in 1855 and two years later attorney general for Canada East (formerly Lower Canada). His alliance with Macdonald, in which Cartier represented Canada East, developed the Liberal-Conservative Party in Canada. He promoted many useful measures, including the abolition of seigneurial tenure (estates held by feudal tenure) in Canada East and the codification of civil law. He was involved with the building of the Grand Trunk Railway through eastern Canada and the resolve to build the Canadian Pacific Railway. Despite great opposition, he carried his native province into federation by 1867, and he was created a baronet of the United Kingdom the following year. As minister of militia and defense in Macdonald's first Confederation Cabinet, Cartier reformed the nation's military land forces, but a political disagreement with the Roman Catholic Church brought his defeat in the 1872 election. Another seat was found for him, but he died before he could serve.