Charles Cahan - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Charles Hazlitt Cahan, PC

Queen's Privy Council for Canada

The Queen's Privy Council for Canada ), sometimes called Her Majesty's Privy Council for Canada or simply the Privy Council, is the full group of personal consultants to the monarch of Canada on state and constitutional affairs, though responsible government requires the sovereign or her viceroy,...

, KC

Queen's Counsel

Queen's Counsel , known as King's Counsel during the reign of a male sovereign, are lawyers appointed by letters patent to be one of Her [or His] Majesty's Counsel learned in the law...

(October 31, 1861–August 15, 1944) was a prominent Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

lawyer

Lawyer

A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...

, newspaper editor

Editing

Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, and film media used to convey information through the processes of correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications performed with an intention of producing a correct, consistent, accurate, and complete...

, businessman, and provincial and federal politician

Politics of Canada

The politics of Canada function within a framework of parliamentary democracy and a federal system of parliamentary government with strong democratic traditions. Canada is a constitutional monarchy, in which the Monarch is head of state...

.

A Presbyterian

Presbyterianism

Presbyterianism refers to a number of Christian churches adhering to the Calvinist theological tradition within Protestantism, which are organized according to a characteristic Presbyterian polity. Presbyterian theology typically emphasizes the sovereignty of God, the authority of the Scriptures,...

of Irish

Irish people

The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...

descent and born in Hebron, Nova Scotia

Hebron, Nova Scotia

Hebron is an unincorporated community in Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia Canada. The community is the location of Maple Grove Education Centre....

, son of Charles Cahan Jr. (1838–1908; Irish-Scottish ancestry, who was the son of Charles Cahan Sr. (1806–1889) and Jennie Hazlitt (1808–1850)), and Theresa (Flint) Cahan (1838–1918; New England ancestry). Siblings included Frank D. Cahan (1863–1936), Jennie M. Cahan (1866–1918) and Loie S. Cahan (1871–1881).

He was educated at Yarmouth Seminary and Dalhousie University

Dalhousie University

Dalhousie University is a public research university located in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The university comprises eleven faculties including Schulich School of Law and Dalhousie University Faculty of Medicine. It also includes the faculties of architecture, planning and engineering located at...

. Married Mrs. Mary J. Hetherington, Halifax, Nova Scotia

City of Halifax

Halifax is a city in Canada, which was the capital of the province of Nova Scotia and shire town of Halifax County. It was the largest city in Atlantic Canada until it was amalgamated into Halifax Regional Municipality in 1996...

, March 1887 (deceased, July 1914); secondly, Miss Juliette Elisa Charlotte Hulin, Paris, France, January 1918. Charles Cahan had two sons (John Flint Cahan

John Flint Cahan

John Flint Cahan was an engineer and political figure in Nova Scotia, Canada. He represented Yarmouth County in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly from 1925 to 1928 as a Liberal-Conservative member....

1889-1928; Charles H. Cahan Jr. 1887-1970) and one daughter (Lois Theresa 1891-1964).

Charles Cahan was on the Editorial Staff, as chief editorial writer, of the Halifax Herald and Mail, 1886–94; called to Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...

Bar, 1893; called to Quebec

Quebec

Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

Bar, 1907; designated K.C.

Queen's Counsel

Queen's Counsel , known as King's Counsel during the reign of a male sovereign, are lawyers appointed by letters patent to be one of Her [or His] Majesty's Counsel learned in the law...

, Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia

, 1907; designated K.C.

Queen's Counsel

Queen's Counsel , known as King's Counsel during the reign of a male sovereign, are lawyers appointed by letters patent to be one of Her [or His] Majesty's Counsel learned in the law...

, Quebec

Quebec

, 1909; practised corporate law at Halifax, Nova Scotia

City of Halifax

as a partner at Harris, Henry & Cahan, 1893–1908; and in Montreal, Quebec, from 1908.

Cahan was a member of the Nova Scotia Legislature

Nova Scotia House of Assembly

The Nova Scotia Legislature, consisting of Her Majesty The Queen represented by the Lieutenant Governor and the House of Assembly, is the legislative branch of the provincial government of Nova Scotia, Canada...

for Shelbourne, 1890–94; an unsuccessful candidate to the House of Commons for Shelbourne and Queen's, 1896, and for Cumberland, 1900; declined nomination for Montreal, 1911; unsuccessful candidate for Maisonneuve, P.Q., 1917; declined portfolio in Dominion Cabinet, 1896; was for several years Hon. Secretary, Halifax Branch, Imperial Federation League

Imperial Federation

Imperial Federation was a late-19th early-20th century proposal to create a federated union in place of the existing British Empire.-Motivators:...

; Hon. Secretary, Liberal-Conservative Association, Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia

; Leader of Liberal-Conservative Party

Liberal-Conservative Party

The Liberal-Conservative Party was the formal name of the Conservative Party of Canada until 1873, although some Conservative candidates continued to run under the label as late as the 1911 election and others ran as simple Conservatives prior to 1873...

in Nova Scotia Legislature

Nova Scotia House of Assembly

, 1890–94. For some time Charles Cahan was the Director of Public Safety for Canada

Canada

during the war.

In his article, 'The Role of Lawyers in Corporate Promotion and Management: A Canadian Case Study and Theoretical Speculations' (see link below), Marchildon states, "With his four-year arts degree, as well as a law degree from the Dalhousie Law School in Halifax, Charles Cahan was one of the few formally educated practitioners in late nineteenth century Canada. This gave Cahan flexibility and, rather than immediately pursuing a legal career, he worked first as a newspaper editor and then became a politician. Only when he was electorally defeated in 1896 did he turn to the practice of law."

Between 1887 and 1891 an attempt by Charles Cahan and others to secure a federal civil service appointment for John James Stewart, owner of the Halifax Herald and Mail, had come to nothing. This result Cahan attributed to the influence of Sir Charles Tupper and his son Charles Hibbert Tupper

Charles Hibbert Tupper

Sir Charles Hibbert Tupper, KCMG, PC was a Canadian lawyer and politician.-Family, early career:Tupper was the second son of Sir Charles Tupper, a physician, leading Conservative politician, and Canadian diplomat...

, who were both occasional critics of Herald policies.[1]

In 1901, as a former Conservative house leader and close business associate of John Fitzwilliam Stairs

John Fitzwilliam Stairs

John Fitzwilliam Stairs, also known as John Fitz William Stairs was an entrepreneur and statesman, born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, a member of the prominent Stairs family of merchants and shippers founded by William Machin Stairs that included the Victorian era explorer, William Grant...

, the leader of the Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia

Liberal-Conservative Union, Cahan managed the provincial campaign for Stairs.[2]

In 1902 Charles Cahan became general counsel and on-site manager of the Mexican Light and Power Company Limited.[3]

Marchildon (see below) states, "Charles Cahan and Almon Lovett were among the most active promoters, financiers, and managers of the new industrial enterprises during the first Canadian merger wave of 1909-1912."

Charles Cahan was a guest speaker at the Empire Club of Canada

Empire Club of Canada

The Empire Club of Canada is a Canadian speakers' forum. Established in 1903, the Empire Club has provided a forum for over 3,500 speakers.Through a variety of presentation formats, the Empire Club invites local, national and international leaders and other change-agents to address the topical...

in 1919 on the subject of propaganda (see link to speech below) and in 1929 on the subject of constitutional issues (see link below).

Charles Cahan was first elected to the Canadian House of Commons

Canadian House of Commons

The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...

in the 1925 election

Canadian federal election, 1925

The Canadian federal election of 1925 was held on October 29 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 15th Parliament of Canada. Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King's Liberal Party formed a minority government. This precipitated the "King-Byng Affair".The Liberals under...

as a Conservative Party

Conservative Party of Canada (historical)

The Conservative Party of Canada has gone by a variety of names over the years since Canadian Confederation. Initially known as the "Liberal-Conservative Party", it dropped "Liberal" from its name in 1873, although many of its candidates continued to use this name.As a result of World War I and the...

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

in the riding of St. Lawrence—St. George

St. Lawrence—St. George

St. Lawrence—St. George was a federal electoral district in Quebec, Canada, that was represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1917 to 1968....

, and was re-elected on four consecutive occasions, serving in the Canadian House of Commons

Canadian House of Commons

until 1940. He served as Secretary of State of Canada in the 1930-1935 cabinet of Prime Minister

Prime Minister of Canada

The Prime Minister of Canada is the primary minister of the Crown, chairman of the Cabinet, and thus head of government for Canada, charged with advising the Canadian monarch or viceroy on the exercise of the executive powers vested in them by the constitution...

R.B. Bennett.

He was a candidate for the Conservative Party

Conservative Party of Canada

The Conservative Party of Canada , is a political party in Canada which was formed by the merger of the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in 2003. It is positioned on the right of the Canadian political spectrum...

leadership at the 1927 Conservative leadership convention

Progressive Conservative leadership conventions

The first Progressive Conservative Party of Canada leadership election was held in 1927, when the party was called the Conservative Party. Prior to then the party's leader was chosen by caucus....

, finishing in third place. Cahan's policies were clearly ahead of their time, as in a review of Glassford's book, "Reaction and Reform: The Politics of the Conservative Party under R.B. Bennett, 1927-1938", it is stated, "The title of the book is most clearly revealed, perhaps, in the conflicts within the party that Bennett was unable to resolve. Glassford's party had three parts: the populists led by H.H. Stevens; C.H. Cahan's rugged individualists; and Bennett's paternalistic Conservatives somewhere in between. In the end Bennett cast Stevens aside, rugged individualism seemed a pitiful response to the Depression, and the radical tone of Bennett's rendering of paternal conservatism was branded either as heresy or a cynical power grab...In the epilogue, after racing through Tory leaders since Bennett, he states that with the election of Brian Mulroney, the old struggle between reaction and reform had taken an interesting twist. Under the imported titles of Thatcherism and Reaganomics, the laisser-faire principles of C.H. Cahan acquired a whole new respectability, though it is doubtful that many in the party had ever heard of him. State intervention of the sort advocated by H.H. Stevens and R.B. Bennett in the 1930s, and adopted as fundamental party policy in the intervening years, began to lose favour."[4]

In 1927 Charles Cahan advocated for an independent Supreme Court of Canada

Supreme Court of Canada

The Supreme Court of Canada is the highest court of Canada and is the final court of appeals in the Canadian justice system. The court grants permission to between 40 and 75 litigants each year to appeal decisions rendered by provincial, territorial and federal appellate courts, and its decisions...

, but stated, "We must give to our own Supreme Court a higher standing, and create greater confidence in its decisions on the part of the people of this country before we can abrogate the right of appeal to the Privy Council." After having publicly lamented that the poor quality of the Supreme Court prevented the abrogation of appeals, in the late 1930s he attacked the Privy Council’s interpretation of the BNA Act and demanded the end of appeals to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council

Judicial Committee of the Privy Council

The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council is one of the highest courts in the United Kingdom. Established by the Judicial Committee Act 1833 to hear appeals formerly heard by the King in Council The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) is one of the highest courts in the United...

. Like many Canadian legal scholars, Cahan believed that the Privy Council had deliberately attempted to alter the true meaning of the Canadian Constitution. He concluded that members of the Privy Council were “personally ignorant” of Canada yet arrogated “to themselves a prescience and clairvoyance which entitles them to substitute their judgments and even their personal preferences, for the deliberate legislative enactments of the elected representatives of the people who sit in the parliament of Canada”. Cahan introduced a bill in 1939 to abolish appeals, and, after the bill received considerable support in Parliament, the Minister of Justice, Ernest Lapointe, referred it to the Supreme Court, thus affording the Court an opportunity to adjudicate its own pre-eminence. The Court found that it was within the Dominion government's authority to end appeals to the Privy Council unilaterally without the approval of the provinces. The government postponed the implementation of the legislation until after the Second World War, and after an unsuccessful appeal to the Privy Council of the Supreme Court's decision. Finally, in 1949 the government enacted legislation establishing that new litigation could not be appealed to the Privy Council.[5]

In 1929 Charles Cahan moved in the House of Commons

Canadian House of Commons

that a special committee be formed to reconsider the 1919 Nickle Resolution

Canadian titles debate

The Canadian titles debate has been ongoing since the adoption of the Nickle Resolution in 1919. This resolution marked the earliest attempt to establish a Canadian government policy requesting the Sovereign not to grant knighthoods, baronetcies, and peerages to Canadians, and set the precedent for...

, which had marked the earliest attempt to establish a Canadian government policy forbidding the British, and, later, Canadian, Sovereign from granting knighthoods, baronetcies, and peerages to Canadians, and set the precedent for later policies prohibiting Canadians from accepting or holding titles of honour from Commonwealth or foreign countries. He noted that the Nickle Resolution favoured foreign sovereigns over Canada's own sovereign, because, since 1919, some 646 foreign orders had been conferred upon persons resident in Canada by foreign, non-British sovereigns. The vote on February 14 on Charles Cahan's motion showed that Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King

William Lyon Mackenzie King

William Lyon Mackenzie King, PC, OM, CMG was the dominant Canadian political leader from the 1920s through the 1940s. He served as the tenth Prime Minister of Canada from December 29, 1921 to June 28, 1926; from September 25, 1926 to August 7, 1930; and from October 23, 1935 to November 15, 1948...

and the Conservative leader of the opposition, Richard B. Bennett, both voted "yea" with Charles Cahan, but the motion was defeated.[6]

Relations between Canada's religious communities was an important issue that Charles Cahan had to deal with as Secretary of State. As stated by McEvoy in 'Religion and Politics in Foreign Policy: Canadian Government Relations with the Vatican', "Cahan, though a Presbyterian, had forged close contacts with the Catholic clergy both in his native Nova Scotia and later in Quebec. He had come to the conclusion that domestic peace in Canada was largely dependent upon the happiness of the French Canadian people and clergy. Unfortunately, for reasons unknown to him, he now found them in June 1931 “disposed to be anxious and sorrowful” and felt strongly that everything possible should be done to alleviate their discontent. Finding Bennett unwilling to intervene, Cahan wrote on his own responsibility to the British Chargé d'affaires to the Holy See, George Ogilvie-Forbes, requesting him to raise the matter delicately at the Vatican, an initiative approved by Archbishop Gauthier of Montreal...In September 1931 Ogilvie-Forbes told Cahan that “the subject of your last letter has reached the proper and highest quarters.”" In 1934 Cahan had to deal with another minor crisis within the Catholic community, "Problems of precedence occurred at a state dinner following the opening of Parliament in January 1934. Cardinal Villeneuve had been ranked not only behind the apostolic delegate but also behind Archbishop Forbes of Ottawa, who had seniority as an archbishop. Villeneuve, who considered himself as head of the church in Canada, refused to attend. The incident received some press coverage, particularly in Quebec where it was regarded as an affront to the cardinal. Cahan, who was the responsible minister, suffered a few sleepless nights and, as he told an understanding Mackenzie King, even offered to resign over the incident. Fortunately for Cahan, King promised to see that his Liberal followers did not exploit the issue." McEvoy summarizes Bennett's versus Cahan's approach to relations with the community as follows, "The Protestant attitude was a mixture of principle and prejudice. The politicians, on the other hand, recognizing the impossibility of divorcing the church from political affairs, sought to use the church for their own ends. To Cahan, a contented French-Canadian clergy could help ensure domestic peace in Canada; to Bennett, strong leadership among English Canadian Catholics could make the church a buttress of the social order during a time of depression and questioning of the system. Each sought to influence church appointments to achieve his goals." [7]

As Secretary of State of Canada, Charles Cahan was a Canadian delegate to the League of Nations

League of Nations

The League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace...

(predecessor to the United Nations

United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

) in 1932, at which he gave a speech on Canada's position in respect of the then dispute between Japan and China. This speech provoked a minor political incident due to what was taken to be Canada's implicit recognition of Japan's then occupation of China.[8]

Charles Cahan was a guest speaker at the Canadian Club of Ottawa in 1939 on the subject of Pan-American relations (see link below).

Cahan lost his seat in the 1940 general election

Canadian federal election, 1940

The Canadian federal election of 1940 was the 19th general election in Canadian history. It was held March 26, 1940 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 19th Parliament of Canada...

.

In private business, Cahan was a lawyer and financier for extensive tramway operations in South America

South America

South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

, Trinidad

Trinidad

Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands and numerous landforms which make up the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. It is the southernmost island in the Caribbean and lies just off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. With an area of it is also the fifth largest in...

and Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

.

The Honourable

The Honourable

The prefix The Honourable or The Honorable is a style used before the names of certain classes of persons. It is considered an honorific styling.-International diplomacy:...

Charles Hazlitt Cahan, died on August 15, 1944, and is buried at Riverside Cemetery, in Hebron, Nova Scotia

Hebron, Nova Scotia

Hebron is an unincorporated community in Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia Canada. The community is the location of Maple Grove Education Centre....

.

Cahan was a member of the American Economic Association

American Economic Association

The American Economic Association, or AEA, is a learned society in the field of economics, headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee. It publishes one of the most prestigious academic journals in economics: the American Economic Review...

, and American Academy of Political and Social Science. He was a member of the following clubs: Montreal; Mount Royal; Royal Montreal Golf ( Montreal); Halifax (Halifax, N.S.); University and Bankers' Clubs (New York City); Empire; Royal Colonial Institute (London, Eng.).

He is a member of the Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia

Railway Hall of Fame.

External links

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