Edward McGillivray was the second mayor

Mayor

In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....

 of Ottawa

Ottawa

Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...

, Canada

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...

 from 1858-1859.

He was born in Glengarry County

Glengarry County, Ontario

thumb|right|Glengarry located within OntarioGlengarry County , an area covering , is a county in the Canadian province of Ontario, and is historically known for its settlement of Scottish Highlanders due to the Highland Clearances.Glengarry was founded in 1792 by Scottish loyalists, mainly from...

 in 1815, and moved to Bytown

Bytown

Bytown is the former name of Ottawa, Canada's capital city. It was founded on on September 26, 1826, incorporated as a town on January 1, 1850, and superseded by the incorporation of the City of Ottawa on January 1, 1855. The founding was marked by a sod turning, and a letter from Governor General...

 at the age 20. He opened a general store there in 1836 and was involved in the fur trade

Fur trade

The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of world market for in the early modern period furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the most valued...

. He was an alderman

Alderman

An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members themselves rather than by popular vote, or a council...

 on the first city council for Ottawa in 1855.

He was president of the Bytown Telegraph Company and one of the founders of the Bytown and Prescott Railway. In 1882, he became president of J.R. Booth

John Rudolphus Booth

John Rudolphus Booth was a Canadian lumber and railway baron. He controlled logging rights for large tracts of forest land in central Ontario, and built a railway to extract his logs; and from Ottawa through to Vermont to export lumber and grain to the United States and...

's Canada Atlantic Railway

Canada Atlantic Railway

The Canada Atlantic Railway Company , the creation of lumber baron John Rudolphus Booth, was for a short period an important participant in the development of trans-Canada railway systems at the end of the 19th century...

.

He died in 1885, aged 70, and was buried in the Beechwood Cemetery.