Frederick W. A. G. Haultain

He was born in Woolwich, England in 1857, the son of Frederick W. Haultain (1821–1882) and Lucinde Helen Gordon (1828–1915),[2] and came to Peterborough, Canada West, with his family in 1860. He grew up in Peterborough and Montreal, where he was educated at the High School of Montreal, later receiving a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Toronto. He later studied law at Osgoode Hall and was called to the bar in Ontario in 1882 and in the North-West Territories in 1884.[3]

Haultain in 1884

In 1884, Haultain opened a law practice in Fort Macleod. He also served as Crown Prosecutor there for several years, and also was an editor for newspapers in Fort Macleod and Lethbridge. Haultain was first elected to the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories in a by-election held on September 5, 1887. He defeated Charles Conybeare by a large margin. Representing the electoral district of Macleod in the North-West Territories Council from 1887 to 1888. Haultain would win his next five elections by acclamation.[4]

The editor of the Calgary Herald once wrote of him saying that "He is a man of academic training and large, clear perception; straightforward and manly even towards his enemies. In some respects, he is the most finished debater ever heard on a Western platform, arraying his Facts in crisp, clear-cut sentences, and then pressing home his argument with logic and Force?"[5]

Premier

Hault was appointed premier of the Northwest Territories on October 7, 1897. Haultain also served as Attorney General and Commissioner of Education.[6] As premier, Haultain led negotiations for the granting of provincial status. He argued for Alberta and Saskatchewan to be admitted as a single province named Buffalo,[7] and wanted the new province to be governed by non-partisan governments. The federal Liberal government of Sir Wilfrid Laurier, however, decided that such a province would challenge the power of Ontario, and Quebec. Instead wanting to carve up the province to create, Alberta and Saskatchewan, in 1905.

Haultain in 1941

Frustrated in negotiations with the federal Liberal government, Haultain became increasingly identified with the Conservative Party and campaigned for it in the 1904 federal election. Laurier's Liberals were re-elected.

Haultain led the Provincial Rights Party in the 1905 Saskatchewan provincial election, which was won by the Liberal Party of Saskatchewan. From 1905 to 1912, Haultain sat in the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan as leader of the Opposition.

In 1912, the newly elected Conservative federal government of Sir Robert Borden made Haultain Chief Justice of Saskatchewan's superior court. Haultain was knighted in 1916. The next year, he became Chief Justice of the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal, a position that he held until his retirement in 1938.

Haultain died on January 30, 1942, at Montreal.[8]

• Perry, Sandra E.; Craig, Jessica J. (2006). The Mantle of Leadership : Premiers of the Northwest Territories and Alberta. Edmonton, Alberta: Legislative Assembly of Alberta. ISBN 0-9689217-2-8.
• Spencer, Dick (2007). Singing the Blues: The Conservatives in Saskatchewan. University of Regina; Canadian Plains Research Center. ISBN 978-0-88977-206-9. OCLC 76481167.
• "The Honourable Sir Frederick W.A.G. Haultain, 1897-1905". Legislative Assembly of Alberta library. Archived from the original on 2013-04-22. Retrieved 2013-09-17.
• "Sir Frederick William Alpin Gordon Haultain". Canadian Confederation, people. Library and Archives Canada. 2005. Retrieved 2013-09-17.

• Barnhart, Gordon L. (2004). "Frederick Haultain". In Barnhart, Gordon L. (ed.). Saskatchewan Premiers of the Twentieth Century. Regina: University of Regina, Canadian Plains Research Center. ISBN 978-0-88977-164-2.
• Byfield, Ted, ed. (1991). The Birth of the Province, 1900–1910. Alberta in the 20th Century. Vol. II. Edmonton: United Western Communications. ISBN 978-0-9695718-1-0.
• MacEwan, Grant (1985). Frederick Haultain, Frontier Statesman of the Canadian Northwest. Saskatoon, Sask.: Western Producer Prairie Books. ISBN 978-0-88833-147-2.
• Thomas, Lewis H. (1978). The Struggle for Responsible Government in the North-West Territories, 1870-97 (2nd ed.). Toronto: University of Toronto Press. ISBN 978-1-4875-7499-4.

• Frederick Haultain biography
• Frederick W. A. G. Haultain at Find a Grave