Robert George Brett (November 16, 1851 – September 16, 1929) was a politician and physician in the
North-West Territories
The Northwest Territories (abbreviated ''NT'' or ''NWT''; french: Territoires du Nord-Ouest, formerly ''North-Western Territory'' and ''North-West Territories'' and namely shortened as ''Northwest Territory'') is a federal territory of Canada. ...
and
Alberta
Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...
Lieutenant Governor
A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...
), the eldest of four children to James Brett (b. 1821) and Catherine Mallon (b. 1825). Brett's parents were both immigrants from Ireland and early settlers of the Middlesex region. James Brett was a farmer and carpenter, and later worked as a merchant and insurance agent.
Brett was well educated, attending Strathroy Grammar School, leaving in 1867 to apprentice under Dr. F. R. Eccles before attending the
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institu ...
's Victoria College and attaining his medical degree in 1872. Brett briefly practiced in Arkona, Ontario from 1874 to 1879, and during this time Brett also completed completed his postgraduate work in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...
,
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
and later in 1894,
Vienna, Austria
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
.
Brett was married on June 26, 1878, to Louise T. Hungerford, and together had four children, all four of whom predeceased their parents, their eldest daughter, Genevieve, died as a four-month-old infant in October 1881 and is buried at Arkona.
Medical career
In 1874 he located in the small village of Arkona, Ontario, to begin his practice with Dr. F. R. Eccles. While in Arkona, Brett served a term as the village
reeve
Reeve may refer to:
Titles
*Reeve (Canada), an elected chief executive of some counties, townships, and equivalents
*Reeve (England), an official elected annually by the serfs to supervise lands for a lord
*High-reeve, a title taken by some Englis ...
.
Brett moved west to
Winnipeg
Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749 ...
sometime between 1880 and 1882 (his family were listed in the 1881 census in Arkona). Brett arrived during a real estate boom in Winnipeg, which subsequently crashed causing Brett to lose his investments. In August 1883, Brett travelled west on the second train to Calgary with his brother-in-law Dr. Neville James Lindsay where he provided medical services on contract with the
Canadian Pacific Railway
The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canad ...
(CPR) for railway workers in the Kicking Horse and Rogers passes. During this time Brett established a hospital in the Banff area.
Brett returned to Winnipeg in fall of 1883 when he was one of the founders of the Manitoba Medical College, where Brett was the first professor of and therapeutics, and was later appointed professor of
obstetrics
Obstetrics is the field of study concentrated on pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period. As a medical specialty, obstetrics is combined with gynecology under the discipline known as obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN), which is a surg ...
and
gynaecology
Gynaecology or gynecology (see spelling differences) is the area of medicine that involves the treatment of women's diseases, especially those of the reproductive organs. It is often paired with the field of obstetrics, forming the combined a ...
. Brett later sat as a board member on the
University of Manitoba
The University of Manitoba (U of M, UManitoba, or UM) is a Canadian public research university in the province of Manitoba.Lake Louise), where he was joined by his brother Dr. William Brett, who died during the period. After the railway was completed in 1885, Brett became the CPR surgeon for mining communities in the area and ran a small hospital in
Canmore, Alberta
Canmore is a town in Alberta, Canada, located approximately west of Calgary near the southeast boundary of Banff National Park. It is located in the Bow Valley within Alberta's Rocky Mountains. The town shares a border with Kananaskis Count ...
. Later in 1889, Dr. Lindsay relinquished his CPR medical contract, which Brett added to his own, becoming responsible for all CPR medical care west of Calgary to Donald, British Columbia.
Brett was a strong proponent of standardized examination and
licensing
A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit).
A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...
in the medical profession, and in 1909 proposed the four western provinces form a licensing body for medical practitioners in the West.
Political career
In May 1888, the
6th Canadian Parliament
The 6th Canadian Parliament was in session from April 13, 1887, until February 3, 1891. The membership was set by the 1887 federal election on February 22, 1887. It was dissolved prior to the 1891 election.
It was controlled by a Conservative/ ...
passed ''The North-West Territories Act of 1888'' which brought
responsible government
Responsible government is a conception of a system of government that embodies the principle of parliamentary accountability, the foundation of the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy. Governments (the equivalent of the executive bra ...
to the North-West Territories. The Act abolished the
1st Council of the North-West Territories
The 1st Council of the North-West Territories, also known as the North-West Council in Canada, lasted from October 7, 1876, to 1888. It was created as a permanent replacement to the Temporary North-West Council which existed prior to 1876.
A 2nd C ...
which consisted of a mixture of appointed and elected seats, and formed a new primarily elected
assembly
Assembly may refer to:
Organisations and meetings
* Deliberative assembly, a gathering of members who use parliamentary procedure for making decisions
* General assembly, an official meeting of the members of an organization or of their representa ...
, however the assembly did lack aspects of responsible government in other Canadian provinces such as an
Executive Council Executive Council may refer to:
Government
* Executive Council (Commonwealth countries), a constitutional organ that exercises executive power and advises the governor
* Executive Council of Bern, the government of the Swiss canton of Bern
* Ex ...
and control over federal grant spending.
Chairman of the Lieutenant Governor's Advisory Council
Red Deer
The red deer (''Cervus elaphus'') is one of the largest deer species. A male red deer is called a stag or hart, and a female is called a hind. The red deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Anatolia, Iran, and parts of wes ...
, defeating Alfred Brealey with 325 votes to 208. His nomination had taken place without his knowledge while he was on a trip in central Canada. He became a ''de facto'' leader of the government as chairman of the Lieutenant-Governor's Advisory Council. Robert Brett had a rivalry with long-time member Frederick Haultain.
Lieutenant-Governor Joseph Royal did not provide the Assembly with significant autonomy, and instead viewed it as an advisory body. In 1889 Royal refused to allow the Assembly to decide how the territorial grant would be spent, a decision which caused the Advisory Council, including Brett, to tendered their resignations on October 29. Royal selected Brett as the leader of the new Advisory Council and provided Brett with clarity on the powers the Advisory Council could exercise, which included territorial finances. The expansion of power was viewed unfavorably by the Assembly which sought greater controls and expansion of responsible government. The Assembly passed a non-confidence motion directed towards the new Advisory Council only a few days later on November 9, 1889. Brett tendered his resignation to Royal, who refused it, however in the next week Brett was unable to gain control of the Assembly, and once again tendered his resignation, which was accepted by Royal on November 16.
Following the resignation, Royal attempted to govern independent of the Assembly on the advice of two selected officials, but his decision was disallowed by Federal Justice Minister John Sparrow David Thompson. Royal once again appointed Brett to lead the Advisory Council in January 1890, a decision which infuriated the majority of the Assembly which refused to appoint members of the Advisory Council to committees and support bills introduced by the Advisory Council. Brett continued to hold his position and, in 1891 with Advisory Council member
John Felton Betts
John Felton Betts (October 9, 1854 – May 9, 1914Perry, Footz (2006) 224) was a merchant and political figure in the Northwest Territories, Canada. He represented Prince Albert and then Cumberland in the Legislative Assembly of the Northwes ...
, travelled to Ottawa to advocate for constitutional change towards more responsible government. Brett and Betts left Ottawa believing they had failed to convince the government, but after
John A. Macdonald
Sir John Alexander Macdonald (January 10 or 11, 1815 – June 6, 1891) was the first prime minister of Canada, serving from 1867 to 1873 and from 1878 to 1891. The dominant figure of Canadian Confederation, he had a political career that sp ...
's death, the changes came in 1892 with amendments to the ''North-West Territories Act'' providing that the lieutenant-governor could only expend monies on the advice of the Assembly.
Brett was returned by acclamation in the 1891 Northwest Territories general election as the member for Banff. Royal formed a new Advisory Council was formed under Frederick Haultain, which Brett was not a part of. During the upcoming session Brett advocated for the Assembly to choose the membership of the Advisory Committee rather than the lieutenant-governor, and the proposal was adopted a year later in 1892. Brett was subsequently re-elected in 1894.
In opposition
In 1898 Robert Brett became the first Leader of the Official Opposition during a time in which the territorial legislature made a transition to party politics.
In the
1898 Northwest Territories general election
The 1898 North-West Territories general election took place on 4 November 1898. This was the fourth general election in the history of the North-West Territories, Canada. It was held to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of the North-Wes ...
Brett was opposed by Arthur Sifton in Banff and lost the election by a small margin. Election day returns showed Sifton with a plurality of thirty-six votes, but by the time contested ballots were dealt with this had turned into a majority of two votes for Brett. Brett contested the results of the election on grounds of "irregularities" in accordance with Section 106 of ''The Territories Elections Ordinance''. Judge Charles Rouleau of the
Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories The Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories is the name of two different superior courts for the Canadian territory of the Northwest Territories, which have existed at different times.
The first Supreme Court of the North-West Territories was cr ...
, in the jurisdiction of Northern Alberta, found in favour of Brett by two votes. Sifton appealed the decision, and a by-election was scheduled for June 27, 1899. Sifton ended up winning the seat by a comfortable margin. One oft-repeated anecdote from the campaign involved a campaign forum for which Brett was late. After giving his own speech, Sifton offered to give the still-absent Brett's speech as well, since he had heard it so many times. He did so, and when Brett eventually arrived to give a speech nearly identical to the one Sifton had given on his behalf he was puzzled by the audience's amusement.
Brett unexpectedly dropped out of the 1902 election, a move that hurt the
North-West Territories Liberal Party
The North-West Territories Liberal Party was a short-lived branch of the Liberal Party of Canada in the North-West Territories.
History
The party existed between 1898 and 1905. In 1905, the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan were created from ...
Wilfrid Laurier
Sir Henri Charles Wilfrid Laurier, ( ; ; November 20, 1841 – February 17, 1919) was a Canadian lawyer, statesman, and politician who served as the seventh prime minister of Canada from 1896 to 1911. The first French Canadian prime minis ...
's Liberal government provided for a provisional capital in Edmonton in the '' Alberta Act'', but permitted the new government to choose the location of the permanent seat of government. Prior to this decision, Brett travelled to Ottawa to lobby the federal government to choose Banff as the new capital of Alberta.
In 1909 he became president of the Alberta Conservative Party, and later contested the 1909 election for the Cochrane electoral district which replaced the Banff electoral district, losing again to Charles W. Fisher.
During his time in the early 20th century he served on a number of boards in Alberta, including the Senate of the
University of Alberta
The University of Alberta, also known as U of A or UAlberta, is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford,"A Gentleman of Strathcona – Alexander Cameron Ruth ...
lieutenant governor of Alberta
The lieutenant governor of Alberta () is the viceregal representative in Alberta of the . The lieutenant governor is appointed in the same manner as the other provincial viceroys in Canada and is similarly tasked with carrying out most of the ...
Governor General
Governor-general (plural ''governors-general''), or governor general (plural ''governors general''), is the title of an office-holder. In the context of governors-general and former British colonies, governors-general are appointed as viceroy ...
, on October 20, 1915, on the advice of
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...
Robert Borden
Sir Robert Laird Borden (June 26, 1854 – June 10, 1937) was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the eighth prime minister of Canada from 1911 to 1920. He is best known for his leadership of Canada during World War I.
Borden ...
. Brett was re-appointed for a second term on December 16, 1920.
In 1918,
Premier
Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier.
A premier will normally be a head of govern ...
Attorney General
In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general.
In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...
Charles Wilson Cross, who had refused to tender his resignation in hopes a compromise with the premier could be reached. After 12 days had passed without a response from Cross, Brett signed an
order in council
An Order-in-Council is a type of legislation in many countries, especially the Commonwealth realms. In the United Kingdom this legislation is formally made in the name of the monarch by and with the advice and consent of the Privy Council (''Ki ...
removing Charles Cross from his position, the first time in Alberta a lieutenant governor removed a cabinet member.
Robert Brett's term as lieutenant governor ended upon his successor William Egbert's appointment on October 29, 1925.
Later life
Robert Brett died in
Calgary
Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, maki ...
on September 16, 1929; he was buried in the Banff Cemetery.
University of Alberta
The University of Alberta, also known as U of A or UAlberta, is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford,"A Gentleman of Strathcona – Alexander Cameron Ruth ...
in 1915. The City of Edmonton named Robert Brett Park in his honour. The Banff Curling Club, which Brett helped found in 1900, named the Brett Trophy in his honour.
Mount Brett, a 2,984-metre mountain located southwest of Banff was named in his honour in 1916.
References
;Works cited
*
*
*
*
*Johnson, Margery. ''The Arkona Cemetery and Mennonite Cemetery in Warwick Township'' (Arkona: Arkona and Area Historical Society, 1985).
*Johnson, William F. ''Arkona Through the Years'' (Forest, Ontario: Pole Printing, 1976).
*Stott, Greg. ''Arkona: A History of an Ontario Community''(Arkona, Ontario: Anokra Press, 2011).