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Peter Mitchell's political career was always highlighted by his stubbornness. For instance, there was the time Mitchell delayed approval of the estimates for the Inter-colonial Railway until the railroad paid damages to a widow whose cow had wandered on to the tracks and been killed by a train. This stubbornness led him into a long feud with Sir Leonard Tilley, fellow Father of Confederation. Mitchell was born at Newcastle, N.B., Jan 4, 1824. His first career was as a lawyer but this he soon abandoned in favor of shipbuilding. In 1856 he entered politics as a Liberal member of the New Brunswick assembly. In 1860 he moved to the legislative council and five years later was made a life member and named premier, which he remained until 1867. |
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That year he was appointed to the Canadian Senate and was named Canada's first federal minister of marine and fisheries. He resigned from the Senate in 1873 and sat in the House of Commons from 1874-78 and from 1882 to 1896. In 1873 he had become editor of the Montreal Herald and he bought the paper in 1885.
The stubbornly independent man who often referred to himself as "the third party" died at Montreal Oct. 25, 1899.
