HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1977-06-30, Page 148Page lob
Cameron came here to vo
In the Legislative Council
election of October 5, 1858, a
man of about fifty stepped into
the polling place for St. David's
ward, and the poll clerk, James
Collins, wrote in his book,
perhaps without waiting to be
told: "M.C, Cameron, gen-
tleman, Sarnia." Cameron
would have been well known to
the clerk and the D.R.Q.,
James Thompson, for he had
been Reform member for
Huron from 1851 to 1854, and for
two of those years had been
Postmaster -General.
This was long before adoption
of the secret ballot.: it was all
oral voting. In the 1958 election
the candidates were Donald
McDonald, Reform, a civil
engineer formerly with the
Canada Company, and Thomas
Mercer Jones, Tory, a former
Canada Company com-
missioner, One can imagine
that poll clerk Collins had his
pen poised to mark an X in the
McDonald column when
Cameron announced: "Jones."
The vote of the Reform
member, one time head of the
"Clear Grits," went to the Tory
candidate,
It is appropriatehere to quote
the Wallace Dictionary of
Canadian Biography: "As a
politician, Cameron's course
was erratic, and he was
popularly nicknamed `the
Coon' "
Erratic he may have been,
but Cameron was just about the
most important man in Sarnia.
According to Victor Lauriston
(born Park), an old Goderich
boy, "His was the leading
general store of the com-
munity. He was at the same
time lumberman, shipbuilder,
ship owner, miller and land
speculator. He had a fleet of six
large vessels plying from
Sarnia: In one year, one-sixth of
all the oak timber shipped from
Canada to Great Britain was
shipped froth Lambton county
by Malcolm Cameron."
Cameron on that October
election day may well have._
come up to Goderich on one of
his own ships. He was early at
the polling place on the first of
the two days of voting. Only 17
names preceded his. They
included those of William
Campbell and William Swaf-
field, both unshakeable Tories
and on this occasion supporters
of Jones.
THE REFORMER WON
At the end of two days there
were 46 votes for Jones and 42
for McDonald, at St. David's
poll. Elsewhere in" the con-
stituency a majority of voters
said "McDonald," and the
Reform candidate gained a
seat in Council, as certified by
John Galt, returning officer for
Tecumseh (Huron, 'Perth and
some townships in Middlesex.)
Readers will note that the
historical plaque at Perth
commemorates "Malcolm
Cameron.". No middle initial.
The Canadiana encyclopedia
sketch, the Wallace Dictionary,
Turn to page 109•
t•
"-1ter,t)k
..4rtrtUt+ ' gt 101.'+ 001.014!1°,.
Hon. Malcolm Cameron's property qualification, when he came from Sarnia to vote in
Goderich in 1858, was a ten -acre lot on the Bayfield road, at the southwest corner of the stree
now named Bennett, It was subdivided many yt:ars ago. The house shown, the Squire Gift Shop
Candlelight Restaurant and other buildings are in the area now.
CONGRATULATIONS
440
GODERICH
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150th ANNIVERSARY
•
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