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Amherstburg, Ont, M.P.P. for South Essex, was born in
Forfarshire, Scotland, on 2nd August, 1851. He is a
son of David Balfour, a member of a
Kincardineshire family, and Janet Douglas. Mr. Balfour, sr., came to
Canada about 1857, and engaged. in rail-roading.
He is still living in the village of Allanburg; and Mrs. Balfour is
like-wise living there. There were five of a family, the subject of this
sketch being the eldest. William Douglas BaIfour received a
Public school education, concluding his
studies at the Grantham Academy, St. Catharines. At the age of fifteen he
left school and engaged as a school teacher in the townships of Grantham
and Louth, where he remained for five years. He then received the
appointment of secretary of the St Catharines Board of Trade, and also
that of librarian of the Mechanics’ Institute. In 1872, he established the
St. Catharines daily and weekly News, in partnership with R.
Matheson; and these two gentlemen continued the publication until 1874,
when the firm dissolved. Mr. Balfour retiring in the same year. He then
removed to Amherstburg, Essex, where he founded a weekly paper, in
partnership with J. A. Auld, under
the firm name of Balfour & Auld, the
paper being called the, Amherstburg Echo. This partnership
continued until 1885, when a joint stock company was formed under the name
of the Echo Printing Co., Mr. Balfour being president of the
company, which position he retains still. In 1872, Mr. Balfour was elected
a public school trustee for St. Patrick’s ward, St. Catharines, and
retained this office for two years. After going
to Amherstburg, in 1875, he was also elected a school trustee, and was
re-elected for four successive years, during which time he was chairman of
the board. In 1878, he was elected reeve of the
town of Amherstburg, and served as chairman of the finance and educational
committees of the county council, as well as auditor of the criminal
justice accounts. He was also chairman of the finance committee of the
town council of Amherstburg. In 1883 after his election to the LegisIative
Assembly of Ontario, he retired from the Council of Amherstburg. In 1879,
he contested the eIection for South Essex in the local house, with Lewis
Wigle, M. P., and was defeated. In 1882, when
Mr. Wigle was elected to the Commons, Mr Balfour contested the same riding
with Peter Wright, reeve of Colchester South, Essex, in the bye-election,
and was elected, in the Reform interest, by a majority of seventy-two
votes. At the general election of 1883, he defeated Thomas B. White, reeve
of Anderdon, by a majority of thirty-four votes. On first appearing in the
house in 1882, Mr. Balfour moved the address in reply to the speech from
the throne, and has since served on the following committees, viz: Public
accounts, printing, municipal, railways, and private bills. Mr. Balfour,
we may state, it was who introduced the bill which has been considerably
discussed through the press, viz., that providing for the admission of
Delos R. Davis, (coloured) of Colchester, to the bar of Ontario. Although
persistently opposed, Mr. Balfour successfully carried his point, in the
face of pronounced opposition by the legal fraternity, under the aegis of
the law society. He has also carried on a vigorous crusade for the
abolition of toll roads, and has already secured some legislation in that
direction, as well as approval from both sides of the house.
Mr. Balfour has also introduced and carried through several
amendments to the Municipal Act. He has been a
rnember of the Oddfellows, and. has been, for ten years, a director of the
South Essex and Anderdon and Malden Agricultural societies; has served as
president of both, and is now a director of the South Essex Farmers’
Institute. In 1868, be was secretary of the Y.M.C.A., at St. Catharines,
and continued for some six yean in that connection, besides being
secretary at the provincial convention held at Belleville, in 1872. ln
politics Mr. Balfour is a Liberal Reformer, and is a member of the Reform
Club, of Toronto. He was for eight years secretary of the South Essex
Liberal Association and for the Iast eleven yean has delivered numerous
campaign speeches in the interests of his party, through his own section
of the country. We may add that he was conspicuous in the late "bribery
conspiracy," which has been ventilated through the press of the country,
and tried in the courts. In that case, of course, Mr. Balfour appears as a
man of integrity and honour. In political work Mr. Balfour takes the
deepest interest. He has the advantage of being thoroughly well informed
upon current political history, and as his ability as a
debater is very pronounced, he frequently joins very effectively in
debate. To get the "ear of the house" is a very high compliment to bestow
upon a speaker; but it is noteworthy that when Mr. Balfour is upon his
feet, the house assumes an attitude of attentive listening. The chief
speech, perhaps, delivered by him in the house was that, in 1885, in
defense of Mr. Mowat’s Redistribution Bill. Mr. Balfour is a Presbyterian.
He married, in 1876, Josephine, eldest daughter of the late Colonel T. F.
Brodhead, of Grosse Isle, Michigan, U. S., who was commander of the
Michigan Cavalry Brigade, and who met a soldier’s death at the field of
Manassas, in Virginia. By this lady, Mr. Balfour has a family of
five children. |
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