View source for Matthew Crooks Cameron

{{Short description|Canadian politician (1822–1887)}}
{{Use Canadian English|date=January 2023}}
{{no footnotes|date=September 2022}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific_prefix = Sir
| name          = Matthew Crooks Cameron
| image         = MatthewCrooksCameron23.jpg
| imagesize     = 175px
| caption       = Matthew Cameron, 1872
| office        = [[Member of Provincial Parliament (Ontario)|Ontario MPP]]
| term_start    = 1867
| term_end      = 1878
| predecessor   = ''New riding''
| successor     = [[Alexander Morris (politician)|Alexander Morris]]
| constituency  = [[Toronto East (provincial electoral district)|Toronto East]]
| party         = [[Ontario Progressive Conservative Party|Conservative]]
| birth_date    = {{birth date|1822|10|02}}
| birth_place   = [[Dundas, Ontario|Dundas]], [[Upper Canada]]
| death_date    = {{death date and age|1887|06|25|1822|10|02}}
| death_place   = [[Toronto]], [[Ontario]], Canada
| occupation    = Lawyer
| spouse        = Charlotte Ross Wedd
}}
'''Sir Matthew Crooks Cameron''', {{Post-nominals|country=CAN|QC}} (2 October 1822 &ndash; 25 June 1887) was a politician in [[Ontario]], Canada. He was a [[Ontario Progressive Conservative Party|Conservative]] member of the [[Legislative Assembly of Ontario]] from 1867 to 1878. He represented the riding of [[Toronto East (provincial electoral district)|Toronto East]]. He served in the cabinet of the first [[Premiers of Ontario|premier]], [[John Sandfield Macdonald]]. After Macdonald's defeat in 1871, he became leader of the Conservative Party and served as [[Leader of the Opposition (Ontario)|Leader of the Opposition]] until his retirement from politics in 1878. After the legislature, he served as Chief Justice of the [[Court of Common Pleas]] until his death in 1887. In 1887 he was made a [[Knight Bachelor]].

==Background==
He was born in [[Dundas, Ontario|Dundas]] in [[Upper Canada]], during his studies at [[Upper Canada College]], he lost one leg after a shooting accident. Cameron later articled in law, was called to the bar in 1849 and entered practice with [[William Henry Boulton]] in [[Toronto]], Ontario. He was created a [[Queen's Counsel|QC]] on 27 March 1863, and elected a bencher of the [[Law Society of Upper Canada]] in April 1871. In 1887, he was created a [[Knight Bachelor]] shortly before his death.

==Politics==
In 1859, he was elected to [[Toronto City Council]] to represent St James' Ward. Two years, later, in January 1861, he was defeated in his effort to become [[Mayor of Toronto]], but later that year, he was elected to the [[Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada]] for North [[Ontario County, Ontario|Ontario]]. He was defeated in 1863 but was elected in an 1864 by-election when the incumbent, [[William McDougall (politician, born 1822)|William McDougall]], was forced to run for re-election after he was named to the executive council. Cameron was opposed to [[Canadian Confederation|Confederation]], preferring a legislative union. In 1867, he ran unsuccessfully in Ontario North in the federal election but was elected for [[Toronto East (provincial electoral district)|Toronto East]] to the provincial legislature.<ref name="DCB">{{cite web |last1=Evans |first1=A. Margaret |title=Cameron, Matthew Crooks |url=http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/cameron_matthew_crooks_11E.html |website=Dictionary of Canadian Biography |publisher=University of Toronto and Université Laval. |access-date=October 3, 2023}}</ref>

Cameron entered the [[Cabinet (government)|Cabinet]] of [[Premiers of Ontario|Premier]] [[John Sandfield Macdonald]] in 1867 as [[Provincial Secretary and Registrar of Ontario]].

In 1871, he became Commissioner of Crown Lands. With the defeat of the Macdonald government in the [[List of Ontario general elections|provincial election]] that December, Cameron became leader of the [[Ontario Progressive Conservative Party|Ontario Conservative Party]], but stepped down in 1878 to accept the appointment of Chief Justice of the [[Court of Common Pleas]].

==Electoral history==
{{1867 Canadian federal election/Ontario North}}
{{1867 Ontario general election/Toronto East}}
{{1871 Ontario general election/Toronto East}}
{{1875 Ontario general election/Toronto East}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{DictCanbio|ID=5414}}
* {{Ontario MPP biography|id=matthew-crooks-cameron}}

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{{succession box|
 before=[[Edward Blake]]|
 title=[[Leader of the Opposition (Ontario)|Leader of the Opposition in the<br> Ontario Legislature]]|
 years=1871&ndash;1878|
 after=[[William Ralph Meredith]]|
}}
{{s-end}}

{{Ontario PC Leaders}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cameron, Matthew Crooks}}
[[Category:1822 births]]
[[Category:1887 deaths]]
[[Category:Canadian Knights Bachelor]]
[[Category:Canadian people of English descent]]
[[Category:Canadian people of Scottish descent]]
[[Category:Canadian King's Counsel]]
[[Category:Judges in Ontario]]
[[Category:Lawyers in Ontario]]
[[Category:Leaders of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario]]
[[Category:Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada from Canada West]]
[[Category:People from Dundas, Ontario]]
[[Category:Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario MPPs]]
[[Category:Provincial secretaries of Ontario]]
[[Category:Upper Canada College alumni]]
[[Category:Ontario candidates for Member of Parliament]]
[[Category:Candidates in the 1867 Canadian federal election]]
[[Category:19th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario]]