Dalton McCarthy

Dalton McCarthy
Member of the Canadian Parliament for Cardwell
In office 1876–1878
Preceded by	John Hillyard Cameron
Succeeded by	Thomas White
Member of the Canadian Parliament for Simcoe North
In office 1878–1898
Preceded by	Hermon Henry Cook
Succeeded by	Leighton McCarthy
Personal details
Born	(1836-10-10)October 10, 1836 Oakley Park, Blackrock (Ireland)
Died	May 11, 1898(1898-05-11) (aged 61) Toronto, Ontario

Dalton McCarthy (October 10, 1836 – May 11, 1898), or D'Alton McCarthy, was a Canadian lawyer and parliamentarian. He was the leader of the "Orange" or Protestant Irish Canadians, and fiercely fought against Irish Catholics as well as the French Catholics. He especially crusaded for the abolition of the French language in schools in Manitoba and Ontario.

McCarthy originally served in the House of Commons of Canada as a Conservative. An Irish-born Protestant, McCarthy was stridently anti-Catholic and anti-French Canadian. His contemporaries respected his organizational skills and perceived him as a potential Conservative leader after Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald vacated the leadership. However, he broke with the Conservatives in the 1890s, running and being re-elected as an Independent Member of Parliament (MP) in the 1891 Canadian federal election. He appears to have been associated with the Equal Rights Party which ran in that election but did not run as their candidate.

His firm, Boulton & McCarthy in Barrie, was the first incarnation of what is now Canada's largest law firm, McCarthy Tétrault. He appeared in the Supreme Court of Canada in the significant constitutional case of Citizens Insurance Co of Canada v Parsons, arguing successfully on behalf of two individuals claiming compensation under fire insurance policies. The case helped establish the scope of provincial jurisdiction in contract matters. He also defended Emily Stowe in the 1879 abortion trial of Emily Stowe.

McCarthy was a founder of the "Imperial Federation League", which proposed uniting the United Kingdom and the emerging dominions under a central Cabinet government responsible to an Imperial Parliament elected from throughout the Empire. McCarthy organized his own slate of McCarthyite candidates for the 1896 election, but he was the only one elected.

Following the 1896 election, McCarthy forged an alliance with the Liberal Party, even though its leader Wilfrid Laurier was a French Canadian Catholic. He might have been appointed to cabinet had he not died following a carriage accident in 1898.

McCarthy was a key figure in the Manitoba Schools Question, and a major proponent in pushing English only in legislatures, courts, and schools of Western Canada.

Archives

There is a Dalton McCarthy fonds at Library and Archives Canada. Archival reference number is R4370.

References

• "Dalton McCarthy". Dictionary of Canadian Biography (online ed.). University of Toronto Press. 1979–2016.
• Dalton McCarthy – Parliament of Canada biography