Government and decided to carry out the policy of conscription without submitting the question to the Canadian people through the medium of a referendum, he was one of those Liberals who stood back of Sir Wilfrid Laurier in opposing such a course. Though at the time it was supposed that he was facing almost certain defeat he accepted the Liberal nomination for North Essex. He was opposed by Col. Wigle, who was generally regarded as a very strong candidate. In the two months’ campaign that ensued Mr. Kennedy made many friends by his sane and reasonable methods of electioneering and when the ballots were counted on December 17, 1917, it was found that he had been elected by a handsome majority, which was not annulled by the vote of the soldiers overseas, details of which were received later. During the parliamentary session Mr. Kennedy made his maiden speech as a legislator in the budget debate, and made a very fine impression on friends and political opponents alike by his brilliant handling of financial questions. Old parliamentarians were agreed that it was one of the most promising initial speeches ever made at Ottawa, and ever since the member for North Essex has been regarded as an important factor in the future of his party. His recreations are golf and motoring, and he is a member of the following clubs: Detroit, Detroit Athletic, Essex County Golf, Windsor and Ontario, Toronto. In religion he is a Roman Catholic and on May 8, 1907, married Glencora, daughter of George W. Bolton, Detroit, Michigan.
Mitchell, Robert Menzies, Hon. (Weyburn, Sask.), is a native of Port Union, Ont., where he was born October 28, 1865, the son of James Mitchell, a farmer, and Elizabeth Rodger, his wife. His father came of Scottish ancestry, some of whose descendants settled in Canada and some in Australia. Madame Melba, the great Australian prima donna, whose maiden name was Nellie Mitchell, is a cousin of the subject of this sketch. The latter was educated at Orangeville High School and Trinity Medical School, Toronto, graduating M.D., C.M. in April, 1892. He at once commenced the practice of medicine at Dundalk, Dufferin County, Ont., and remained there until 1899, when he settled at Weyburn, Sask., and continued in active practice there until 1907. He was Chairman of the Weyburn Public School Board for ten years, and of the High School Board for five years. In August, 1908, he was elected to the Saskatchewan Legislature as a Liberal for the constituency of Weyburn, and has been re-elected at each ensuing election. He was Chairman of the Private Bills and Railways Committee of the Legislature for six years, and was chosen as Deputy Speaker in 1916. Shortly afterward he was made Speaker, and on his return to the House after the general elections of 1917 was re-elected to that office. Though a Liberal his fairness and impartiality in the conduct of debate has made him universally popular among politicians of all shades of opinion. He is a member of the following fraternal orders: A.F. & A.M., I.O.O.F., and C.O.F.; of the Weyburn Club, and the Assiniboia Club, Regina. His recreations are football and curling, and in religion he is a Presbyterian. On August 17, 1892, he married Margaret, daughter of Donald and Flora McKinnon, Badjeros, Ont., and his two sons have both served their country with honor in the great war. R. C. Mitchell, born July 11, 1893, went overseas with the First Canadian Expeditionary Force in 1914, and D. J. Mitchell, born February 15, 1895, became a member of the Royal Air Force a year or so later.
Lemieux, the Honorable Sir François-Xavier, Chief Justice of the Superior Court of Quebec, was born at Levis on the 9th of April, 1851, the son of Antoine and Henriette (Lagueux) Lemieux. From the Levis College he entered the Quebec Seminary and afterwards graduated from Laval University, in 1872, taking the degree of LL.B. In the same year he started on his career as a lawyer in the city of Quebec, taking rank almost immediately as an efficient pleader in the criminal courts of the Lower St. Lawrence districts. His eloquent fluency and finesse as a defender brought him into a lucrative practice; and there were in time few prominent cases of criminality brought into court in which his services were not sought after. Nor did his legal acumen in winning cases arouse any envious feeling against him among his legal brethren, since in 1896 he was elected Batonnier of the Quebec Bar, and in the following year Batonnier-General of the Provincial Bar. Turning his attention to politics, he sat as member of Levis in the Legislative Assembly for nine years, and afterwards as member for Bonaventure, for three years. As an orator, he has a marvellous faculty on the hustings of carrying any large audience with him in his argument. At length the widest fame came to him when he was called upon to defend Louis Riel, the rebel leader of the half-breeds and Indians in the North-West, in 1885. The charge of high treason against the culprit was sustained, but his legal defender was nevertheless acclaimed as one of the shrewdest lawyers that could have been engaged to defend him. Subsequently, in 1892, he was chosen to defend the Honorable Honore Mercier, Premier of Quebec, before the criminal court, under charges of maladministration. Mr. Mercier was honorably acquitted. Five years after the subject of this biography was appointed Puisne Judge in the district of Arthabaska and afterwards in Sherbrooke. From Sherbrooke, he was finally removed to Quebec where he holds the office of Chief Justice for the Province of Quebec. The literary talents of Sir François have been proven by his lectures and essays. His acumen as a judge has been openly acknowledged by his professional associates. He is a citizen well worthy the honor conferred upon him by King George and by Laval University, in the one case of Knighthood and in the other an LL.D. His father-in-law, the late Justice Plamondon, was a judge of the Superior Court of Quebec, Miss Diana Plamondon becoming his wife in 1874.
Turgeon, The Hon. Adelard, LL.D., C.M.G., C.V.O., Knight of the Legion of Honour of France (Quebec City), President of the Legislative Council of the Province of Quebec, and a Governor of Laval University, was born at Beaumont in the Province of Quebec, on December 19, 1863. He is the son of Mr. Damase Turgeon, and was educated at Levis College and at Laval University. Called to the Bar in 1887, he opened a law office in Levis, but afterwards entered into partnership in Quebec with the prominent legal firm of Roy, Langlais & Godbout. His career as a parliamentarian was inaugurated by his election as member for Bellechasse in 1890, a constituency which he continued to represent up to 1909, when he retired from the Legislative Assembly to take his seat in the Legislative Council and assume the high office of Speaker or President of that body. While a member of the Assembly his eloquence became an attractive feature in the many important debates in which he took part, alike as Member and Minister. As an administrator and public-spirited citizen, he has taken high rank as a publicist, having retained the favor of Bellechasse from term to term for over a decade. During the Tercentennial Celebration at Quebec in 1908, he was honored by the Prince of Wales, now King George V, and was shortly afterwards chosen as one of the members of the National Battlefields Commission, which has ever since been engaged in laying out and beautifying one of the most spacious public parks in Canada. In 1897 he was called to join the Marchand Government as Minister of Colonization, holding the same office in the Parent Cabinet, until he was chosen to act as Minister of Agriculture and Provincial Secretary. In 1905, the Parent Administration was transformed into the Gouin Administration, and in the latter Mr. Turgeon accepted the portfolio of Lands and Forests, holding the same up to 1909. On resigning his seat in the Assembly as a challenge to some of his detractors, he was re-elected against Henri Bourassa by the electors of Bellechasse as an acknowledgement of his mature administrative abilities, and a warrant to his resuming his place in the Gouin Cabinet, as well as preparing the way for his being called to the high office of President of the Legislative Council. During his public career, he has held many important positions outside of his parliamentary functions, among these being President of the Quebec Land Company, Vice-President of the Provincial Securities Company, Director of the Quebec Transfer and Cartage Company, and member of the Comptoir Mobilier-Franco-Canadien Company. He was one of the founders of the Society of L’Union Liberale, and prominently connected with various political clubs. In July, 1887, he married Miss Eugenie Samson, the daughter of Mr. Etienne Samson, of Levis. As President of the Upper Chamber of the Provincial Parliament, Mr. Turgeon has his residence within the precincts of the Parliament Buildings, wherein his hospitalities form a prominent feature in the social life of the community when parliament is in session, as well as at other times.
Rhodes, Hon. Edgar Nelson, K.C., B.A., LL.B. (Amherst, N.S.), son of Nelson A. Rhodes and Sara D. C. Curry. Born at Amherst, N.S., on January 5, 1877. Educated at Amherst Academy, Horton Collegiate Academy, Acadia University and Dalhousie University. Degrees: B.A., Acadia; LL.B., Dalhousie. Member of the Board of Governors of Acadia University. Married, July 12, 1905, to M. Grace, second daughter of Hon. W. T. Pipes, K.C., Attorney-General of Nova Scotia. He is the father of the following children: Edgar N. Rhodes, Jr., born on April 19, 1906, and Helen S. Rhodes,
