A Cyclopædia of Canadian Biography. Various

The Hon. Louis Alexander (Quebec City), Minister of Public Works for the Province of Quebec, is the son of the Hon. Justice Taschereau, who married Miss Josephine Caron, the daughter of the Hon. Justice Caron, formerly Lieut.-Governor. He was born on the 5th of March, 1867. He was educated at the Quebec Seminary and Laval University, graduating as a Licentiate of Law in 1889, preliminary to his entering upon his professional career as partner of Sir Charles Fitzpatrick, now Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada. Later he became associated with what is now the legal firm of Taschereau, Roy, Cannon, Parent & Casgrain. As a lawyer, Mr. Taschereau came at once to be recognized as one of the leading legal practitioners of the district, among his successes being the part he took in the Gaynor and Greene extradition case in 1902. In addition to his duties as an advocate he took part in civic affairs, and for a time held a seat as an alderman of his native city. In 1900, he was elected for the constituency of Montmorency in the Legislative Assembly, and has continued ever since to be its representative. Seven years after, with his skill in debate, duly recognized by his parliamentary associates, he was selected to take his place in the Gouin Administration as Minister of Public Works and Labor. His administrative ability has been in keeping with his statesmanlike insight and foresight, and his skill in debate. His advice is ever in demand when any legal technicality has to be examined and explained to both sides of the Assembly. In fact, he has taken a high place as the Premier’s ally in all matters pertaining to the progress of the province, while he has won the highest credit within parliamentary circles and beyond them, for the efficiency of the Department in his charge. He has been a member of the Battlefields Park Commission since the day it was organized, and is likewise a Governor of the Catholic Church Society. He is a nephew of the late Cardinal Taschereau, Archbishop of Quebec. In 1891 he married Miss Adine Dionne, daughter of the Hon. E. Dionne, of the Legislative Council of Quebec, by whom he has had three sons and two daughters. Altogether he has made a record for himself in his native city and province as an able advocate, an astute governmental administrator, and a loyal citizen. Sprung from a distinguished and talented family, his career as a public man has added to its fame.

Ross, James Gibb (Quebec City), Senator of Canada, was born in Carluke, a village of Lanarkshire, in Scotland, on April 18, 1819. He came out to Canada in 1832, in company with his elder brother, John Ross; and, after attending one of the private schools of Quebec for a year or two, he entered the business office of his uncle, Mr. James Gibb. At this time the firm of James Gibb & Company was one of the largest of the wholesale grocery and provision houses in what has always been known as the Lower Town of Quebec; and there the Scottish lad laid the foundation of his business career, which was eventually to place him among the wealthiest merchants of Canada. In 1843, Mr. Thomas O. Gibb, son of Mr. James Gibb, returned to Quebec, after finishing his school education in Edinburgh; and in the same year a company was formed in which Thomas O. Gibb, John Ross, and James G. Ross were the partners, until the first mentioned of the three died in 1845. Eventually, on Mr. James Gibb’s death, the two Ross brothers took the business name of Ross & Co., and as such continued in active operation up to the year 1868. By this time the firm had amplified its business by other branches of trading; and in 1868 the older of the two members of the firm withdrew to conduct a business of his own, for the most part confined, as it was, to the grocery and provision trade. With him was associated his youngest brother, Frank Ross. At the time of the Senator’s death, in 1888, the firm of Ross & Co. had developed into one of the wealthiest business concerns in the country, having depots for the distribution of their wares in nearly all the larger cities of Canada and the United States. With millions at his command, the sole partner of the firm took an active interest in shipbuilding and railroad construction. Nearly every branch of industry was enhanced by the money advances of the multi-millionaire. The shipping interests, especially, felt the effects of his business acumen, especially when he took in charge for sailing purposes the ships the building of which he had assisted with advances of money, but which, for market reasons could not for a time be sold. The railroads which came in for assistance included the Quebec and Lake St. John Railway and the Quebec Central, both of which may trace their success as paying concerns to the financial foresight of Senator James G. Ross, who thus both directly and indirectly aided the colonization of the country and its trading interests by the assistance he extended to their promoters. Nor was it easy for one so prominent in the commercial interests of the ancient capital to refuse to be nominated as a candidate for parliamentary honors. On two several occasions he was called upon to contest the electoral division of Quebec Centre, once in the Conservative interest in 1872, against Mr. Cauchon, afterwards Governor of Manitoba, and a second time as an Independent, in 1878, against Mr. Malouin. In both instances he was defeated, though afterwards he was considered worthy to succeed the Hon. David Price as Senator, in 1884. He was unmarried; but in the families of his two brothers, John and Frank, he is notably represented to-day by Mr. John Theodore Ross, the only son of the former, and Frank W. Ross, surviving son of the latter, both of whom have evidently in them the desire inherited from their uncle, James G. Ross, to advance the interests of their native city. The Hon. Senator Ross was a prominent citizen other than in business and political circles. He took an interest in school improvements and church advancement. He was for many years President of the Quebec Bank, a Director of the Quebec High School, and an elder in Chalmers Church. As may well be said of his beneficent uncle, James Gibb, Senator James Gibb Ross was a liberal benefactor to the institutions of Quebec, both before his death and after it. He accumulated his millions in Peter Street, and every Protestant institution in the city of his adoption benefited by his wealth in some way or another.

Gouin, The Hon. Sir Jean Lomer, K.C.M.G., LL.B., LL.D., Premier of the Province of Quebec, was born at Brondines, of the County of Portneuf, on March 19, 1861. He comes from a French-Canadian stock whose lineage can be traced as far back as 1662. His father was J. N. Gouin, M.D., who married Miss Victoire Seraphine Fugère in 1852. In his earlier years, their son Lomer became a pupil of Sorel College, thereafter entering as an under-graduate the College of Levis, and afterwards graduating at Laval University. His collegiate honors include the degree of LL.D., received successively from Laval in 1902, from Bishop’s College University in 1913, and from Toronto University in 1915. He was called to the Bar in 1884, after studying law under the late Sir John Abbott and the Hon. B. Laflamme. He had thus been a student under the supervision of a Prime Minister of Canada and of a Minister of Justice. During his partnership with Judge Pagnuello and the Hon. Premier Honore Mercier, whose daughter Eliza he married in 1888, he came into prominence in the law courts of Montreal, being finally elected Batonnier-General in 1910, after having served a term as Alderman of that city, and elected a Member of the Local Legislature. In 1900 he became Commissioner of Public Works in the Parent Administration for four years. Resigning his place in the Parent Cabinet in 1904, he was called to the premiership the year after, holding the portfolio of Attorney-General up to the present time. During the general election of 1916 his administration of public affairs was upheld by a majority never before vouchsafed to a Quebec premier; while the list of honors conferred upon him since his advent to power is perhaps one of the longest on record. He was knighted by the reigning Sovereign of the Empire at the Quebec Tercentenary Celebration of 1908, and was made a K.C.M.G. in the year 1913. Ever animated with a desire to see his native province an advancing factor in the general progress of the Dominion of Canada, as well as of the British Empire, he has been diligent in promoting the public works that have to be fostered within the counties and parishes, as well as in the cities and larger towns, in line with the general advancement of the commonwealth. He has done his best to improve the educational conditions of the communities, not forgetting likewise to improve the highways and the industrial activities all over the province. His zeal in establishing and liberally subsidizing Industrial Schools and Technical Colleges has become a proverb in all the provinces; while, in view of his support of a provincial grant of one million dollars to the Canadian Patriotic Fund during the time of war, his reputation as a broad-minded Canadian citizen has been placed beyond all questioning. Senator David has pronounced a eulogium on Premier Gouin that places him in rank with, if not beyond, those who have preceded him in the Quebec premiership. Within these war-times he has advocated a National War Service in the most fervent terms, illustrating Senator David’s estimate of his statesmanship as that of a highly capable servant of the State, in his impartial judgment, prudence, eloquence, and administrative acumen. His share in the Bonne Entente mission to Ontario in 1917, to plead, with others, for a closer mutual understanding between