| Description | Sir Charles Tupper, 1st Baronet, GCMG, CB, PC was Premier of Nova Scotia from 1864 to 1867 and led Nova Scotia into Confederation. He later went on to serve as the sixth Prime Minister of Canada, sworn in to office on May 1 1896, seven days after parliament had been dissolved. He would go on to lose the June 23 election, resigning on July 8, 1896. His 69-day term as prime minister is currently the shortest in Canadian history. At age 74, in May 1896, he was also the oldest person to serve as Prime Minister of Canada.
Born in Amherst, Nova Scotia in 1821, Tupper was trained as a physician and practiced medicine periodically throughout his political career (and served as the first president of the Canadian Medical Association). He entered Nova Scotian politics in 1855 as a protege of James William Johnston. During Johnston's tenure as premier of Nova Scotia in 1857-59 and 1863-64, Tupper served as provincial secretary. Tupper replaced Johnston as premier in 1864. As premier, Tupper established public education in Nova Scotia. He also worked to expand Nova Scotia's railway network in order to promote industry.
Following the passage of the British North America Act in 1867, Tupper resigned as premier of Nova Scotia and began a career in federal politics. He held multiple cabinet positions under Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald and was initially groomed as his successor. Tupper had a falling out with him, and by the early 1880s, he asked Macdonald to appoint him as Canadian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom. Tupper took up his post in London in 1883, and would remain High Commissioner until 1895, although in 1887-88, he served as Minister of Finance without relinquishing the High Commissionership.
In 1895, the government of Sir Mackenzie Bowell floundered over the Manitoba Schools Question; as a result, several leading members of the Conservative Party of Canada demanded the return of Tupper to serve as prime minister. Tupper accepted this invitation and returned to Canada, becoming prime minister in May 1896. An election was called, just before he was sworn in as prime minister, which his party subsequently lost to Wilfrid Laurier and the Liberals. Tupper served as Leader of the Opposition from July 1896 until 1900, at which point he returned to London, where he lived until his death in 1915.
[Source: Wikipedia]
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