Entry Into Politics
From 1868 to 1869, Dewdney became active in Colonial politics, representing the electoral district of Kootenay in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. After B.C. joined the Canadian confederation in 1871, he served as a Conservative member of Parliament for the riding of Yale following his election in 1872. He was appointed a member of Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald's cabinet in 1879, where he served as Indian commissioner for the North-West Territories until 1888.
In 1881, Macdonald arranged Dewdney's appointment as Lieutenant-Governor of the North-West Territories, then an executive position. Dewdney resigned his seat in the Commons, but remained Indian commissioner during his term as Lieutenant-Governor, which lasted until 1888. Responsible government had not been granted to the North-West Territories, so Dewdney was the Territories' head of government. Perhaps his most notable decision in office was changing the territorial capital from Battleford to Regina in 1883—a featureless location without water, trees or topography, but where Dewdney had secured substantial real estate for himself adjacent to the near-future planned Canadian Pacific Railway line. Other townsites were also considered probable territorial capitals, including Fort Qu'Appelle and Qu'Appelle, the latter to the extent of having been designated the cathedral city of the new Diocese of Qu'Appelle by the Church of England in Canada. The matter was a national scandal at the time.
After his term as Lieutenant-Governor of the North-West Territories, Dewdney was again elected to Parliament and served as the member for Assiniboia East (now southeastern Saskatchewan) from 1888 to 1891. During this period he also served as minister of the Interior and superintendent of Indian Affairs.
In 1892, he was appointed to the non-executive post of Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia. He served in this post until 1897.
He retired from politics in 1900, after unsuccessfully running for Parliament in New Westminster, British Columbia.
In 1909, following the death his wife Jane, Dewdney remarried. His new wife was Blanche Kemeys-Tynte, the daughter of Colonel Charles John Kemeys-Tynte of Halswell, Somerset, England.
Read more about this topic: Edgar Dewdney
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