Edward Mortimer Macdonald, PC

Queen's Privy Council for Canada

The Queen's Privy Council for Canada ), sometimes called Her Majesty's Privy Council for Canada or simply the Privy Council, is the full group of personal consultants to the monarch of Canada on state and constitutional affairs, though responsible government requires the sovereign or her viceroy,...

 (August 16, 1865 – May 25, 1940) was a Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 politician.

Born in Pictou, Nova Scotia

Pictou, Nova Scotia

Pictou is a town in Pictou County, in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. Located on the north shore of Pictou Harbour, the town is approximately 10 km north of the larger town of New Glasgow....

, the son of John D. and Mary Isabel Macdonald, Macdonald was educated at the Pictou Academy

Pictou Academy

Pictou Academy , founded in 1816 by the late Dr. Thomas McCulloch, is a secondary school in Pictou, Nova Scotia. Prior to the twentieth century, it was a liberal nonsectarian college, a grammar school, an academy and then a secondary school. Pictou Academy's current principal is James Ryan. The...

 and Dalhousie College

Dalhousie University

Dalhousie University is a public research university located in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The university comprises eleven faculties including Schulich School of Law and Dalhousie University Faculty of Medicine. It also includes the faculties of architecture, planning and engineering located at...

 where he received a Bachelor of Law in 1887. He was admitted to the Nova Scotia bar in 1887 and the Bar of Quebec in 1918. He was created a King's Counsel in 1904.

He first ran for Canadian House of Commons

Canadian House of Commons

The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...

 in the riding of Pictou

Pictou (electoral district)

Pictou was a federal electoral district in Nova Scotia, Canada, that was represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1867 to 1968. It was created in the British North America Act of 1867. It consisted of the County of Pictou. It was abolished in 1966 when it was merged into the riding of...

 in the 1896 federal election

Canadian federal election, 1896

The Canadian federal election of 1896 was held on June 23, 1896 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 8th Parliament of Canada. Though the Conservative Party won a plurality of the popular vote, the Liberal Party, led by Wilfrid Laurier, won the majority of seats to form the...

. Defeated, he lost again in 1900

Canadian federal election, 1900

The Canadian federal election of 1900 was held on November 7 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 9th Parliament of Canada. As a result of the election, the Liberal Party, led by Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier, was re-elected to a second majority government, defeating the...

. From 1897 to 1904, he was the Nova Scotia Liberal

Liberal Party of Nova Scotia

The Liberal Party of Nova Scotia is a political party in Nova Scotia, Canada.-Origins:The party is descended from the pre-Confederation Reformers in Nova Scotia who coalesced around Joseph Howe demanding the institution of responsible government...

 member of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly

Nova Scotia House of Assembly

The Nova Scotia Legislature, consisting of Her Majesty The Queen represented by the Lieutenant Governor and the House of Assembly, is the legislative branch of the provincial government of Nova Scotia, Canada...

 for the electoral district of Pictou.

He was elected in the 1904 federal election

Canadian federal election, 1904

The Canadian federal election of 1904 was held on November 3 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 10th Parliament of Canada...

. A Liberal

Liberal Party of Canada

The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...

, he was re-elected in 1908

Canadian federal election, 1908

The Canadian federal election of 1908 was held on October 26 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 11th Parliament of Canada. Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier's Liberal Party of Canada was re-elected for a fourth consecutive term in government with a majority government...

 and 1911

Canadian federal election, 1911

The Canadian federal election of 1911 was held on September 21 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 12th Parliament of Canada.-Summary:...

. He did not run in 1917

Canadian federal election, 1917

The 1917 Canadian federal election was held on December 17, 1917, to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 13th Parliament of Canada. Described by historian Michael Bliss as the "most bitter election in Canadian history", it was fought mainly over the issue of conscription...

, but was elected again in 1921

Canadian federal election, 1921

The Canadian federal election of 1921 was held on December 6, 1921 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 14th Parliament of Canada. The Union government that had governed Canada through the First World War was defeated, and replaced by a Liberal government under the young leader...

. In 1923, he was appointed Minister without Portfolio and Minister of National Defence (Acting). From 1923 to 1926, he was the Minister of National Defence.