George Eulas Foster

Sir George Eulas Foster, KCB, PC (September 3 1847 – December 30 1931) was a Canadian politician and academic.

Born in Carleton County, New Brunswick, Foster received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of New Brunswick in 1868. He taught in various high schools and seminaries until 1870 when he was appointed Professor of Classics and Ancient Literature in the University of New Brunswick. He shortly afterwards studied in Edinburgh, Scotland, and Heidelberg, Germany, resuming his former studies in 1873. He resigned in 1879.

Foster entered politics with his election to the Canadian House of Commons in the 1882 federal election as a Conservative MP representing New Brunswick. He immediately joined the Cabinet of Sir John A. Macdonald as Minister of Marine and Fisheries, and was promoted to Minister of Finance in 1888. Foster retained this position after Macdonald's death and through the successive governments of Prime Ministers Abbott, Thompson, Bowell and Tupper.

With the defeat of the Tories in the 1896 election, Foster retained his seat and joined the Opposition. He lost his seat in the 1900 election but returned to parliament in 1904, this time representing the riding of Toronto North in Ontario. He remained an Opposition Member of Parliament (MP) until his party returned to government in the 1911 federal election under Robert Borden.

Foster returned to Cabinet as Minister of Trade and Commerce, and received a knighthood in 1914 for his work in the Royal Commission on Imperial Trade. He served as a Canadian delegate to the 1919 Versailles Peace Conference. From 1920 to 1921, he was chairman of the Canadian delegation to the first assembly of the League of Nations. In 1921, he was appointed to the Canadian Senate in which he served until his death.

He was a prominent supporter of Canada's involvement in the Anglo-Boer War 1899-1901.

References

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* [http://www.archive.org/details/canadianparliame00montuoft The Canadian Parliament; biographical sketches and photo-engravures of the senators and members of the House of Commons of Canada. Being the tenth Parliament, elected November 3, 1904]