{{Short description|Canadian Father of Confederation (1811–1885)}} {{More footnotes needed|date=July 2022}} {{Use Canadian English|date=January 2023}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = The Honourable | name = Jean-Charles Chapais | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=CAN|PC|size=100%}} | image = Jean-Charles Chapais.jpg | caption = Jean-Charles Chapais as Receiver-General, in 1870 | office = Senator for De la Durantaye, Quebec | appointer = John A. Macdonald | predecessor = Joseph-Noël Bossé | successor = John Jones Ross | term_start = January 30, 1868 | term_end = July 17, 1885 | office2 = Member of the Legislative Assembly of Quebec for Champlain | predecessor2 = John Jones Ross | successor2 = François-Xavier-Anselme Trudel | term_start2 = 1867 | term_end2 = 1871 | birth_date = {{birth date|1811|12|02}} | birth_place = Rivière-Ouelle, Lower Canada | death_date = {{death date and age|1885|07|17|1811|12|01}} | death_place = Ottawa, Ontario | spouse = | party = Conservative | other_party = Conservative Party of Quebec (historical) | relations = | children = Thomas Chapais | alma_mater = | occupation = | profession = | cabinet = Minister of Agriculture (1867-1869)<br>Receiver General (1869-1873) }} '''Jean-Charles Chapais''', {{Post-nominals|country=CAN|PC}} ({{IPA|fr|ʒɑ̃ ʃaʁl ʃapɛ}}; December 2, 1811 – July 17, 1885) was a Canadian Conservative politician, and considered a Father of Canadian Confederation for his participation in the Quebec Conference to determine the form of Canada's government.
Chapais was born in Rivière-Ouelle, a small town in Kamouraska, Quebec, and was educated in Nicolet.
Following his success as a farmer and merchant, in 1845 he became the first mayor of Saint-Denis-de-la-Bouteillerie, the town he had lived in from 1833. The following year, he married Georgina Dionne; they had six children together.
==Political career== At the prompting of his father-in-law, Chapais entered regional politics. In 1851, he was elected for the first time to the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada; he was eventually to serve a total of five terms representing Kamouraska. A "bleu", he was a supporter of Augustin-Norbert Morin, Étienne-Paschal Taché and George-Étienne Cartier. He worked to abolish the system of seigneurial tenure in Quebec and reform agricultural legislation.
Following the Charlottetown Conference in September 1864, Chapais attended the Quebec Conference to negotiate on behalf of Canada East for provincial governments to have greater power in the Canadian federal system.
Chapais was Commissioner of Public Works in the Great Coalition of 1864–1867, and is credited with establishing the Intercolonial Railway and expanding the Grand Trunk Railway. In 1867 the British North America Act was passed, creating the Dominion of Canada, and Chapais became the first Minister of Agriculture. At this time, he also switched to representing Champlain in the Quebec legislature, due to a scandal over electoral irregularities in Kamouraska. On 30 January 1868, Jean-Charles Chapais entered the Senate of Canada, and sat in the body until his death.
As Minister, Chapais was in charge of more than simply agriculture: the department was also responsible for the import and export of animals, immigration, the census, patent administration and trademarks, public health, manufacturing, and the arts. After less than three years, he was replaced by Christopher Dunkin, which he greatly resented. His new position of Receiver General for Canada was significantly less prestigious and powerful, requiring little more than making and accepting payments on behalf of the government. (Today, the portfolio has passed to the Minister of Public Works.) Chapais resigned in 1873, saying that he wanted to spend more time with his family and business. He is buried in Saint-Denis-De La Bouteillerie, Quebec.
Chapais' house in Saint-Denis-De La Bouteillerie was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1962.<ref>{{CRHP|12285|Chapais House|19 March 2012}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==Sources== * {{Quebec MNA biography|chapais-jean-charles-2505|Jean-Charles Chapais}} * {{cite DCB |first=Andrée |last=Désilets |title=Chapais, Jean-Charles |volume=11 |url=https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/chapais_jean_charles_11E.html}} * {{Canadian Parliament links|ID=8801|2=The Hon. Jean-Charles Chapais, P.C., Senator}} *[https://web.archive.org/web/20060521201331/http://www.collectionscanada.ca/confederation/023001-2317-e.html Biography] Libraries and Collections Canada *[http://www.agr.gc.ca/bios/index_e.php?page=chapais Biography from the Ministry of Agriculture] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040815200838/http://www.agr.gc.ca/bios/index_e.php?page=chapais |date=2004-08-15 }}
{{s-start}} {{s-off}} {{succession box| before=Edward Kenny| title=Receiver General| after=Théodore Robitaille| years=1869-11-16 – 1873-01-29 }} {{s-end}}
{{CA-Ministers of Agriculture}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chapais, Jean-Charles}} Category:1811 births Category:1885 deaths Category:Businesspeople from Quebec Category:19th-century Canadian farmers Category:Canadian senators from Quebec Category:Fathers of Confederation Category:Conservative Party of Canada (1867–1942) senators Category:Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada Category:Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada from Canada East Category:Conservative Party of Quebec MNAs Category:People from Bas-Saint-Laurent Category:Persons of National Historic Significance (Canada) Category:19th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Quebec Category:Farmers from Quebec Category:19th-century members of the Senate of Canada