Malcolm Colin Cameron, who represents the electoral division of South Huron in the Dominion Parliament, has his residence at the “Maples,” in the Town of Goderich, the seat of justice of Huron county, bordering on the eastern shore of Lake Huron. It is one of the largest, most populous, and most wealthy counties in the Province. The land is prolific, the climate salubrious, and the people industrious and thrifty, and the inhabitants of South Huron have an able representative whom they are proud to keep in Parliament.
Mr. Cameron was born in Perth, County of Lanark, Ont., April 12, 1831, and is of Highland-Scotch descent. He was educated at Knox College, Toronto, with a view of enterising the ministry of the Presbyterian Church, of which he has long been a zealous member, and to which he is a liberal contributor; but he changed his mind, read law in the office of Judge Deacon, of Renfrew; was called to the Bar of Upper Canada at the Easter term in 1860, and was made a Queen’s Counsel in 1876. He is the senior member of the law firm of Cameron, Holt and Cameron, of Goderich, who are doing an extensive business.
In 1856 Mr. Cameron was elected a Councilor of the Town of Goderich, and remained a member of the civic board for twelve years; was for one year Reeve, and for four years Mayor; was actively engaged, and largely interested in opening and improving the salt interests of the County of Huron; and has always taken a leading part in developing the natural resources of the western section of Canada. The excellent harbor of refuge at Goderich, and the commercial harbor at Bayfield, are largely indebted for their construction to the presence in Parliament and indefatigable energy of the member of Parliament for South Huron, to which honorable body he was first elected in 1867. He was re-elected in 1872 and 1874, which latter election followed the formation of the Mackenzie Administration, the result of the disclosures arising out of the Pacific Railway scandal. Mr. Cameron was reelected a third time in 1878.
He has always been a pronounced Liberal, and an earnest worker for the party, believing that the interests of the country depend upon its administration of affairs. Hence, while in Parliament, he has strongly opposed the general policy of the Conservative Government, led by Sir John A. Macdonald. Mr. Cameron occupies a prominent place in the ranks of the Opposition in Parliament.
May 30, 1855, Mr. Cameron married Jessie H., daughter of Dr. McLean, who, in the early part of the settlement of western Canada, was associated in the survey and explorations of the lakes of that part of the Dominion, with Capt. Bayfield, the commander of the expedition. They have seven children, and lost one child at Jacksonville, Florida, in 1876, aged seventeen years.