Robert Christie (Lower Canada politician)


Robert Christie was a lawyer, journalist, historian and political figure in Lower Canada and Canada East.
He was born in Windsor, Nova Scotia in 1787, the son of a Scottish immigrant. He attended the King's Collegiate School in Windsor and went to Quebec in 1805. He became an attorney in 1810 and served in the militia during the War of 1812. In 1816, he became the editor for the Quebec Telegraph, a weekly bilingual newspaper. In 1827, he was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada representing Gaspé and was appointed chairman of the Court of Quarter Sessions. He came into conflict with the assembly for removing magistrates who opposed the governor and, in 1829, he was expelled from the Legislative Assembly. However, the constituents of Gaspé continued to vote him back in and he was expelled four more times. The government in Britain supported Christie.
Later, Christie attempted to start a movement in Gaspé to separate from Lower Canada and join the province of New Brunswick. This alienated the voters of the region and he was not re-elected in 1833.
In 1841, however, he was elected to the 1st Parliament of the Province of Canada, again representing Gaspé, and he continue to represent the region until 1854. He introduced the motion in 1842 to move the capital from Kingston to Montreal. He edited the newspaper Quebec Mercury from 1848 to 1850.
Christie died at Quebec City in 1856, and was buried at Mount Hermon Cemetery in Sillery.

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