It cannot be denied that members of the bar have been more prominent actors in public affairs than any other class of the community. This is but the natural result of causes which are manifest and require no explanation. The ability and training which qualify one to practice law also qualify him in many respects for duties which lie outside the strict path of his profession and which touch the general interests of society. Holding marked precedence among the members of the bar and recognized also as an influential factor in political circles, Charles Hazlitt Cahan is a well known and honored resident of Montreal. He comes of a family of Irish origin and was born at Hebron, Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, October 31, 1861, his parents being the late Charles and Theresa Cahan, of Yarmouth. He supplemented his early educational training by study at Yarmouth Seminary and in Dalhousie University, winning his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1886 and Bachelor of Laws degree in 1890. He began practice as a barrister of Nova Scotia in 1893 and was created king’s counsellor there in 1907. In the same year he entered upon the practice of law in the province of Quebec and was made king’s counsellor in this province in 1909. While a resident of Halifax he was a member of the law firm of Harris, Henry & Cahan but since 1909 has been in practice in Montreal. He has always specialized in corporation law, in which department he has had wide and varied experience in North and South America and in Europe.
There was an interval between the completion of his course and his active connection with the bar in which he devoted his time and energies to journalistic interests, being connected with the Halifax Evening Mail and Herald, resigning, however, to devote his attention to law and politics in 1894, and he has made for himself a prominent name and position in the latter as well as in the former connection. He contested Shelburne, Nova Scotia, in the conservative interest and following the election sat in the Nova Scotia legislature from 1890 until 1894, during which period he was the recognized leader of the opposition. In 1896 he unsuccessfully contested Shelburne and Queen’s for the house of commons, and also Cumberland at the general election in 1900. He declined a nomination for the St. Lawrence division of Montreal at the general election of 1911, and he also refused political honors when he decided not to accept the portfolio offered him in the Dominion cabinet in 1896. Public activity has ever been with him a matter of public duty, as he has ever placed the general good before partisanship or self-aggrandizement. He was for several years honorary secretary of the Halifax branch of the Imperial Federation League and honorary secretary of the Liberal-Conservative Association in Nova Scotia. With all the duties that have been imposed upon him in his political and professional connections, he has found time and opportunity to cooperate in the management of various successful business corporations and interests. He is now the president of the Western Canada Power Company and of the Corporation Agencies, Ltd., and a director of several other important financial and industrial companies. He has closely studied vital public problems, and he took a decided stand against the Taft-Fielding reciprocity compact, against which he delivered various addresses during the political campaign of 1911. He has been termed a courageous, ready and powerful speaker. He presents his arguments with clearness and force, and their logic is convincing.
On March 1, 1887, Mr. Cahan was united in marriage to Mrs. Mary J. Hetherington of Halifax, Nova Scotia, and they now reside at No. 740 University Street, Montreal, with a summer residence at “Belmont,” Halifax, Nova Scotia. Mr. Cahan’s club relationship is with the Mount Royal and Montreal Clubs, Montreal; the Halifax Club, Halifax; and the Jockey Club of Mexico. He filled the presidency of the Dalhousie University Alumni Association in 1893-4. One of the elements of his success is found in his ability to entirely concentrate his thought and efforts upon the question or work in hand and then turn with equal enthusiasm and capability to his next duty or undertaking. The trend of his mind is analytical, logical and inductive, and as a corporation lawyer he stands among the foremost representatives of the profession in Montreal.
LEANDRE BELANGER.
Leandre Bélanger, for forty years or more one of the most prominent notaries of the province of Quebec, was born March 29, 1848, at St. François de Sales, Laval county. His father, Leandre Bélanger, was a carriage maker by trade and married Marie Nadon. His grandfather, François Bélanger, was a farmer of Laval county.
In his native village Leandre Bélanger, Jr., spent his boyhood and was educated at Terrebonne College. For five years he studied law in the office of Melasippe Prevost in Terrebonne and on the 11th of June, 1871, was commissioned a licensed notary in Quebec. For a year thereafter he engaged in practice at St. François de Sales, but, seeking a more extensive field, he located in Montreal on the 1st of May, 1872, and in this city soon built up a large and lucrative practice. Until 1909 he was alone in practice, but in that year formed a partnership with his son Adrien under the name of Bélanger & Bélanger, with offices at No. 30 St. James Street. For twenty-five years Mr. Bélanger has been a member of the board of notaries of the province of Quebec and for three years served as president of that board. For eight years he was president of the Montreal Association of Notaries and his contemporaries in the profession accord him a high position in their ranks. He has been a member of the Antiquarian and Numismatic Society for many years, and he is also a member of the Chambre de Commerce.
LEANDRE BELANGER
Mr. Bélanger is a member of the Catholic church and of L’Union Catholique and has served as a director and vice president of the latter. In politics he has ever remained independent. In 1870 he was married at St. François de Sales, to Claire Viger, and they became parents of two children: Joseph, a resident of St. Hyacinthe; and Maria, the wife of Dr. Archambault, of Fall River, Massachusetts. In 1879 Mr. Bélanger was married, in Montreal, to Miss Laura Viau and they have seven children: Leandre, an electrician in Montreal; Adrien, who is in partnership with his father; Armand; Laura; Evelina; Antoinette; and Alice. The family home is on St. Catherine road in Outremont.