John Abbott

Abbott was Canada's foremost commercial and railway lawyer, drafting the charter of the Canadian Pacific Railway and serving for decades as Dean of Law at McGill University, where he taught Wilfrid Laurier. He was elected Mayor of Montreal during the great smallpox epidemic of 1885.

Following Macdonald's death in 1891, Abbott reluctantly assumed the premiership as a consensus leader, famously writing, 'I hate politics... but I will do my duty.' His steady hand guided the Dominion through tariff negotiations and judicial reforms before failing health forced his retirement.