His interest in benevolent and charitable projects was wide
and his support thereof most generous. He became a director of
the Notre Dame Hospital and was a governor of both the General
Hospital and the Western Hospital. He was a governor of the Art
Association and life governor of the Numismatic & Antiquarian
Society; also president of the board of governors of Laval
University. His political career is an interesting one, for he
was not always a supporter of the liberal-conservative party.
Although a fellow townsman of Sir Adolphe Chapleau, the Senator
had been allied with Sir Henri Gustave Joly de Lotbinière in
that leader’s contest with Chapleau, Angers and the rest of the
conservative leaders of his time. In federal politics, however,
Hon. Mr. Forget declined to follow the free trade policy of
Mackenzie and Cartwright, which had been forced against his
will upon Rodolphe Laflamme, and from the days of the national
policy the Senator worked with the present conservative party.
He was appointed to the upper house during the elections of
1896 and was the last conservative senator to enter that branch
of the Canadian parliament. Senator Forget seldom addressed
the senate, yet his advice in committee was of great value to
his fellow members and it was here that the close friendship
sprang up between Senator Forget and the ex-prime minister, Sir
Mackenzie Bowell. The Senator was a loyal follower of R. L.
Borden as leader of the conservative party, both in parliament
and in the country. He realized that it was a very difficult
matter for any leader to find complete favor in the eyes of all
the provinces, but he was confident that Mr. Borden gave his
services to the party and to the country in a patriotic manner
and consequently deserved the support of a united party in both
houses. The Montreal Gazette some years ago termed him “an astute
and enterprising man of affairs.” He was more than that. He was
a constructionist and builded where others saw no opportunity;
he was a patriot without narrow partisanship; a Roman Catholic
and stanch churchman without a particle of race prejudice, in
evidence of which fact his closest friend in the senate of the
Dominion was an ex-grand master of the Orange Grand Lodge of
British North America--Sir Mackenzie Bowell. High honors had been
accorded him, distinction and notable success had come to him.
These things made him an eminent citizen, but, more than that,
attractive social qualities and genuine personal worth had gained
him the highest regard, confidence, good-will and friendship of
his contemporaries and colleagues.
While Senator Forget was a member of a number of clubs, he
manifested keenest interest perhaps in the Mount Royal Club, of
which he was one of the founders. Among the other clubs to which
he belonged were the St. James, of which he had been president;
the Royal St. Lawrence Yacht Club; the Forest and Stream; the
Montreal Hunt; the Country Club of Ottawa and the Manhattan Club
of New York.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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