Editing Allan MacNab (section)

==Political career==
[[Image:Allan MacNab Bust.JPG|thumb|180px|alt=Bust of MacNab|Bust of Sir Allan MacNab, sculpted by [[Elizabeth Bradford Holbrook]].]]

MacNab represented Hamilton in Parliament from 1830 until his death in 1862, first in the [[Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada]] (1830–1840), then in the [[Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada]] (1841–1860), and finally in the [[Legislative Council of the Province of Canada]] representing the Western Division (1860–1862).<ref name=MacNab>Thomas Melville Bailey, ''Dictionary of Hamilton Biography'', vol. I, 1791–1875 (W.L. Griffin Ltd: 1981), p. 143.</ref> He was joint Premier of the province from 1854 to 1856.

In 1829, MacNab refused to testify before a House of Assembly committee which was investigating the hanging of an [[effigy]] of Lieutenant Governor [[John Colborne, 1st Baron Seaton|Sir John Colborne]], chaired by [[Reform movement (Upper Canada)|Reformer]] W. W. Baldwin. MacNab was subsequently sentenced to jail for 10 days by the House of Assembly, following apparent "prodding" from [[William Lyon Mackenzie]]. MacNab returned to the public as a "[[Tory]] [[martyr]]", and effectively utilized/exploited this image to defeat the Reformers in [[Wentworth County, Ontario|Wentworth County]] and secure the political victory for both he and [[John Willson]].<ref name=dcb/>

In April 1833, MacNab secured the appointment of the land registrar of Wentworth for his brother David Archibald. This was important as whoever controlled this office could "quietly acquire choice and undeveloped land in the Wentworth area without a need for a public auction". This benefitted MacNab as a land speculator as "he had gained a seemingly impregnable hold over Wentworth’s land development and, as a result, a firm grip on the county’s commercial and political future" due to appointing his brother.<ref name=dcb/>

MacNab came under public scrutiny when he was ousted as president of the Desjardins Canal Company in 1834, after having mortgaged a large block of personal land as security for a government loan to the company in 1832.<ref name=dcb/>

MacNab committed a breach of privilege and was arrested by the sergeant-at-arms during the [[10th Parliament of Upper Canada]] after a motion by the legislative assembly. MacNab retaliated by seconding a motion in December 1831 which was accusing [[William Lyon Mackenzie]] of breach of privilege and motioned for him to be expelled from the house on the grounds of [[Defamation|libel]]. The motion failed after Tory legislators feared the political backlash of supporting an obscure parliamentary privilege.<ref name="Firebrand 83">{{Cite news |last=Kilbourn |first=William |date= 30 June 2008 |title=The Firebrand: William Lyon Mackenzie and the Rebellion in Upper Canada |pages=83–84 |publisher=Dundurn |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=McMvWY0aJLsC&pg=PA83 |access-date=21 October 2020 |isbn=978-1-77070-324-7}}</ref> This was the first of five expulsions, MacNab active in all of them.<ref name=dcb/>

MacNab acted as a "spearhead" in the political attacks against Mackenzie (because of his involvement in all five expulsions) and this was beneficial for MacNab, causing him to gain power within the Assembly and maintain a solid link with the members of so-called "Tory York". This was beneficial for the Tories in Canada regarding their control of power in the Upper Canadian commercial and economic sectors, as MacNab acted as bridge for all members to communicate with each other, whereas previously there was only "intra-party maneuverings". This "intra-party struggle" was most evident and apparent when it came to banks and land speculation.<ref name=dcb/>

MacNab was a "Compact Tory" – a supporter of the [[Family Compact]] which had controlled Upper Canada prior to the union of the Canadas.<ref name = conversion/><ref name=bioca>{{cite DCB |title=MacNab, Sir Allan Napier |first=Peter |last=Baskerville |volume=9 |url=http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/macnab_allan_napier_9E.html}}</ref> In the first Parliament of the new Province of Canada, he supported the principle of union, but was an opponent of the [[Governor General of the Province of Canada|Governor General]], [[Charles Poulett Thomson, 1st Baron Sydenham|Sydenham]], and his policy of creating a government with a broad base of moderate supporters in the Assembly.  He opposed the policy of the "Ultra Reformers" to implement [[responsible government]].<ref>Paul G. Cornell, ''Alignment of Political Groups in Canada, 1841-67'' (Toronto:  University of Toronto Press, 1962; reprinted in paperback 2015), pp. 6, 7, 10, 93–97.</ref>

MacNab only partly encompassed the [[Tory|Tory ideology]] in Canada and was not a religious [[Elitism|elitist]]: MacNab supported all [[Christian denomination|denominations]] (plus [[Catholic Church|Catholics]]) in having an equal share to the proceeds from the [[Clergy Reserves in Canada Act 1840|clergy reserves]], MacNab often attended a [[Presbyterianism|Presbyterian]] church whilst being [[Anglicanism|Anglican]], MacNab married a Catholic in his second marriage, and opposed [[Orange Order|Orangeman]] [[Ogle Robert Gowan]] partly because of how strong his [[Protestantism|Protestant]] stance was.<ref name=dcb/>

Although MacNab received the title of "[[Baronet]]" through a baronetcy [[patronage]] by [[Edmund Walker Head|Sir Edmund Walker Head]] in July 1856, the action was nearly entirely the result of Head's "sympathetic recommendation" over any sort of rewarded action.<ref name=dcb/>

When Parliament met at [[Montreal]], MacNab took apartments there at [[Donegana's Hotel, Montreal|Donegana's Hotel]].{{citation needed|date=August 2020}}