Frederick Peters

Frederick Peters (April 8, 1851 – July 29, 1919) was a lawyer and Prince Edward Island politician, who served as the sixth premier of Prince Edward Island. Early life and career Peters was born in Charlottetown and educated at King's College in Nova Scotia. Frederick's parents were Judge James Horsfield Peters (whose grandparents James Peters and Margaret Lester were United Empire Loyalists from New York) and Mary Cunard (eldest daughter of Sir Samuel Cunard). He went on to study law in England and was called to bar there in 1876. He was called to the bars of Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia later that year and set up practice in Charlottetown. Political career A Liberal, Peters won election to the House of Assembly in 1890. He was asked to form a government in 1891 after the Conservative government lost a motion of confidence in the house. The Peters government abolished both the Legislative Council and the House of Assembly and brought in a new legislative assembly to create a unicameral form of government. Peters served as Premier until resigning in 1897 to move to British Columbia though he retained his seat in the legislature until 1899 despite no longer residing in the province. In 1892, Premier Peters and his Cabinet (Executive Council) explained key articles of the "Amalgamation Bill," including the provision that thirty MLAs would comprise the new "Legislative Assembly," for Canadian Minister of Justice Sir John Sparrow David Thompson. Fifteen MLAs would be "elected by voters eligible to vote for the present legislative council, and the other half by voters eligible to vote for our present house of assembly...The bill leaves the districts as before with the exception that it was necessary to enlarge the bounds of Georgetown district in King's county. This district only containing about 200 voters, and it not being deemed fair to allow so small a constituency to exist, in face of the fact that several other constituencies contained as many as 2000 voters. In order to do this change had to be made in three of the constituencies in King's county." The "Amalgamation Bill" abolished the Legislative Council, but added two representatives to the total number of MLAs voted into the legislature by "voters who possess a certain real property qualification." The bill further reduced thirty delegates elected to the legislature by a limited qualification that "almost amounts to manhood suffrage" to fifteen MLAs.