Jean-Charles Chapais
Jean-Charles Chapais, (December 2, 1811 – July 17, 1885) was a Canadian Conservative politician, and considered a Father of Canadian Confederation for his participation in the Quebec Conference to determine the form of Canada's government. Chapais was born in Rivière-Ouelle, a small town in Kamouraska, Quebec, and was educated in Nicolet. Following his success as a farmer and merchant, in 1845 he became the first mayor of Saint-Denis-de-la-Bouteillerie, the town he had lived in from 1833. The following year, he married Georgina Dionne; they had six children together. Political career At the prompting of his father-in-law, Chapais entered regional politics. In 1851, he was elected for the first time to the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada; he was eventually to serve a total of five terms representing Kamouraska. A "bleu", he was a supporter of Augustin-Norbert Morin, Étienne-Paschal Taché and George-Étienne Cartier. He worked to abolish the system of seigneurial tenure in Quebec and reform agricultural legislation. Following the Charlottetown Conference in September 1864, Chapais attended the Quebec Conference to negotiate on behalf of Canada East for provincial governments to have greater power in the Canadian federal system. Chapais was Commissioner of Public Works in the Great Coalition