McLaren was involved in the timber trade and operated sawmills in
Carleton Place, at McLaren's depot on the
Kingston and Pembroke Railway line,
Rivers and Streams Act In 1881, the
4th Ontario parliament passed the
Rivers and Streams Act, mainly due to a dispute between McLaren and a rival lumber company over access to McLaren's timber slides on the
Mississippi River. The enactment gave the right to individuals to flow logs down rivers, creeks, and streams, and allowed those who made improvements along a river to receive a
toll set by the lieutenant governor from others floating logs down a river. The
John A. Macdonald government
disallowed the Ontario law. The report on disallowance cited removal of property rights from individuals down river who would be forced to become "toll-keeper against his will," which amounted to taking away the "rights of one man and vest them in another" which a legislatures power to do so was deemed "exceedingly doubtful." The decision to disallow the Act went against the principles of disallowance Macdonald previously authored in 1868, and was protested by the Premier of Ontario,
Oliver Mowat, and opposition in Parliament, including
Wilfrid Laurier. Further accusations came from the opposition, claiming the decision was motivated, as McLaren, who petitioned for disallowance, was a known political friend of Macdonald. Macdonald's conservative government was unsuccessful at arguing that this disallowance aligned with previous decisions, and conservative
Dalton McCarthy conceded in parliament that the disallowance was based on a new principle. Macdonald defended the decision on the concept of protecting
property rights and was within the general interest of the Dominion to maintain those rights to ensure continued certainty in investment.
Gérard La Forest believed the report authorizing the disallowance was not authored by Justice Minister
James McDonald but was written by John A. Macdonald, as McDonald would cease his role as justice minister only a few days after its publication. The Ontario legislature protested the disallowance and passed the same Act three more times, all of which were disallowed, and finally, in 1884, a fourth attempt, which was not disallowed and continued as law. The issue was settled in the landmark case
McLaren v Caldwell by the
Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, which upheld the enactment. == Political life ==