Scott became a member of municipal council in 1851, was
mayor of Bytown in 1852, and held a seat in the
Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada from 1857 to 1863. With
Canadian Confederation, Scott won a seat in the
Ontario legislature as a
Liberal representing Ottawa from 1867 to 1871. He was
Speaker of the legislature briefly in December 1871 before he was appointed to the provincial
cabinet as Commissioner of Crown Lands. Scott played a leading role in passing legislation ensuring the rights of
separate schools in
Ontario. In November 1873, he left provincial politics when he was appointed
minister without portfolio by
Alexander Mackenzie in the federal Cabinet. Mackenzie had become prime minister after Sir
John A. Macdonald's government had been forced to resign because of the
Pacific Scandal. Scott was appointed to the
Senate of Canada by Mackenzie in January 1874 and became
Secretary of State for Canada and
Leader of the Government in the Senate. A supporter of
temperance, he drafted the "
Scott Act," which allowed any county or municipality in Canada to prohibit the retail sale of liquor by majority vote. With the defeat of the
Liberal government in the
1878 election, Scott became
Leader of the Opposition in the Senate until the return of the Liberals to government, under
Wilfrid Laurier. Scott resumed his old Cabinet position of Secretary of State. Scott retired from the cabinet in 1908 but remained in the Senate until his death in 1913. He was made a knight in 1909 by King Edward VII. ==Family==