GUELPH POLITICAST #384 - The Immortal John Galt

“John Galt, novelist, colonial promoter. Galt was superintendent of the Canada Company, a colonization company created to settle part of Upper Canada. During that time, he founded the town of Guelph (1827); the town of Galt was named after him.” That’s what the Canadian Encyclopedia tells you about Galt, but it doesn’t tell you a lot about who he really was.

A lot of assumptions have been made about Galt, and the popular wisdom for years was that he was a failure as the head of the Canada Company, yet the city he created survives and thrives 200 years later. But what about Galt as a colonizer? It may surprise you to learn that Galt, ever the iconoclast, had some unusual ideas for how settlers and Indigenous people should get along as equals, and it was among the reasons why he was sent back to Scotland two years after founding Guelph.

This week, we're joined by someone who might know Galt better than anyone (in the 21st century). Gil Stelter, a professor emeritus from the history department at the University of Guelph, has dedicated his life's studious endeavours to the man who's name is on the proverbial patent for Guelph. In his career, Stelter has amassed quite a number of insight into the man, his career as a businessman and author, and what his intentions were for Guelph, some of which actually came to pass.

And that’s where we pick things up on this week’s podcast as Stelter gives us a breakdown on who John Galt was, and his notoriety beyond the borders of Guelph. He will also talk about what Galt’s written works tell us about his thinking, how his relationship with John Brant informed his thinking when settling Guelph, and what Galt might think of Guelph now nearly 200 years later. Also, he will talk about how Galt might have been right at home among the celebrity businessmen of modern day.

So let's talk about the John Galt you don't know on this week's Guelph Politicast!

Learning the basics about the life of John Galt is relatively easy, but if you want to follow up on this particular discussion, you can consult Galt’s written works, including The Apostate or Atlantis Destroyed, which you can buy through Vocamus Press. You can also watch Stelter’s presentation to the Guelph Historical Society on Rogers’ YouTube channel. 

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