Joseph Howe PC (December 13, 1804 – June 1, 1873) was a Nova Scotian journalist, politician, public servant, and poet.

Howe is often ranked as one of Nova Scotia's most admired politicians and his considerable skills as a journalist and writer have made him a provincial legend.

[1] He was born the son of John Howe and Mary Edes at Halifax and inherited from his loyalist father an undying love for Great Britain and her Empire.

[2] At age 23, the self-taught but widely read Howe purchased the Novascotian, soon making it into a popular and influential newspaper.

He reported extensively on debates in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly and travelled to every part of the province writing about its geography and people.

[1] In 1835, Howe was charged with seditious libel, a serious criminal offence, after the Novascotian published a letter attacking Halifax politicians and police for pocketing public money.

The judge called for Howe's conviction, but swayed by his passionate address, jurors acquitted him in what is considered a landmark case in the struggle for a free press in Canada.

Having failed to persuade the British to repeal Confederation, Howe joined the federal cabinet of John A. Macdonald in 1869 and played a major role in bringing Manitoba into the union.

In 1801, Howe was rewarded for his loyalty by appointment as the King's Printer and in 1803 he became deputy postmaster for Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island.

[4] Like many lads of that time, Joseph Howe attended the Royal Acadian School before beginning an apprenticeship, which he served at his father's printing shop starting at the age of 23.

Not only did he personally report the legislative assembly debates in its columns, he also published provincial literature and his own travel writings, using the paper as a means for educating the people of Nova Scotia, and himself.

"[5] On January 1, 1835, Howe's Novascotian published an anonymous letter accusing Halifax politicians and police of pocketing £30,000 over a thirty-year period.

Howe initially proposed only an elected legislative council but he was quick to agree with the concept of a fully representative government.

Because he was still linked with the imperial fishery he expressed his initial opposition anonymously through the Botheration Letters, a series of 12 editorials that appeared in the Morning Chronicle between January and March 1865.

When he failed to prevent passage of the resolution Howe began a vigorous campaign for repeal by delegations to London and then publishing a variety of anti-Confederation papers and pamphlets.

Joseph Howe led the anti-Confederates in the House of Commons of Canada where he made a speech about his opposition to confederation.

He ran in the great Hants County by election of 1869 to create better terms for Nova Scotia within Canada rather than continue to seek repeal of Confederation.

In 1869 Howe joined the Canadian Cabinet as President of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada after receiving a promise of "better terms" for Nova Scotia.

[8] Due to the economic benefits being realized in Halifax, Howe even proposed the creation of a hotel to attract wealthy travellers using the railway, however this was never built.

She died in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, July 6, 1890, and is buried alongside her husband in Camp Hill Cemetery, Halifax.