He was educated at Woodstock College and the Toronto School of Medicine, and received a medical degree from Victoria University in 1882.

[4] He campaigned for the House of Commons of Canada in the 1887 federal election, and defeated Liberal incumbent Charles Wesley Colter by a single vote in the riding of Haldimand, 1,746 to 1,745.

[citation needed] Elections were frequently challenged in this period of Canadian history, and Montague's one-vote victory did not stand official scrutiny.

[1] Montague resigned from cabinet on 5 January 1896, to protest against Bowell's inaction on the Manitoba Schools Question.

The Conservatives were defeated by Wilfrid Laurier's Liberals, however, and Montague served as an opposition member in the parliamentary that followed.

He returned to political life on 4 November 1913, when he was appointed as Minister of Public Works in Rodmond Roblin's provincial Conservative government.

He did not hold a seat in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba at the time, so a by-election was called in Kildonan and St. Andrews for 29 November 1913.

The opposition aggressively attacked Montague's personal life and political record, while the Conservative electoral machine had over 40 cars working the constituency on polling day.

Montague was inducted on fraud charges for his part in the contracts scandal,[6] but died in Winnipeg before legal proceedings could begin.