Wilfrid Laurier
| Sir Wilfrid Laurier | |
|---|---|
| Henry-Charles-Wilfrid Laurier | |
| Born | 1841-11-20 Saint-Lin, Lower Canada |
| Died | 1919-02-17 Ottawa, Ontario |
| Occupation | Lawyer; journalist; politician; Prime Minister of Canada |
| Father | |
| Mother | |
| Partner | |
Sir Wilfrid Laurier (20 November 1841 – 17 February 1919 (aged 77)), baptized Henry-Charles-Wilfrid, was a Canadian lawyer, journalist, and politician who served as the seventh Prime Minister of Canada from 1896 to 1911, the first French Canadian to hold that office.
Early life
Laurier was born in the parish of Saint-Lin in Lower Canada on 20 November 1841, the son of Carolus Laurier, a farmer and surveyor, and Marcelle Martineau. His father was bilingual, literate, and ambitious for social advancement; he would later become the first mayor of Saint-Lin in 1855. His mother died of tuberculosis on 7 March 1848, when Wilfrid was six years old.[1]
Laurier's ancestry traced back to François Cottineau, dit Champlaurier, a soldier from Saint-Claud, France, who came to New France with the Régiment de Carignan-Salières and married Madeleine Millots on 7 January 1677 in Montreal. His paternal grandfather Charles was a surveyor with interests in astronomy, philosophy, and mathematics.[1]
Laurier began elementary school on 5 September 1847, and attended the New Glasgow school from 1852 before entering the Collège de L'Assomption in 1854, where he studied until 1861.[1]
Legal and journalistic career
In September 1861, Laurier enrolled at McGill College in Montreal to study law. He boarded at the home of Dr Séraphin Gauthier, where he met Zoé Lafontaine, his future wife. He placed second in his class in his first year and tied for second in his third year. He articled under professor Toussaint-Antoine-Rodolphe Laflamme and joined the Institut Canadien on 2 October 1862, serving as first vice-president from May 1864 to the autumn of 1866. There he associated with figures such as Joseph Doutre, Louis-Antoine Dessaulles, Médéric Lanctot, and Antoine-Aimé Dorion.[1]
Laurier passed his law examinations on 3 October 1864 and opened his first office in partnership with Pierre-Amable-Oscar Archambault on 27 October 1864. After two short-lived partnerships, he was rescued financially by Médéric Lanctot, who brought him into a law firm on 14 March 1865.[1]
In November 1866, Laurier relocated to L'Avenir to edit the newspaper Le Défricheur at the invitation of Antoine-Aimé Dorion, taking over from the recently deceased Jean-Baptiste-Eric Dorion. The paper moved its publication to Victoriaville starting 1 January 1867, and Laurier used its pages to oppose Confederation. Le Défricheur was shut down on 21 March 1867, owing to illness, financial difficulties, and pressure from the ultramontane clergy.[1]
Laurier settled permanently in the Bois-Francs region at Arthabaskaville by mid-September 1867 and established a law practice there with successive partners: Eugène Crépeau (1867–69), Édouard Richard (1869–74), Joseph Lavergne (1874–97), and Philippe-Hypolite Côté (from 1889). He was elected to the Arthabaska bar council in 1888 and made bâtonnier in 1889. He also served locally as alderman, mayor, and county warden (1881) and had a house built in 1876–77 at a cost of $3,000.[1]
Personal life
Laurier married Zoé Lafontaine on 13 May 1868 at the cathedral of Saint-Jacques in Montreal. The couple had no children. Zoé survived him, dying on 1 November 1921 in Ottawa.[1]
During the 1870s, Laurier developed a close attachment to Émilie Barthe, the wife of his law partner Joseph Lavergne. Rumours, never confirmed, later suggested that Armand Lavergne was Laurier's son rather than Joseph Lavergne's. The relationship with Émilie Barthe appears to have continued until approximately 1897.[1]
Laurier suffered from chronic bronchitis throughout his life, a condition first diagnosed at university as possible tuberculosis. It recurred periodically and was a persistent concern.[1]
Political career
Provincial politics
Laurier entered politics at the provincial level, conducting an intense campaign in the summer of 1871 for the riding of Drummond and Arthabaska and winning with a majority of 750 votes on 11 July 1871. He served in the Quebec legislature for approximately two and a half years, delivering his maiden speech on 9 November 1871 on the address in reply. In December 1871 he was among the founders of the Parti National alongside Louis-Amable Jetté, Frédéric-Ligori Béïque, and Honoré Mercier. He gave up his provincial seat in the autumn of 1873.[1]
Federal politics
Laurier was elected to the House of Commons in January 1874 for Drummond and Arthabaska. He spoke on the address in reply on 30 March 1874, and entered the contentious Louis Riel amnesty debate on 15 April 1874, returning to the question on 12 February 1875.[1]
On 8 October 1877, Prime Minister Alexander Mackenzie appointed Laurier minister of inland revenue. He lost his Drummond and Arthabaska seat to the Conservatives on 27 October 1877, but was returned for Quebec East on 28 November 1877 by 315 votes — a seat he held until his death in 1919. After the Liberal government fell following the federal election of 17 September 1878, Laurier spent years in opposition.[1]
In 1880, Laurier co-founded the newspaper L'Électeur with Ernest Pacaud. He used its pages to attack political opponents, including a controversial piece published on 20 April 1881 accusing Louis-Adélard Senécal of corruption.[1]
A notable statement of Laurier's political philosophy came on 26 June 1877, when he delivered a celebrated address on political liberalism in Quebec City. The speech distinguished Liberal Catholicism from political liberalism and argued for the proper limits of clerical involvement in electoral politics. It won the approval of Bishop George Conroy, the apostolic delegate then conducting an inquiry into Quebec's politico-religious conflicts, and established Laurier as the leading voice of Quebec Liberalism.[1]
The North-West Resistance of 1885, led by Louis Riel, proved a turning point in Laurier's career. His handling of the crisis — in which he managed to hold together English and French Liberal opinion — began his rise toward national Liberal leadership.[1]
Prime Minister
Laurier led the Liberal Party to victory in the federal election of 23 June 1896 and became Prime Minister of Canada, the first French Canadian to hold that position. He served for fifteen years, until his defeat in the election of 1911.[1]
During his tenure, his government oversaw rapid western settlement, the admission of new provinces, a sustained immigration program, and major railway construction. He championed the building of a second transcontinental railway, resulting in the National Transcontinental Railway and the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway, which passed through northern Ontario and across the prairies. His government also negotiated a compromise on the Manitoba schools question and worked to balance English and French Canadian interests on matters of imperial defence.[1]
Laurier accepted the offer of a comfortable Ottawa home in 1897, formally closed his Arthabaskaville law office, and appointed his partner Joseph Lavergne to the bench. He accepted various company directorships after 1896, invested in the Canada Cement Company, and at his death held assets of at least $25,000 plus life insurance, movable property, and real estate.[1]
Opposition and death
Laurier was defeated in the 1911 federal election, largely over the reciprocity agreement with the United States and his Naval Service Act, and returned to the role of opposition leader. During the First World War, he opposed the conscription crisis of 1917 and maintained that voluntary enlistment was sufficient, a position that placed him in conflict with his former English Canadian Liberal allies but preserved his support in Quebec.[1]
Laurier died in Ottawa on 17 February 1919. He was survived by his wife Zoé, who died two and a half years later.[1]
Fort William
On 11 September 1905 Laurier turned the first sod of the Grand Trunk Pacific's Lake Superior Branch at Westfort, Fort William, before about 10,000 people. The railway's terminal was on 1,600 acres taken from the Fort William Reserve that year; see 1905 Railway Taking.[2]
References
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19 1.20 1.21 "R. Rumilly and others, "LAURIER, Sir WILFRID," Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 14."[website].Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 14 (University of Toronto/Université Laval).1998.University of Toronto/Université Laval.Link.(Rights: copyrighted | Access: open)
- ↑ John Todd, "The Grand Trunk Pacific's Lake Superior Branch", Canadian Rail no. 296, September 1976, pp. 261–270. Archived.