Sir Wilfrid Laurier

Sir Wilfrid Laurier (1841-1919) was a Canadian political leader. Head of the Liberal party and prime minister, he spurred Canada's economy but foundered on questions of conscription and protective tariffs.

Wilfrid Laurier was born at Saint-Lin, Canada East (now Quebec), on Nov. 20, 1841. He attended Collège L'Assomption and McGill University, where he studied law. Already fluently bilingual, Laurier was rapidly developing into a superb orator in both of Canada's languages, but his health was delicate and he moved into rural Quebec in an effort to strengthen himself. At Arthabaskaville he practiced law and for a time was editor of a newspaper, Le Défricheur.

Laurier entered politics in 1871, winning a seat in the Legislative Assembly of Quebec, and in 1874 he entered the House of Commons at Ottawa. For a period of a year he was minister of inland revenue in the Alexander Mackenzie government but seemed languid and somewhat uninterested to his parliamentary colleagues.

Spokesman of Liberalism

In 1877 Laurier delivered a speech on political liberalism that clearly defined the difference between Catholic liberalism, anathema to Quebec clerics, and the liberalism of his party. This speech was instrumental in gaining respectability for the Liberals in Quebec. In 1885 he delivered a brilliant and passionate speech attacking the government for the execution of the rebel Louis Riel, and in 1887 Laurier seemed as good a choice as any other Liberal to succeed Edward Blake as party leader.

In 1891 Laurier campaigned on the issue of unrestricted reciprocity with the United States, but his party again was defeated by Sir John A. Macdonald. However, after Macdonald's death the Conservatives began to fall apart and split on the Manitoba schools question, when they were forced to take a position because they were in power. Relieved of responsibility, Laurier could talk of using "sunny ways" to resolve the crisis and sit firmly on the fence. The result was victory in the election of 1896.

Head of a Liberal Government

An economic boom began in 1896 that lasted throughout Laurier's term. Immigrants began flooding into Canada from all over Europe, lured by free land and a wise immigration policy. Within a decade or two, the great prairies to the west were settled. New railways were built, unfortunately with a too generous government aid, and sometimes supported by shamefully watered stock. Industry boomed, and Canada reached and passed the take-off point.

Still there were difficulties aplenty. In 1899 the South African War began, and Laurier found himself pressed by English-Canadian opinion into aiding Britain. French Canadians, however, objected, seeing in the Boers a people rather similar to themselves. The result was a political compromise that satisfied no one. In 1905 another question divided French and English, that of the Autonomy Bills that created Alberta and Saskatchewan as provinces. What kind of schools would the provinces have? Laurier proposed one course, tried to ram it through, and lost his minister of the interior, Clifford Sifton, as a result. Again in 1910 and 1911, Laurier's plans for a Canadian navy troubled Quebeckers, and the Prime Minister found himself under attack in his home province by the nationalists under Henri Bourassa's leadership.

Defeat and Decline

The troubles were mounting, but Laurier was confident. After all, he had won the elections of 1900, 1904, and 1908, and after his success in securing a long-awaited reciprocity treaty with the Americans, he was certain he had found the key to a continued hold on power. But Canada had changed, and reciprocity frightened the manufacturers who benefited from protective tariffs. The result was a stunning defeat for Laurier and the Liberals in 1911, a defeat that had been engineered by Conservative chief Robert Borden, Sifton, and Bourassa.

Laurier took his defeat with characteristic good grace. The man seemed somehow more noble than most politicians, above the muck of the arena. His political supporters loved him in defeat and in victory, and his political foes always admired him.

But World War I brought pressures on the country of a different kind, and although Laurier did his utmost to encourage French Canadians to enlist, there were soon cries that Quebec was disloyal. The crisis came in 1917. Quebec had already been frustrated by a school crisis in Ontario and the Conservative government's unwillingness to pay attention to the province's military ardor in a suitable fashion. But with conscription in 1917 the debate became nasty in tone.

Borden tried to induce Laurier into a coalition that would enforce conscription, but Laurier could not agree. Someone, he believed, had to stay to fight Bourassa and the nationalistes. As a result, Borden formed a coalition that was lacking any French Canadians of stature, and in the election of 1917 every stop was pulled. The campaign was a disgrace. "If Laurier wins," a professor said in the press, "he will win leading the cockroaches of the kitchen of Canada to victory." The result was inevitable in the hypertense circumstances of the war, and conscription carried the day. The Liberals were reduced to having strength only in Quebec, and Laurier, once the most-loved man in the Dominion, was often portrayed as something close to antichrist.

On Feb. 17, 1919, Laurier passed away in Ottawa. His career had shown the difficulties faced by French-Canadian national politicians. But it had also demonstrated that politics could be noble, that one could lead a nation without losing one's civility.

Further Reading

There is no first-class modern biography of Laurier. The authorized biography by Oscar Douglas Skelton, Life and Letters of Sir Wilfrid Laurier (1921), is badly outdated, but Joseph Schull, Laurier: The First Canadian (1965), is not a satisfactory substitute. See also John Willison, Sir Wilfrid Laurier (2 vols., 1903; rev. ed. 1926), and John W. Dafoe, Laurier: A Study in Canadian Politics (1922) and Clifford Sifton in Relation to His Times (1931).

Additional Sources

Clippingdale, Richard, Laurier, his life and world, Toronto; New York: McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 1979. □

Laurier, Sir Wilfrid (b. 20 Nov. 1841, d. 17 Feb. 1919). Prime Minister of Canada 1896–1911 Born at St-Lin (Canada East), he obtained a law degree from McGill University in 1864, and eventually settled in Arthabaska (Quebec), where he edited a newspaper. A Liberal member of the Quebec legislature from 1871, he soon dropped his early opposition to Canadian unity, and was elected to the national parliament in 1874. There he became the leader of the Quebec section of his party, and in 1877 became Minister of Inland Revenue. In 1885 he led abortive protests against the execution of the Métis leader Louis Riel (b. 1844, d. 1885), which particularly excited French Canadian opinion and led many Quebec Conservatives to swing their allegiance to his Liberal Party. As Liberal leader from 1887, he gradually built up a national and cohesive party, whose loss in the 1891 elections was due to his advocacy of favourable terms of trade with the USA. Despite his subsequent reputation for being pro-US and anti-British, he won the next elections and began a period in office marked by his pragmatic ability for making compromises whenever necessary, and exercising authority wherever possible.

He was Canada's first French-Canadian Prime Minister, holding the longest unbroken tenure of office. A firm believer in Canada's eventual independence, he resisted British attempts to create closer links within the Empire. He strongly promoted Canadian nationhood through the creation of two new provinces, Alberta and Saskatchewan, in 1905, and the greater unification of the country through the building of a second transcontinental railway beginning in 1903. In the last years of government he gradually lost support. Laurier affronted Catholics through his refusal to grant them separate schools in the new provinces. His plans to create a Canadian navy to support the British were insufficient for supporters of the British Empire, and too much for the French Canadians in Quebec. Finally, his attempt to revive plans for more liberal trade with the USA encountered further hostility from supporters of the Empire, and revived that most persistent of Canadian nightmares, that of a US takeover. He lost the 1911 elections to Borden, but continued as a vigilant leader of the opposition. Laurier strongly supported Canada's participation in World War I. At the same time, he recognized the hostility of the French Canadians towards conscription for overseas service, and in 1916 proposed a compromise through holding a referendum. His proposals were rejected, and he was unable to stop a split within his party, when many Liberals joined the Union government. He died before he could fully rebuild a united Liberal Party.

Sir Wilfrid Laurier , 1841-1919, Canadian prime minister. He studied law at McGill Univ. His premiership of Canada (1896-1911), the first to be held by a French Canadian, was the longest continuous term in the history of the dominion. From his first speech in the Quebec legislature, to which he was elected in 1871, his notable oratory was recognized. He served (1874-78) in the Canadian House of Commons, where he worked for moderate protection and for cooperation between the French and British in Canada, an objective which was his lifelong concern. He was briefly (1877-78) a minister in the cabinet of Alexander Mackenzie. Then, while the Conservative party was in power, he was prominent in the Liberal opposition in Parliament; in 1887 he succeeded Edward Blake as Liberal leader. As prime minister, he formed a strong administration and helped to build a national image for Canada. When in 1911 his party met defeat on the question of trade reciprocity with the United States, he resigned. The years of his ministry witnessed Canada's steady growth and progress. Ambitious for the development of the dominion, but within the framework of the empire, Laurier was committed to such policies as the development of the Western territories, building up railroads, tariff arrangements with the United States as well as Great Britain, and control by Canada of her own defenses. As leader of the Liberal opposition during World War I, he supported Great Britain, but opposed conscription and refused to form a coalition with the Conservative government of Canada in 1917. He was knighted in 1897.

Bibliography: See biographies by O. D. Skelton (2 vol., abr. ed. 1965) and B. Robertson (1971); H. B. Neatby et al., Imperial Relations in the Age of Laurier (1969).

Laurier, Sir Wilfrid (1841–1919) Canadian statesman, prime minister (1896–1911). Laurier was the first French-Canadian to lead a federal party (the Liberals, 1887–1919). He created a separate Canadian navy in 1909 and signed a reciprocal tariff agreement with the USA in 1911. In opposition, he supported Canadian entry into World War I but, in deference to French-Canadian opinion, opposed conscription and declined to join the coalition government in 1917.

Laurier, Sir Wilfrid (1841–1919) Canadian Liberal statesman, Prime Minister (1896–1911). He became the leader of the Liberal Party in 1891 and five years later was elected Canada's first French-Canadian and Roman Catholic Prime Minister. While in office he worked to achieve national unity in the face of cultural conflict; he also oversaw the building of a second transcontinental railway and the creation of the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan.