Sir Wilfrid Laurier Essay, Research Paper

Sir Wilfrid Laurier

By Ritchie Rocha

The first French Canadian to become prime minister of Canada was Wilfrid Laurier.

Although French was his native tongue, he became a master of the English

language. This and his picturesque personality made him popular throughout

Canada, and he led the young country in a 15-year period of great development.

Wilfrid Laurier was born in St-Lin, Quebec, and studied law at McGill University.

After three years in the Quebec legislature, he was elected to the Canadian

House of Commons in 1874. There he rose rapidly to leadership. Although he was a

French Canadian and a Roman Catholic, he was chosen leader of the Liberal party

in 1887. Nine years later he became prime minister. He was knighted in 1897.

“Build up Canada” were the watchwords of Laurier’s government. Laurier was loyal

to Great Britain, sent Canadian volunteers to help in the Boer War, established

a tariff favorable to British goods, and worked to strengthen the ties between

the two countries. But he saw the British Empire as a worldwide alliance of free

and equal nations, and he opposed every attempt to limit Canada’s freedom.

Laurier’s liberal immigration policy brought hundreds of thousands of settlers

to the western provinces. He reduced postal rates, promoted the building of

railroads needed for national expansion, and appointed a commission to regulate

railroad rates. After 15 years in office his government was defeated, presumably

on the issue of reciprocal trade with the United States. Laurier believed,

however, that his political defeat was caused primarily by opponents in Ontario

who considered him too partial to Roman Catholic interests in Quebec. Prior to

World War I, Laurier tried forcefully to support the formation of a Canadian

navy. His own Liberal party defeated this measure, however, and Canada entered

the war without a fleet of its own. During the early years of World War I,

Laurier supported the war policy of Sir Robert Borden’s Conservative government.

In 1917 he refused to join a coalition government that was formed to uphold

conscription. Laurier felt that he could not back a measure so unpopular in the

province of Quebec. Wilfrid Laurier’s regime lasted 15 years. It was one of

renewed growth and prosperity. The Manitoba School Question was promptly hushed

up by new legislation enacted by the province in accordance with a compromise

worked out with Ottawa. To his Cabinet Laurier drew some of the most capable

leaders from every part of Canada. Business throughout the world was on an

upswing, and the Laurier government was determined to get in on the action. The

demand for Canadian wheat abroad encouraged immigration, and immigration in turn

increased farm production and the value of national exports. “The 20th century

belongs to Canada,” cried Laurier; and the whole nation took confidence from his

assurance. Two new transcontinental railways were begun. By 1905 the west had

expanded in both population and economic strength to such an extent that two new

provinces, Alberta and Saskatchewan, were carved out of the Northwest

Territories. These encouraging developments were inadvertently assisted by an

occurrence in the far northwest. Since the Fraser River gold strike of 1858,

prospectors had been consistently combing the mountainous areas of British

Columbia and to the north. In 1896 their persistence paid off with the discovery

of gold nuggets on the Klondike River in the far western Yukon Territory. When

the news spread, the gold rush of 1897 began; it was to become the most

publicized gold rush in history, eventually to be celebrated in the works of

such writers as Jack London and Robert Service. The gold strike had some

beneficial side effects. As miners poured into western Canada from the United

States and other parts of the world, the extent of the unpopulated prairie lands

became known. By this time, of course, the supply of free land in the United

States had become exhausted, and the frontier was closed. Very soon after the

gold rush, settlers began pouring into the western prairies of Canada by the

thousands, from Europe as well as the United States. With much of Canada being

unpopulated, this would help to create the massive population increase that

Laurier was waiting for. More Canadian citizens would of course mean more taxes.

More taxes would mean more money for the government. More money for the

government would mean that Laurier could use the new financial wealth of the

country to slingshot Canada’s status of being just a large cold country to the

status of being a country where all were welcome and good land was available to

people that were willing to put it to good use. They came from as far away as

Russia to establish farms on the open wheatlands. It was not long before demands

arose for the creation of at least one province between Manitoba and British

Columbia. Thus, in 1905, the government in Ottawa formed two new provinces,

Alberta and Saskatchewan. Another benefit resulting, at least in part, from the

gold rush was the discovery of other minerals in the Canadian wilds. As early as

1883, nickel had been found at Sudbury, Ont. In the early 1890s large deposits

of base-metal ores were found in southern British Columbia. After 1900 a rich

deposit of silver was discovered north of Lake Nipissing in Ontario. Canada soon

became perceived around the world as a mineral-rich nation with great untapped

potential. The new prime minister thus basked in an environment of progress and

prosperity after a depression that had lasted more than 20 years. Laurier’s only

serious political difficulties stemmed from his inability to satisfy fully the

imperialists among his followers. Great Britain received support in the Boer War

of 1899-1902 from the other self-governing colonies, and Laurier reluctantly

committed Canada as well (see Boer War). His decision, however, sharpened the

controversy between the two nationality groups regarding Canada’s proper

responsibilities to Britain in the future. On the other hand, he continued to

resist pressures to tie the bonds of empire still more tightly during the years

after the victory in South Africa. Seeds of distrust concerning his policies

were thus sown on both sides of the wall that was rising between Canadians of

French and of English descent. Another foreign policy issue arose as naval

competition increased between Germany and Britain in the years before World War

I. Great Britain naturally desired to receive military help from the colonies,

and again Laurier found a compromise that satisfied neither the pro-British

faction nor the French partisans. He founded the Canadian Navy in 1910 with the

provision that in time of war it be placed under British command. This quickly

led to accusations that Canadian soldiers would be drafted into the British Army

if war came. In 1911, when his opponents denounced his government’s decision to

implement a limited reciprocity pact with the United States, Laurier felt he was

on firmer ground and called a general election. His defeat, which occurred

largely on this issue, showed that the prospering nation’s reservations

regarding his policies were exceeded only by its lingering distrust of the

United States. He believed that he was right, and that a lasting relationship

with the United States would be beneficial and crucial to the development to

both countries. People laughed at him and called him a fool for putting his

trust in country such as the United States and Wilfrid Laurier died in Ottawa on

Feb. 17, 1919 believing in his political ideas. He was right though; we need the

United States to survive and they need us just as much as we need them. It was

the people and politicians which followed in Laurier’s footsteps which has led

us to our current relationship with the United States and the rest of the world.

Sir Wilfrid Laurier was truly an incredible citizen, politician, strategist, and

may have been the best prime minister this country will ever know.

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