Wilfrid Laurier was born in 1841 in St. Lin, Québec, a descendant of pioneers who helped found Montréal.
His early schooling with a Scottish schoolmaster gave Laurier a lifelong passion for English literature and history. After graduating from McGill Law School at 20, he settled in rural Québec to practice law and edit a local Rouge journal. Laurier had been brought up in the anti-English, anti-clerical Rouge politics of the Rebellions of 1837 and 1838, but actually was an instinctive moderate with deep faith in British democratic institutions.
Party Leader
Laurier was elected to Parliament in Alexander Mackenzie's Liberal sweep of 1874 and served a lengthy political apprenticeship as aide to Mackenzie's successor, Edward Blake.
Then, in 1887, this French Canadian with the aristocratic demeanour and stirring eloquence reluctantly accepted the party leadership. In 1891, campaigning for unrestricted reciprocity with the US, he led the Liberals to their fourth consecutive defeat. Realising that the idea of free trade aroused English Canada's fear of American takeover, Laurier renounced the policy in 1893.
Prime Minister
Laurier finally triumphed in the 1896 election. The main issue was the Manitoba School Question, a complex tangle of French and English language rights, Catholic and Protestant education, and federal and provincial powers. Laurier argued for compromise. He managed to appease the Catholic bishops, though the issue returned to haunt him in Québec.
Laurier took power as Canada entered a long economic boom. He followed Macdonald's policies of creative compromise, high tariffs, and transportation mega-projects, but he also undertook such important initiatives as the establishment of the Departments of Labour and External Affairs, regulation of railways, patronage reform, and aggressive recruitment of immigrants.
The International Stage
Laurier always had to balance French Canadian fears of assimilation in the British Empire with Imperialists' fears of weakened links with the "mother country." At Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1897, Laurier diplomatically rejected British proposals for an imperial parliament and a common defence policy. During the 1899 Boer War he refused to send official Canadian troops but did arrange to transport Canadian volunteers. His 1909 Naval Bill proposed creating a Canadian navy that would serve under the British Navy during wartime. The bill encouraged the greater Canadian independence favoured by French Canada, while recognising English imperialist sentiments. Unfortunately, it only inflamed extremists on both sides.
National Disunity
By 1910, Laurier was under pressure from rural Canada. For fifteen years he had only made minor tariff adjustments until calls for freer trade mounted from the growing number of western Canadian farmers. Would the government support freer trade or drift along, content with the protectionist National Policy?
At the same time, Québec nationalists, led by Henri Bourassa, accused Laurier of abandoning French education rights in Manitoba, Alberta, and Saskatchewan and of supporting British imperialism. Bourassa won a crucial 1910 Québec by-election and aligned himself with English-Canadian Tories to fight Laurier's Liberals.
Rumour and Scandal
Although he and his wife Zoë had a happy marriage, Laurier had a close friend in Émilie Lavergne, the wife of his law partner. Mme Lavergne was Laurier's confidant and advisor, his tutor in matters of culture and his equal in intellectual debate. That her son, Armand, bore a strong resemblance to Laurier fueled persistent rumours about their relationship.
Laurier's mismanagement of railway and other transportation projects and the attendant corruption of some of his colleagues wounded his government. The party was tainted by the millions in public funds that were fed into the projects and into the pockets of Liberal speculators.
Defeat
In 1911, Laurier chose to fight for re-election on the issue of reciprocity with the United States, the policy he had abandoned in 1893. He was pressed by the demands of new immigrant western farmers and encouraged by support from President Taft. Laurier was defeated.
He lost again in 1917. Laurier was utterly loyal to Britain's efforts in the First World War, but he refused to support Robert Borden's Union government and conscription. Nevertheless, he diminished the influence of Québec nationalists by providing a dignified voice for Québec within parliament. To the last, he tried to ensure that the threads of Canadian unity would hold.
Conclusion
When he died in 1919, all Canadians who hated intolerance, bigotry, and violence mourned the passing of the prime minister who was, in Arthur Meighen's opinion, "the greatest of all Canadians." A legendary orator and master of political compromise, dedicated to helping English and French live together in a united Canada, Wilfrid Laurier had guided Canada through the tumultuous early years of the 20th century. He held the young nation together through a period of rapid growth and cultural conflict, while he set the stage for later policies of social reform and Canadian international influence.
