Sir Wilfrid Laurier
7th Prime Minister of Canada
July 11, 1896 ~ October 5, 1911
Background
Born in Canada East, Laurier was born into a French
family with Liberal ideals
► Studied in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia at the age of 11 to
learn the British ways
► After graduating from McGill with a law degree, Laurier
ran the newspaper Le Défricheur
►
 The newspaper supported the Parti Rouge, a radical left wing
party
Early Political Career
In 1874 Laurier was elected into the House of Commons
as a Liberal member
► Served as Minister of Inland Revenue during Alexander
MacKenzie’s short reign
► Defended Louis Riel in 1885
► Laurier became the leader of the Liberal party in 1887
►
Path to Prime Minister
With the death of John A. MacDonald, Charles Tupper
became the leader of the Conservative Party
► Unable to bring a solution the Manitoba Schools
Question, the Conservative Party was split in two
► In the election of 1896 Wilfrid Laurier and his Liberal
Party beat Tupper and his Conservative Party
►
Accomplishments
Introduced Canada to a period of economic growth
► Solved the Manitoba Schools Question
► Fought for French speaking Canadians and the Catholic
Church
► Won the most consecutive elections ever
► Oversaw the creation of Alberta and Saskatchewan
►
Fall From Grace
Naval Service Act
► Alaska Boundary Dispute
► Boer War Dispute
► Reciprocity
►
The Aftermath
Lost to Borden’s Conservative party in 1911
► Served as the Opposition leader until his death in 1919
► 50,000 people lined the streets of Ottawa to watch
Laurier’s funeral procession
►
My $0.02 on Laurier
One of the greatest Prime Ministers Canada has ever
had
► It seemed like Laurier had the interests of Quebec
before the interests of Canada
► Helped Canada gain independence from Britain
►
Bibliography
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"Laurier, Sir Wilfrid." The Canadian Encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 13
Jan. 2010.
<http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Par
ams=A1ARTA0004558>.
"Laurier-Biography-First Among Equals." Welcome to the LIBRARY AND
ARCHIVES CANADA website | Bienvenue au site Web BIBLIOTHÈQUE
ET ARCHIVES CANADA. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Jan. 2010.
<http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/2/4/h4-3181-e.html>.
"Wilfrid Laurier - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." Wikipedia, the free
encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Jan. 2010.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilfrid_Laurier>.