Sir wilfred laurier biography template

A legend in his time, Sir Wilfrid Laurier evolved as a politician over a period of 48 years, which included 15 years as prime minister and 32 years at the helm of the federal Liberal Party. He belonged to the first generation of politicians who worked in the Canada conceived by the Fathers of Confederation. This thematic ensemble gives an overview of his life and public career. Its seven sections explore illustrative moments in the history of Canada and tell of the words and deeds of the first French Canadian to become prime minister of this country.

After articling in the firm of Toussaint-Antoine-Rodolphe Laflamme, Laurier became a lawyer in 1864 and would practise law for some 30 years during his political career. He was invited by Laflamme to join the Canadian Institute, a Montreal literary circle and salon of Rouge sympathizers, where he became an active member and met influential intellectuals such as the brothers Joseph and Gonzalve Doutre.

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LAURIER, Sir WILFRID (baptized Henry-Charles-Wilfrid), lawyer, newspaperman, and politician; b. 20 Nov. 1841 in the parish of Saint-Lin (Laurentides), Lower Canada, son of Carolus Laurier and Marcelle Martineau; m. 13 May 1868 Zoé Lafontaine in Montreal; they had no children; d. 17 Feb. 1919 in Ottawa.

According to some sources, Wilfrid Laurier’s ancestor François Cottineau, dit Champlaurier, a native of Saint-Claud, France, came to New France with the Régiment dem Carignan-Salières. He took up farming and on 7 Jan. 1677 in Montreal married Madeleine Millots. Thus began the long line of Lauriers in North America. Sometime around the spring of 1834 Wilfrid’s father, Carolus, a sixth-generation Laurier, moved to Saint-Lin, which was a predominantly agricultural parish with a population of about 2,000, largely French Canadian but including a handful of British immigrants. A farmer and surveyor, Carolus was bilingual, literate, and

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4.4 The Sunny Ways of Sir Wilfrid Laurier

Chapter 4. Politics and Conflict in Victorian and Edwardian Canada

The years between Confederation and the Great War were dominated by two national politicians: Macdonald and Laurier. Between the two of them, they headed governments for 34 out of 47 years. Macdonald was prime minister for a longer amount of time, but Laurier won more consecutive elections. Both were devoted in very different ways to nation-building. Laurier’s contribution to Canadian political history is every bit as profound as Macdonald’s, as is his reinterpretation of the national culture.

As described previously, the Liberal Party distinguished itself from the Conservatives on the issue of the tariff. The 1850s Reciprocity Treaty was regarded by many as the key to prosperity. It gave Canadian farmers access to growing American urban markets and made the less expensive American manufactured products available in Canada; although the Liberal Party was strong