Wilfred Laurier: The First French-Canadian Prime Minister

Wilfred Laurier was elected in 1896 as Canada's first French-Canadian Prime Minster; his election campaign was to bring together the two opposing sides of French and English speaking Canadians, and unite Canada.

When Laurier came to power, it was also the end of the world-wide depression, and global markets opened up for Canada's resources like wheat, lumber, minerals, and manufactured goods. At the same time, gold was discovered in Yukon and brought many prospectors who wanted to get rich as well; there were plenty jobs that were opening up, and Canada was beginning to see a new light. Hundreds of thousands of immigrants from all over the place like Europe, Asia, Britain, and the United States were traveling on the railroad to find a place to settle in the West. At this time, technology and inventions were also springing up from all over the place, and life seemed to be changing for the better.

Some of the main supporters in Laurier's election would be the Quebec voters; in fact, they were pleased to know that Laurier won the election as he was French-Canadian. They believed that with a French-Canadian government their own French language and their Roman Catholic rights would be protected. Laurier promoted his campaign as having Canada united, and both opposing sides living in harmony with each other.

In fact, it was a crisis over protecting the French language which helped Laurier win the election. In Manitoba in 1890, an English-only school system was created, and was in violation of the Manitoba act; however, the federal government at the time, which was led by MacDonald, refused to intervene with the education system, and protect the French language in Manitoba. Because of this crisis, the Quebecers voted in favor of Laurier and the liberals. In fact, Laurier's win ended more than twenty years of the Conservative rule.