Madam Speaker, on March 11, the member for Oak Ridges introduced two private member's bills. Bill C-369 aims to have November 20 designated a national holiday in honour of Sir Wilfrid Laurier. The aim of Bill C-370 is to have January 11 designated a national holiday in honour of Sir John A. Macdonald, the first Prime Minister of Canada.
The bill before us today concerns Sir Wilfrid Laurier, the first French Canadian to be elected Prime Minister. Laurier pursued a number of ideals, but the one he considered the most fundamental was that of a united and bicultural Canada. I invite you today to give thought to his action.
Laurier was born into a family whose roots went back to the beginning of New France. He was born four years after the arrival of the troops in 1837 and at about the same time that the government of the union, or Province of Canada, which, according to the recommendations of Lord Durham in his report, was imposed by the British on Canadians of the day, who are now Quebeckers. The objectives of the 1841 government included punishing Canadians for the popular insurrection led by Louis-Joseph Papineau and assimilating them.
Laurier's father felt that both cultures were vital to Canada's survival. He sent Wilfrid to study in New Glasgow, where he lived with a Protestant family. After completing his classical studies at the Collège L'Assomption outside Montreal, he obtained his law degree from McGill in 1864.
The plan to build a Canadian federation dominated the politics of the day. Laurier campaigned actively against this plan with the Rouges and took part in the work of the national committee set up to examine the various plans for federation. The committee's recommendations were overwhelming; in particular, it concluded that the plan should be put to the people. During this period, Laurier even wrote that confederation would spell the death of the French race and the ruin of Lower Canada.
Despite vigorous opposition, Confederation became a reality and Laurier was elected with the Rouges to Quebec's Legislative Assembly. He was opposed to dual representation, as he felt that it signified the takeover by Ottawa of provincial jurisdiction. Laurier defended provincial autonomy, and the preservation of this autonomy would become for him the key to protecting the French fact in Quebec.
He was elected to the federal government in 1874 with Alexander Mackenzie's team. In 1878, he found himself in opposition, where he would remain for 18 years.
In 1885, Laurier took the side of the Metis in Saskatchewan and of Riel. It was in recalling the rebellion of the Patriotes that he said that there were times when the only course open to an oppressed people was insurrection.
In the House of Commons, he said that the real criminals were sitting across from him on the government benches. It was Laurier's view that minorities would have faith in their government if they were treated honestly, and their needs were met. He also held that patience and compromise were essential if violence in this country was to be avoided.
In 1888, buoyed by the support he had garnered in Quebec for the Liberals in the preceding election, in which, for the first time, the Liberals won a majority of seats in Quebec, Laurier became the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada.
In 1890, D'Alton McCarthy introduced a bill in the House of Commons calling for the abolition of French in the Northwest Territories. Laurier saw clearly that this was part of a movement that would eventually reach Quebec.
In his speech to the House of Commons, he said that this bill was a declaration of war against the French race and that the plan was clear, because the bill was designed to prevent French Canadians from speaking their language everywhere that it was used. For him, the only way to protect Quebec was to defend provincial autonomy, even though the price to be paid was sometimes high in other regions of the country where francophones were in the minority. He approved an amendment making it possible to abolish the use of French in the Northwest Territories.
In 1891, the Government of Manitoba introduced two bills: one abolishing the French language as an official language, and the other taking out of the hands of francophones the funding of their separate, Catholic schools. In 1895, the Privy Council in London, England, ruled that the federal government had the right to intervene to restore the constitutional right of francophones.
The Conservatives tabled a bill restoring the rights of the minority in Manitoba, but Laurier feared that, in reaction against the federal government's action, the other provinces would follow Manitoba's lead. He promised that, once back in office, he would find a solution that would satisfy the minority and serve justice in terms of equal rights, on which our Constitution is based.
Sensing that an election was imminent and that public opinion was on their side, the Liberals led by Laurier filibustered to delay passage of the bill. A general election was called.
On June 23, 1896, Laurier became the Prime Minister of Canada with the support of French Canadians in Quebec, who chose a French-speaking Catholic over an English-speaking Protestant in spite of the fact that Laurier had opposed the bill to restore French schools in Manitoba. Robert Rumily wrote:
At the risk of displeasing Ontario supporters, Conservative leaders made an effort to be fair to Catholics and French Canadians. The Province of Quebec voted instead for a leader with a French Canadian name but English sympathies, who had hindered this effort and was not promising à and would not offer—anything for the future.
On November 19, 1896, to settle the Manitoba school issue, the Laurier-Greenway agreement was signed. This agreement provided that English and another language would be the languages of instruction in bilingual schools, wherever ten or more students spoke a language other than English. This therefore put all other languages on the same level as French. According to historian Réal Bélanger, Laurier was laying the very idea of a bicultural Canada open to question with this action.
The year 1905 brought the Saskatchewan separate school crisis, and Laurier gave in once again, as he had for the Northwest Territories and Manitoba. According to him, it would be up to the provinces to decide whether or not to make separate schools available.
In 1912, Laurier was in opposition when the crisis broke over the adoption of Ontario regulation 17, which to all intents and purposes abolished French language teaching in that province. The people of Quebec followed the struggle of the franco-Ontarians with emotion. French Canadian solidarity with the francophones of Ontario even became the primary obstacle to recruiting French Canadians for the first world war. Laurier felt that he had given in enough to the anglophones. He saw that aggression toward the minority was coming close to the borders of Quebec.
The Soleil de Québec of the time voiced the following opinion:
When the malice and bad faith of the adversaries of French has been proven, we in the province of Quebec will be forced to conclude that it is no longer possible to co-exist with those who betray us and cheat us.
This debate was to be followed with the one on conscription. Laurier was against it, because he felt that, if it was Canada's duty to sustain the British Empire, that contribution needed to remain a voluntary one.
That position prompted the following comment from the
London Free Press:
The Hun is among us—Just look at the situation in Quebec. A vote for one of Laurier's men is a vote for the Kaiser.
Laurier's political career was marked by many other important milestones: the massive immigration influx to the west, expanding trade, the country's economic growth, Canada's status in the British Empire. He is credited with moving Canada from colony to nationhood.
One of his greatest victories in Quebec was to have paved the way for the separation of political and religious power.
But as regards national unity, here is what historian Réal Bélanger wrote:
The most negative aspect unquestionably remains the compromises made that sealed the fate of French-Canadian catholic minorities outside Quebec—Here, the illustrious leader lost some of his glory—The Anglo-Saxon character and mentality that prevails in 9 out of the 10 provinces is partly the result of concessions made by this great man who, strangely, always claimed to be receptive to the aspirations of the minority dispersed across the country—The Arthabaska lawyer even inspired his successors, all the way to Pierre-Elliott Trudeau. To preserve Canadian unity according to the Anglo-Canadian way, these people resorted to the “small steps” strategy—In the end, that strategy often had a negative impact on the cause that these men thought they were defending.
Today, the francophonie in Canada, outside Quebec, is eroding. It only accounts for 3% of the country's population.
I am not saying Wilfrid Laurier is responsible for this situation. He was, as are today the francophones of this government, the instrument of an English speaking Canadian majority that did not want Canada to become a united and bicultural country.
The Bloc Quebecois exists, among other reasons, because Sir Wilfrid Laurier's dream was a dismal failure.