Lauriers greatest gift to Canada essays

Lauriers greatest gift to Canada essays The Manitoba schools issue, the Boer War, the construction of a Canadian navy and the proposed reciprocity treaty with the United States were all issues that provoked emotional debates between French Canadians and English Canadians. French Canadians were fighting to preserve their culture outside Quebec and opposed any rapprochement with England; English Canadians were fighting to confine francophones to Quebec and supported any move toward closer ties with England. For more than 15 years, Laurier's policy of compromise earned him the nickname of the "Great Conciliator", and kept him at the head of the country. One of Laurier's first acts as Prime Minister was to implement a solution to the Manitoba Schools Issue. Laurier developed a compromise with Thomas Greenway, Premier of Manitoba. They agreed that Catholic education would be permitted in public schools, and French would be used in teaching, but only on a school-by-school basis depending on the numbers of French-speaking students. In 1899 Britain expected military support from Canada, as part of the British Empire, in the Boer War. Laurier was caught between demands for support for military action from English Canada, and a strong opposition from French Canada, which saw the Boer War as a reminder of its own defeat in the Seven Years' War. Henri Bourassa was an especially vocal opponent. Laurier eventually decided to send a volunteer force, rather than the militia expected by Britain, but Bourassa criticized him anyway. The British were alarmed by the German arms build-up, and Canada was forced to define its naval policy. Ontario wanted Canada to contribute to the British navy, but Quebec wanted no part of it. As so often before, Laurier sought a compromise, proposing the creation of a Canadian navy to be built and trained in accordance with British naval requirements and placed under British command if Canada chose to enter a war as an ally of Britain. This proposal sat...