1. Sir Wilfrid Laurier 7 th Prime Minister of Canada July 11, 1896 ~ October 5, 1911

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. Fall From Grace ► Naval Service Act ► Alaska Boundary Dispute ► Boer War Dispute ► Reciprocity

7. 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

8. 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

9. Bibliography ► "Laurier, Sir Wilfrid." The Canadian Encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Jan. 2010.. ► "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.. ► "Wilfrid Laurier - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Jan. 2010..