NEW MEN AT THE HELM
The school settlement--The new tariff
The long night of opposition was over. The critics were to be given
the opportunity to do constructive work. Under the leader who had
served so fitting an apprenticeship they were to guide the political
destinies of Canada for over fifteen years. These were to be years of
change and progress, years which would bridge the gulf between the
stagnant colony of yesterday and the progressive nation of to-day.
[Illustration: The Liberal Government formed by Mr. Laurier in 1896.]
Mr Laurier gathered round him the ablest group of administrators ever
united in a single Canadian Ministry. To augment his already powerful
parliamentary following he called from the provincial administrations
four of the strongest men[1] and took them into his Cabinet. The prime
minister himself, warned by the experiences of Mackenzie and Macdonald,
did not burden himself with a department, but wisely decided to save
his strength {170} and time for the general oversight and guidance of
the Government.
The first task of the new Ministry was to seek a peaceful settlement of
the Manitoba school question. A compromise was {171} doubtless
facilitated by the fact that the same party now ruled both in Ottawa
and in Winnipeg. The province would not restore the system of
state-aided separate schools, but amendments to the provincial law were
effected which removed the more serious grievances of the minority.
Provision was made for religious teaching in the last half-hour of the
school day, when authorized by the trustees or requested by the parents
of a specified minimum of pupils. Any religious denomination might
provide such teaching, upon days to be arranged. Where the attendance
of Roman Catholic children reached twenty-five in rural and forty in
urban schools, a Catholic teacher should be engaged upon petition, and
equally a non-Catholic teacher should be engaged for a Protestant
minority similarly situated. Where ten pupils spoke French or any
other language than English as their native tongue, bi-lingual teaching
should be provided. In the ordinary work of the school the children
were not to be divided on denominational lines, and the schools were to
remain public schools in every sense.
The settlement was accepted generally in the country as a reasonable
ending of the strife--as the best that could be done in the {172}
circumstances. Edward Blake, counsel for the Catholic minority,
declared it more advantageous than any legislation which could have
been secured by coercion. Speaking in the House of Commons (March
1897) in defence of the settlement, Mr Laurier again declared his
doctrine, 'that the smallest measure of conciliation was far preferable
to any measure of coercion.' The settlement, he continued, was not as
advantageous to the minority as he would have desired; 'still, after
six long years of agitation, when the passions of men had been roused
to the highest pitch, it was not possible to obtain more, nor for the
Government of Manitoba to concede more, under present circumstances.'
By the Catholic authorities, however, the compromise was not accepted.
They denounced it as sanctioning a system of mixed and neutral schools
which the Church had condemned, and as sacrificing to fanaticism the
sacred rights of the minority. Archbishop Langevin vigorously attacked
the settlement and all the parties to it, and some of his brother
ecclesiastics in Quebec agreed with him. Voters in by-elections were
told that they had to choose between Christ and Satan, between bishop
and erring politician. The {173} leading Liberal newspaper of Quebec
City, _L'Electeur_, was formally interdicted--every son of the Church
was forbidden to subscribe to it, sell it, or read it, 'under penalty
of grievous sin and denial of the sacraments.' So the war went on,
until finally a number of Catholic Liberals, in their private capacity,
appealed to Rome, and a papal envoy, Mgr Merry del Val, came to Canada
to look into the matter. This step brought to an end a campaign as
dangerous to the permanent welfare of the Church itself as it was to
political freedom and to national unity.
The other issue which had figured in the general elections was the
tariff. At the approach of power the fiscal policy of the Liberals had
moderated, and it was to moderate still further under the mellowing and
conservative influences of power itself. The Liberal platform of 1893
had declared war to the knife upon protection. In 1896, however, it
was made plain that changes would not be effected hastily or without
regard to established interests. In correspondence with Mr G. H.
Bertram of Toronto, published before the election, Mr Laurier stated
that absolute free trade was out of the question, and that the policy
of his party was a revenue tariff, {174} which would bring stability
and permanence, and would be more satisfactory in the end to all
manufacturers except monopolists. He added prophetically that 'the
advent of the Liberals to power would place political parties in Canada
in the same position as political parties in England, who have no
tariff issue distracting the country every general election.'
The new Government lost no time in grappling with the problem. A
tariff commission was appointed which sat at different centres and
heard the views of representative citizens. Then in April 1897 Mr
Fielding brought down the new tariff. It was at once recognized as a
well-considered measure, an honest and a long first step in redeeming
platform promises. In the revision of the old tariff beneficent
changes were effected, such as abolition of the duties on binder twine,
barbed wire, and Indian corn, substantial reductions on flour and
sugar, the substitution of _ad valorem_ for specific duties, and a
provision for reducing the duty on goods controlled by trusts or
combines. The duties on iron and steel were reduced, but increased
bounties were given on their production in Canada. More important,
however, than such specific changes was the adoption of the principle
of a minimum and maximum tariff. {175} A flat reduction of twelve and
a half per cent, to be increased later to twenty-five per cent, on all
goods except wines and liquors, was granted to countries which on the
whole admitted Canadian products on terms as favourable as Canada
offered. This, although not so nominated in the bond, amounted in
intention to the British preference which the Liberal party had urged
as early as 1892, for, except New South Wales and possibly one or two
low-tariff states like Holland, Great Britain was believed to be the
only country entitled to the minimum rate. But the Belgian and German
treaties, already mentioned,[2] by which Great Britain had bound her
colonies, stood in the way. While those treaties remained in force, so
the law-officers of the Crown advised, Germany and Belgium would be
entitled to the lower rates, and automatically France, Spain, and other
favoured nations. It Canada was to be free to carry out her policy of
tariff reform and imperial consolidation, it became essential to end
the treaties in question. Sir Charles Tupper, now leading the
Opposition, declared that this could not be done.
[1] These were: Sir Oliver Mowat, William Stevens Fielding, Andrew G.
Blair--prime ministers respectively of Ontario, Nova Scotia, and New
Brunswick--and Clifford Sifton, attorney-general of Manitoba, who
joined the Ottawa Ministry a few months later.
Mr Laurier's administration was formed as follows:
Prime Minister and President of the Council, WILFRID LAURIER.
Minister of Finance, WILLIAM S. FIELDING, of Nova Scotia.
Minister of Justice, SIR OLIVER MOWAT, of Ontario.
Minister of Trade and Commerce, SIR RICHARD CARTWRIGHT, of Ontario.
Secretary of State, RICHARD W. SCOTT, of Ontario.
Minister of Public Works, J. ISRAEL TARTE, of Quebec.
Minister of Railways and Canals, ANDREW G. BLAIR, of New Brunswick.
Postmaster-General, WILLIAM MULOCK, of Ontario.
Minister of Agriculture, SYDNEY A. FISHER, of Quebec.
Minister of Marine and Fisheries, LOUIS H. DAVIES, of Prince Edward
Island.
Minister of Militia and Defence, FREDERICK W. BORDEN, of Nova Scotia.
Minister of the Interior, CLIFFORD SIFTON, of Manitoba.
Minister of Customs, WILLIAM PATERSON, of Ontario.
Minister of Inland Revenue, H. G. JOLY DE LOTBINIERE, of Quebec.
Ministers without Portfolio ( CHRISTOPHE A. GEOFFRION,
( RICHARD R. DOBELL, of Quebec.
Solicitor-General, CHARLES FITZPATRICK, of Quebec.
[2] See p. 134.
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