Wilfrid Laurier

:Laurier re-directs here. For the Canadian federal electoral district see Laurier (electoral district). For the university in Waterloo, Ontario, see Wilfrid Laurier University.

Leadership

Laurier was able to build the Liberal Party a base in Quebec, which had been a Conservative Stronghold for decades due to the province's social conservatism and the influence of the Catholic Church which distrusted the Liberal's anti-clericalism. He was aided by the growing alienation of French-Canadians from the Conservatives due to the national Tory party's links with anti-French, anti-Catholic Orangemen in English Canada, its role in the suppression and execution of Louis Riel, and the suppression of French language rights as a result of the Manitoba Schools Question. These factors combined with the collapse of the Conservative Party of Quebec gave Laurier an opportunity to build a stronghold in French Canada and among Catholics across Canada. However, because he believed in a separation of church and state, Roman Catholic bishops in Quebec repeatedly warned their parishioners never to vote for him. Laurier LaPierre wrote in his 1996 biography of Laurier, "children were made to kneel and beg God that their parents not be damned should they have the temerity to vote for the Liberal candidate. When electors asked directly whom they should vote for, the cagey priests contented themselves with informing them that "le ciel est bleu, l'enfer est rouge ? heaven is blue, hell is red."

Related Topics:
Conservative - Stronghold - Catholic Church - Anti-clericalism - French-Canadians - Orangemen - Louis Riel - Manitoba Schools Question - Conservative Party of Quebec - Separation of church and state - Roman Catholic - Laurier LaPierre

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