Avenue Laurier. Sir Wilfrid Laurier (1841-1919), the first French-Canadian prime minister, served as a member of the Quebec legislative assembly (1871-1894), until being elected to the House of Commons where he served until his death. Leader of the Liberal Party (1887-1919) and Prime Minister (1896-1911), he participated in all the critical political questions of the time, including free trade with the United States, the autonomy of Canada within the British Empire, the Manitoba schools question, the construction of a second transcontinental railway, the birth of the Royal Canadian Navy, and the creation of the provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta and of the Yukon Territory. Widely recognized as one of the most important figures in Canadian history, he is depicted on the five-dollar bill. Avenue Saint-Louis was renamed avenue Laurier in his honour in 1899.
|
