The Day of Sir Wilfrid Laurier: A Chronicle of Our Own Time

by Oscar D. Skelton

In this expansion the state, as ever in Canada, took a leading share. The Dominion Government extended the Intercolonial to Montreal and began a road from the prairies to Hudson Bay, while the Ontario Government built and operated a road opening up New Ontario. The federal policy of aid to private companies was continued, with amendments. No more land-grants were given, and when cash subsidies were bestowed, the companies so aided were required to carry free government mails, materials and men, up to three per cent on the subsidy. The transcontinentals were specially favoured. The Grand Trunk system was given large guarantees and cash subsidies for its westward expansion, and the Government itself constructed the National Transcontinental to ensure the opening up of the north, and to prevent the traffic of the west being carried to United States rather than to Canadian Atlantic ports. The Canadian Northern was assisted in its prairie construction by both federal and provincial guarantees. The Laurier Government aided the dubious project of building a third line north of Lake Superior, but refused to take any share in the responsibility or cost of building the much more expensive and premature section through the Rockies. The Borden Government and the province of British Columbia, however, gave the aid desired for this latter venture. Another important development was the establishment, in 1903, with the happiest results, of the Dominion Railway Commission, to mediate between railway and shipper or traveller.

The railway policy of this period is still matter for dispute. On the economic side, it is clear that the greater part of the construction was essential in order to open up the West, with all that this implied for both West and East. Yet there were many evils to set against this gain—the stimulus to unhealthy speculation, the excessive building in settled districts, the construction of roads ahead of immediate needs or possible traffic. The fact is that the railway policy was part and parcel of the whole business policy of the period, the outcome of the same new-born optimism which induced many a municipality to build pavements and sewers before the population warranted, or manufacturers to extend their plants too rapidly, or banks to open branches that did not pay. Progress comes in zigzag fashion; now one need is stressed, now another. To each time its own task, to each the defects of its qualities. And if in the reaction from unexampled prosperity some of the expansion seemed to have come before its time, most Canadians were confident of what the future would bring, and did not regret that in Canada's growing time leaders and people persevered in putting through great and for the most part needful works which only courage could suggest and only prosperity could achieve.

On the political side, also, there were entries on both sides of the ledger. Campaign-fund contributions and political intrigue were the chief debit entries. Yet there were heavy credit entries which should not be forgotten. No other country has made the effort and the sacrifice Canada has made to bind its far-distant and isolated provinces in links of steel. The Intercolonial made the union of east and centre a reality, the Canadian Pacific bound east and centre and west, and the National Transcontinental added the north to the Dominion, gave the needed breadth to the perilously narrow fringe of settlement that lined the United States border. The national ends which Sir John Macdonald and Sir Wilfrid Laurier steadfastly held in view were so great and vital as to warrant risk, to compel faith, to justify courage.

In Canada the state, without much discussion as to the theory involved, has endeavoured to foster production in countless ways. The encouragement and sifting of immigration and the building or aiding of railways and canals are perhaps the most important single forms this stimulus has taken; but they are far from the only ones. Farmer, miner, fisherman, manufacturer, artisan, all have been aided by policies more or less effective.

Under previous administrations the department of agriculture had done good work and had raised the standard of farm production. That work was now extended and re-vitalized. For the first time a farmer, Mr Sydney A. Fisher, took charge of the department. Better farming and better marketing alike were sought. On experimental farms and in laboratories, studies were carried on as to the best stock or plants, the best fertilizers or the best feeding-stuffs, to suit the varied soils and climates of the wide Dominion. By bulletins and demonstrations farmers were instructed in such matters as the selection of seed, the cool curing of cheese, the improvement of stock, the vigilant guarding against disease in herd and flock. Marketing received equal attention. For the fruit and dairy industries refrigerator-car services and cold-storage facilities on ocean ships were provided. In these and other ways the effort was made to help the Canadian farmer to secure full value for his toil.

The miner received less direct aid. Railways built into mining areas, bounties on lead and petroleum, bounties on iron ore and steel products, laboratory studies in metallurgy, and reduction of the duties on mining machinery, all played a part in the great development of the mines of Canada which marked this era.

None too soon, an important step was taken in 1909 to ensure the perpetuation or the prudent use of the country's natural resources. In the early, lavish days men had believed these resources inexhaustible, or had recklessly ignored the claims of the future in their haste to snatch a fortune to-day. The United States had gone furthest on this path, and was the first to come to its senses. A conference held at Washington, in 1909, attended by representatives of the United States, Canada, Newfoundland, and Mexico—notable also as one of the first instances of Canada's recognition of the fact that she was an American power—recommended the establishment of a conservation commission in each country. Canada was the only country that acted upon the advice. The Conservation Commission was established that very year, with wide duties of investigation and recommendation. Under Sir Clifford Sifton as chairman and Mr James White as secretary it has performed valuable and varied service.

The sea was given thought as well as the land. The fishing bounties already established were continued. Experts were brought from Europe to improve the methods of curing fish. Co-operative cold-storage warehouses for bait were set up, and a fast refrigerator-car service on both coasts brought fish fresh to the interior. Laboratories for the study of marine life and fish hatcheries came into being. Unfortunately, disputes arose as to jurisdiction between Dominion and provinces and between Canada and the United States, and the fisheries did not grow at the rate of other industries.

The manufacturer, however, continued to be the chief object of attention. An increase took place in the service of trade commissioners for Canada in other countries, whose duties are similar to those of a foreign consular service. The bounties on iron and steel production, amounting in all to twenty millions, undoubtedly did much to stimulate that industry. The protective tariff, as we have seen, remained in a modified form. After the notable step of 1897 towards a purely revenue tariff, there came a halt for some years. In fact, it seemed for a time that the pendulum would swing towards still higher duties. In 1902 the manufacturers began a strong campaign in that direction, which was given aggressive support by the minister of Public Works, J. Israel Tarte, often termed by opponents of the Government the 'Master of the Administration.' This breach of ministerial solidarity Sir Wilfrid Laurier met, on his return from the Colonial Conference, by an instant demand for Mr Tarte's resignation. It was made clear that the compromise which had been adopted in 1897 would not be rashly abandoned. Yet the movement for a tariff 'high as Haman's gallows' continued, and produced some effect. It led (1904) to a reduction of the British preference on woollens and to an 'anti-dumping act'—aimed against slaughter or bargain sales by foreign producers—providing for a special duty when articles were sold in Canada for less than the prevailing price in the country of origin. In the same year Mr Fielding foreshadowed the introduction of a minimum and maximum tariff, with the existing duties as the minimum, and with maximum duties to be applied to countries which levied especially high rates on Canadian products. Only the vigorous opposition set up by the farmers of Ontario and the West checked the agitation for still higher duties. The new tariff of 1907 made many careful revisions upward as well as downward, but on the whole the existing level was retained. Below the maximum or general rate, but higher than the British preference, there was set up an intermediate tariff, for bargaining with foreign states. This compromise tariff of 1907 remained in force with little change or strong agitation for change until three years later, when negotiations for reciprocity with the United States once more brought the issue to the front.