The Hon. William Stevens Fielding, considered one of Canada’s ablest men, stands high in the administration of Sir Wilfrid Laurier, holding the important place of Minister of Finance. He attained distinction by the path of newspaper work. Mr. Fielding was born in Halifax of English parentage in 1848, and at the age of sixteen entered the business office of the Morning Chronicle. This was perhaps the most influential newspaper of the Maritime Provinces, and counted among its contributors numerous men of intellect and influence. It was from them that young Fielding imbibed his political views and became imbued with the spirit of broad patriotism which has since distinguished him.
Soon after he formed his connection with the Chronicle he was promoted to a place as reporter, and was most zealous and thorough in this sphere. Before he was twenty he had commenced to write editorials. For two decades Mr. Fielding remained with the Chronicle, rising by degrees to the place of editor, and at the same time taking an active part in the political campaigns in Halifax. He was elected in the elections of 1882 to a seat in the Nova Scotia Legislature, and rose so rapidly that within a few months he was offered the premiership of the Province. He declined the honor on this occasion, but soon afterward organized a government at the request of some of the other leaders, and took upon himself the duties of provincial secretary, which also involved the work of financial administrator. His government was so effective that for years it controlled the affairs of the Province. When Sir Wilfrid Laurier became premier of the Dominion in 1896 he appointed Mr. Fielding Minister of Finance, and the latter was returned by the constituency of Shelbourne and Queens to the Dominion House of Commons. It was Mr. Fielding who introduced the measure for the preferential tariff which has been so conspicuous a feature of the Laurier administration. Mr. Fielding is regarded as one of the strongest members of the cabinet.
Charles Fitzpatrick.
The Hon. Charles Fitzpatrick, Minister of Justice in the Canadian Government, and one of the ablest of the Dominion’s lawyers and political leaders, was born of Irish parentage in the Province of Quebec in 1851. His father was a lumber merchant. He was graduated from Laval University in Quebec, studied law and began practice in the city of Quebec, where he rapidly rose to prominence. He had acquired such a reputation at the bar when he was thirty-four years old, that the half-breeds and others who rallied to the support of Louis Riel when the latter was imprisoned and about to be tried for his life, retained Mr. Fitzpatrick as the man best fitted to defend their leader. In this case he opposed a number of the ablest lawyers in Canada, and while his client, Riel, was condemned to death, Mr. Fitzpatrick’s eloquence and command of legal principles attracted wide attention. He has since appeared in many of the most important cases that have been tried within the Dominion.
Mr. Fitzpatrick’s entry into public life was made in 1891, when he was elected a member of the House of Commons of the Province of Quebec, representing his native county. He held this seat until 1896, when he was a successful candidate for the Dominion House of Commons. His general ability and his attainments as a lawyer had by this time become so conspicuous that when in the same year Sir Wilfrid Laurier organized his government he appointed Mr. Fitzpatrick to the position of Solicitor General. In 1900 he was re-elected, by a large majority, a Liberal member from Quebec, in a constituency that was largely Conservative. In 1902, on the elevation of the Hon. David Mills to the Supreme Court bench, Mr. Fitzpatrick was called to his present post of Minister of Justice.
The political success of Mr. Fitzpatrick is made the more notable by the fact that ninety per cent. of the voters of Quebec are French Canadians, while he himself is an Irishman.
In addition to his powers as an orator, his grasp of legal principles and his strong personal magnetism, one of his predominant traits is energy. It has been said of him that in the days of his youth he was in the habit of rising so early in the morning that he had his cases carefully analyzed and his plan of action formulated before other lawyers were out of bed. At present his most absorbing interest is the project for the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway line across the continent. It was he who drew up the contract for the undertaking, and he has been its chief defender, in its legal aspects, against the many attacks to which it has been subjected by the opponents of the government of Sir Wilfrid Laurier.
Mr. Fitzpatrick attributes his zest for work to the fact that he has always been an outdoor man. During his early years his reputation as an athlete was as great in Quebec as was his fame as a lawyer. He married a daughter of the late Lieutenant Carors, and thus became intimately identified with one of the oldest of the French-Canadian families, which dates back to the early days in Canadian history.
There is no more enthusiastic believer in the future of Canada than Mr. Fitzpatrick. In 1903 he made a tour of the Northwest, and has expressed himself as astonished at its marvelous resources. It is his opinion that the projected Grand Trunk Pacific line, adding another railway to the transportation facilities of this territory, will develop it into one of the richest and most productive regions, not only in grain, but in minerals, the world has ever known.