|
Sunny Way
| Settling the West |
The Klondike |
New Railways |
Industry |
Workers & Farmers |
Empire |
Boer War | Canadian Navy
| 1911
Laurier declared that the twentieth
century would be Canada's century. He opened up the 1886
Federal campaign by applying a masterstroke of politics
when he essentially diffused the Manitoba schools
question by proclaiming that the confrontation of
remedial action should not be required and that "the
sunny way" was better then forcing Manitoba to abide by
the wishes of the Federal Government.
Laurier's address on
October 8th, 1895 at Morris burg, Ontario about the
Premier of Manitoba Greenway
"Well, sir, the
government are very windy. They have blown and raged and
threatened and the more they have raged and blown, the
more that man Greenway had stuck to his coat. If it were
in my power, I would try the sunny way. I would approach
this man Greenway with the sunny way of patriotism,
asking him o be just and to be fair, asking him to be
generous to the minority, in order that we may have
peace among all creeds and races which it has pleased
God to bring upon this corner of our common country. Do
you not believe that there is more to be gained by
appealing to the heart and soul of men rather than by
trying to compel them to do a thing?"
Once elected, Laurier put his "sunny way"
solution into action and quickly brought the two sides
of the Manitoba Schools question together to formulate a
compromise solution to the bitter battle.
Government money for the Catholic schools
was denied but the right of Roman Catholic to receive
religious instruction was accepted. In schools where
numbers warranted it, instruction would be given in
French. The backlash against the agreement emanated
mainly from the bishops in Quebec but once again Laurier
found the subtle and effect way to deal with this by
recruiting the Pope to his point of view, for the good
of the Catholic church and allowing him to lay down the
law to the bishops. It worked and the "sunny way" seemed
to be a success. |
