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While He Was A Minister

By 1877 Laurier had already proved to himself one of the most promising young
men in the Liberal Party, which consisted the union between the Parti rouge in
Québec and the Grits in Ontario. In October of the year the minister of inland
revenue, Joseph Cauchon, resigned. Alexander Mackenzie, the Liberal prime
minister, chose Laurier to succeed Cauchon. However, by Canadian law at that
time a newly appointed minister was obliged to run for Parliament. The clergy
mounted a violent campaign against Laurier, some even saying from the pulpit
that it would be a sin to vote for him. Their attack was successful, and Laurier
lost. The party thought that he was too valuable to lose, and the member from
the eastern region of Québec was persuaded to resign in order to give Laurier a
seat. He continued to hold this seat for 40 years.

Oposition

Laurier's first period in office was very brief. In the election of 1878 the
Liberals were beaten and the Conservatives, headed by Sir John Alexander
Macdonald, returned to office. In the years of opposition to the Conservatives
that followed, Laurier continued to build a following in Québec. In the election
of 1882 he not only returned to Parliament but was also made mayor of
Arthabaska, where he had been lost the election five years before.
In 1885 Louis Riel, who had led an unsuccessful rebellion of Métis, was hanged
in Regina, in what is now Saskatchewan. Laurier was convinced that both Riel and
the situation of the Métis Deserved sympathy. He immediately denounced the
government in Parliament at a mass meeting in Montréal. His views echoed those
of most French Canadians. Even after this, in the 1887 election the Liberals
gained only a few seats in Québec and still, the Conservatives remained in
power.