Sir Wilfrid Laurier definitely found religion on this date in 1910 while visiting Victoria, British Columbia. He visited with Canadian Methodists gathered in the city for a convention. In introducing the Prime Minister, the chair of the meeting noted that Laurier had recently praised the memory of his long-time and fallen foe, Sir John A. Macdonald, in a recent speech.
“Sir Wilfrid Laurier, in replying, paid a glowing tribute to the late Sir John A. Macdonald, saying he was worthy of being called ‘great,’” the press noted. “Speaking of the work done by the Church, Sir Wilfrid Laurier said the aim of a politician was the welfare of the country and the aim of the Church was the welfare of the whole human race. ‘Canada,’ he said, ‘was the star of the world.’ In his trip (to the United Kingdom earlier in the year) he had met those who spoke of England and France, and Scandinavia and other European countries, as well as those who came from the American Republic, but he had not met anyone who was not trying to build up a happy and prosperous Canada. He had also found that all the churches were at work to make good citizens, and was delighted to recognize the broadening sprit of Christianity which marked the people of Canada.”
Methodists gave Laurier a standing ovation when the PM’s remarks concluded. And who said politics and religion don’t mix?
Arthur Milnes is an accomplished public historian and award-winning journalist. He was research assistant on The Rt. Hon. Brian Mulroney’s best-selling Memoirs and also served as a speechwriter to then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper and as a Fellow of the Queen’s Centre for the Study of Democracy under the leadership of Tom Axworthy. A resident of Kingston, Ontario, Milnes serves as the in-house historian at the 175 year-old Frontenac Club Hotel.