Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier visits Yorkton.
The Prime Minister arrived in town on the first passenger train of the Grand Trunk Pacific - a special train in his honour - on the evening of July 19, 1910. (Grand Trunk Pacific is the Canadian National line today.) The next morning, a cavalcade of cars brought him to the countryside where he waded waist deep in fields of ripening wheat, oats and barley. Later, the ceremonies opened at the revamped curling rink with addresses by Mayor Joseph M. Clark, Board of Trade President J.A.M. Patrick, and Saskatchewan Liberal Premier Walter Scott. When Laurier was introduced, the crowd of 2000 greeted him with a rousing ovation. The GLOBE, one of the leading newspapers of eastern Canada accompanying the party, had this to say: "Sir Wilfrid Laurier addressed the most cosmopolitan gathering of his tour. In addition to a flood of Canadians and settlers of British and American origins, there were Scandinavians, Germans, French, Italians, Poles, Austrians, Armenians, Jews, Doukhobors and Galicians." - By all reports it was the biggest celebration ever held in north-eastern Saskatchewan.
Laurier was born in St. Lin, Québec in 1841. He studied law at McGill University in Montreal and was called to the bar in 1864. He served in the Québec Legislature in 1871, and entered the House of Commons in 1874. Laurier assumed leadership of the Liberal party in 1887, becoming Prime Minister in 1896, re-elected 3 times and defeated in 1911. He was known as a good orator in both French and English. His policies were to promote Canada's resources and its prosperity. He also endorsed the immigration policies of his Minster of the Interior, Clifford Sifton, who sought farmers from Ukraine who came for free homestead lands to Western Canada, many to the Yorkton region in 1897, as well as Doukhobors from Russia in 1899. Sifton continued aggressive advertising in Ontario, Great Britain and Western Europe, plus he concentrated on inviting Americans. They were considered choice settlers because they were familiar with farming quarters sections, they could bring much needed farming equipment across the border, money, and household supplies. Estimates show there were more than 750,000 Americans who immigrated to the Canadian West between 1901 and 1914.
Contact Terri Lefebvre Prince,Heritage Researcher,
City of Yorkton Archives,
Box 400, 37 Third Avenue North
Yorkton, Sask. S3N 2W3 306-786-1722
[email protected]
