Joseph-Adolphe Chapleau

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Joseph-Adolphe Chapleau

Joseph-Adolphe Chapleau , PC (born November 9, 1840 in Sainte-Thérèse , Québec , † June 13, 1898 in Montreal ) was the fifth Prime Minister of the Canadian province of Québec. His reign lasted from October 31, 1879 to July 29, 1882, during which time he was chairman of the Parti conservateur du Québec . He was then a member of the Canadian House of Commons until 1892 and held several ministerial posts in the conservative federal government. Eventually he served as Lieutenant Governor of Québec from 1892 to 1898 .

biography

Political background and advancement

Coming from a humble background, Chapleau attended the Séminaire de Saint-Hyacinthe, a bulwark of French-Canadian patriotism, after the Collège Masson. He then studied law and received part of his practical training (including from the later second Prime Minister of Québec, Gédéon Ouimet ) in a law firm. He then became Ouimet's new partner there, specializing in criminal law and working on 22 murder cases within 15 years, of which he won all but one. With friends he founded an intellectual circle, which, however, only lasted for a short time.

In the last few years of the old province of Canada , Chapleau joined the idea that it would be better to support a confederation that might be far from perfect, but at least exclude representation by population, which marginalize the French Canadians more would. In the first provincial election after the formation of the Canadian state, he moved in 1867 for the constituency of Terrebonne in the National Assembly of Québec . At 26, Chapleau was well below the average age of 42 and, unlike most parliamentarians, had no experience. He first turned to the burning issue of the school question, which was determined by the fight of the Protestant minority for their own schools. In view of their economic predominance in Québec, they were able to prevail with their demands, which Chapleau angered and also brought up clearly. He later also proved inconvenient when, for example, in 1870 he voted for the abolition of the dual mandate for the provincial and federal parliaments because, in his opinion, this could induce the provincial parliament to follow the federal parliament and thus endanger the autonomy of Québec.

Chapleau in 1869

In 1871 Capleau was re-elected and, as a result of the continued pressure from the strongly Catholic wing of the Parti conservateur du Québec , he was forced to emphasize his liberal-conservative attitude, which made him an advocate of the separation between church and state. He was also confronted with the increasing split within the party in the interests of the cities of Montreal and Québec , where he vehemently defended the positions of the former, which gradually gave him a kind of leadership position. Under the new Prime Minister Gédéon Ouimet , he was finally solliciteur général (English solicitor general, assisted the Minister of Justice, abolished in 2005). In this role he was involved in the Tanneries scandal , which should cost Ouimet the office and Charles-Eugène Boucher de Boucherville made the new prime minister.

In the ensuing investigation into the scandal, it emerged that Chapleau's friend Dansereau, who was involved in the scandal, had received information from him. This could have harmed his political career, but he survived this political crisis because he was able to distinguish himself through other events. In October 1874 he took over the defense of Ambroise-Dydime Lépine, who was involved in the Red River Rebellion , and his Métis colleagues. The French-Canadian public was in contrast to the Anglo-Saxon pro-Métis, and Chapleau also took on the defense out of patriotic feeling for no financial consideration. He was not completely altruistic, however, as this process enabled him to travel to the West and receive media attention. After his return he married the musician Marie-Louise King in November 1874. The marriage remained childless.

Although not on friendly terms with Boucherville, this Chapleau entrusted the function of a provincial secretary due to political constraints . He already eyed with a career in the federal parliament. Since the times were not exactly favorable for conservatives there at that time, he stayed in Québec for the time being. Boucherville was finally deposed by the dispute over the financial participation of neighboring municipalities in the expansion of the rail network by Vice Governor Luc Letellier de Saint-Just and replaced by the liberal Henri-Gustave Joly de Lotbinière , who was also the first Protestant premier and headed a minority government after the new election. After the conservatives regained power at the federal level in September 1878, Chapleau pushed for the deposition of Saint-Just. Pressure from the Québec Conservatives finally succeeded in July 1879, and Saint-Just was relieved of his post.

Prime Minister of Quebec

After five Liberal MPs switched to the Conservatives, Lotbinière's government came to an end. Chapleau became the youngest Premier of Québec to date on October 31, 1879, at the age of 38. Since there was still no reliable majority, he decided to speak to the spokesman of the right wing liberals, Honoré Mercier , about the possibility of a coalition. In the initially secret talks, the Liberals demanded u. a. the abolition of the Legislative Council and the Senate . When the talks became public, the Catholic right wing of the Conservatives protested against the abolition of both provincial and federal upper houses, which they regarded as bulwarks against liberalism . A later attempt in 1881 also failed. It was not until 1886 that a coalition came about, this time on the initiative of Mercier, who was now Prime Minister himself.

Critically eyed by the right wing, this helped him to achieve clear majorities, as in the vote on the abolition of the Privy Council. If he had promised this in the talks with the Liberals, the clear rejection (35 to 27 votes) showed at least a stable conservative majority. Then he was able to obtain a loan from the capital market of the former French mainland on favorable terms, which gave rise to hopes to catch up with the leading economic province of Canada, Ontario . Another measure aimed to improve the terms of existing loans from the municipalities. The dispute over the right of the Université Laval in the city of Québec to expand its medical faculty to Montreal (where this was opposed) proved to be very tough .

After the approval at the end of the legislative period, the chapleau, depleted by this, traveled to Paris . He made the return trip together with the Canadian Prime Minister John Macdonald , who advised him to hold elections as soon as possible and then to turn to Ottawa. The election ended with a clear majority in favor of the Conservatives. Like all of his predecessors, Chapleau was particularly involved in expanding the rail network. The conflict over the sale of route sections divided the parties again. In this situation, he now took the step of moving to Ottawa. In July 1882 Macdonald made him State Secretary. His successor as Prime Minister was Joseph-Alfred Mousseau .

Minister in Ottawa and Lieutenant Governor of Quebec

Chapleau had little influence in his authority. However, when it turned out that Mousseau's support was too little, they came back to him to recommend a successor for Mousseau. He eventually settled on John Jones Ross , an ardent Catholic, as his original favorite, Louis-François Rodrigue Masson , turned down. Since provincial politics did not penetrate the federal parliament, Chapleau shifted to the relationship with France. The Northwest Rebellion of 1885, which ended in the hanging of leader Louis Riel , once again divided the French and Anglophone parts of Canada. The French Canadians' protest led to a revival of the Parti National under Honoré Mercier, who demanded that the three French Canadian ministers in Ottawa, including Chapleau, resign in protest. He offered Chapleau the leadership of the party if he would turn against the Canadian government. Macdonald replied that in this case he would no longer replace the outgoing members with French Canadians. After a long consultation with his friends, he decided not to go into it because he did not want to jeopardize the existing confederation. Chapleau saw this as the only way to adequately represent Québec and defended his decision in a letter to the French Canadians.

In his demand for more autonomy within the Conservative Party, in his case on Montreal, he was able to assert himself against his Québec colleagues. Macdonald's centralist tendencies strengthened Mercier's position, who won the provincial elections in 1886 and became the new premier. Macdonald was able to continue to rule and remained Prime Minister of Canada until his death in 1891. During the second half, Chapleau was caught up in rivalries in the Québec newspaper market, whose major French-Canadian publications were either under his influence or under that of his long-standing rival in Québec and Ottawa, Hector-Louis Langevin , stood.

Although the Manitoba school question (French had lost its status as the school language in Manitoba ) continued to burden the Conservative Party in 1890 , Chapleau remained in the Federal Cabinet under Macdonald's successor John Abbott and moved to the Customs Ministry in January 1892. On December 12, 1892, he was appointed lieutenant governor of Québec by the Canadian Prime Minister John Thompson , under whom he did not want to serve in the cabinet. This led to the resignation of Boucherville, who was in his second term as Prime Minister of Québec. During his time as Lieutenant Governor, Chapleau continued to write articles for the newspaper La Presse under a pseudonym. After the election victory of Wilfrid Laurier in the general election in 1896 that would allow him no further term more, especially with Félix-Gabriel Marchand a Liberal Quebec once again reigned. Chapleau gave up his office on January 20, 1898, retired into private life and died just under five months later. He was buried in the Notre-Dame-des-Neiges cemetery.

Web links

Commons : Joseph-Adolphe Chapleau  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Chapleau, Joseph-Adolphe
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Politician
DATE OF BIRTH November 9, 1840
PLACE OF BIRTH Sainte-Thérèse
DATE OF DEATH June 13, 1898
Place of death Montreal