Thomas Greenway

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Thomas Greenway

Thomas Greenway (born March 25, 1838 in Kilkhampton , Cornwall , † October 30, 1908 in Ottawa ) was a Canadian politician . After eight years as Minister of Agriculture, he ruled the Province of Manitoba as Prime Minister from January 19, 1888 to January 6, 1900. From 1883 to 1904 he was chairman of the Manitoba Liberal Party . He was also a member of the Canadian House of Commons from 1875 to 1878 and from 1904 to 1908 .

biography

Greenway, who was born in south-west England , emigrated to Canada with his parents in 1846 . He lived in Huron County , Ontario , where he worked as a trader. He was mayor of Stephen Township for ten years. In 1872 and 1874 Greenway ran for the Conservative Party for a seat in the House of Commons , but narrowly defeated both times. The result of the second election was later declared invalid and in 1875 he won the by-election that had become necessary . Since he rejected the protectionist economic policy of the federal government, he increasingly alienated himself from the conservatives and described himself as an independent from 1876. In 1878 he decided not to be re-elected.

Greenway moved to Manitoba in 1879 and, with financial support from Malcolm Colin Cameron , later Lieutenant Governor of the Northwest Territories , acquired extensive properties in the southwest of the province. In order to promote the settlement of the area, he founded Crystal City . The settlement did not develop as hoped because the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) did not build its transcontinental railroad over its lands. In December 1879, Greenway was elected to the Manitoba Legislative Assembly in the Mountain constituency. In the 1883 election, he stood as chairman of the Provincial Rights Party , which opposed interference by the federal government in provincial legislation and the monopoly of the CPR. In the same year the Manitoba Liberal Party emerged .

Prime Minister John Norquay lost the favor of the federal government in late 1887 because he wanted to encourage the construction of branch lines. His successor David Howard Harrison was unable to form a stable government and resigned after three weeks, whereupon Greenway was commissioned to form a government on January 19, 1888. It was very popular at first, as the federal government bought the monopoly from the CPR and allowed the provincial government to build its own railway lines. In an early election in July 1888, the Liberals won 33 of the 38 seats. However, the provincial government did not have a lucky hand with the construction of railway lines and the expected freight tariff reductions did not materialize, so that trade suffered.

The provincial government continued to promote immigration, and also persuaded numerous Germans, Ukrainians, but also Scots, Irish, Welsh and English to join. At the same time, the province was expanded dramatically to the north and west. Winnipeg grew to become the fourth largest city in Canada. This made Catholics and Francophones a minority. Greenway secured a political majority by replacing the two-part French-English school system with a unified education ministry in 1890 (→ Manitoba school question ). He also repealed a law that made law bilingual that same year - an amendment to the law that remained in force until 1984. It worked and Greenway was re-elected in 1892. When the federal government tried to counter-steer, he won the 1896 election with an even larger majority.

But Greenway lost the election in December 1899 because, in the eyes of the Conservatives, too many Eastern Europeans, especially Ukrainians, had been brought into the country. He was also no longer able to get the protest voters on his side with the Manitoba school question because the federal government had pushed through a compromise (even if it was at most cosmetic). On January 6, 1900, he ceded the office of Prime Minister to Hugh John Macdonald . Greenway remained chairman of the Manitoba Liberal Party and led the opposition. The 1903 election turned out to be even worse for the Liberals. Greenway ran for the Liberal Party of Canada in the 1904 general election and was elected in the Lisgar constituency. For the next four years he was just a backbencher in the House of Commons . Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier eventually appointed Greenway chairman of the Railway Commission, but he died the day before he took office.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Greenway, Thomas
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian politician
DATE OF BIRTH March 25, 1838
PLACE OF BIRTH Kilkhampton , Cornwall
DATE OF DEATH October 30, 1908
Place of death Ottawa