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Sir George-Étienne Cartier, 1st Baronet, PC (pronounced [ʒɔʁʒ etjɛn kaʁtje]; September 6, 1814 – May 20, 1873) was a Canadian statesman and Father of Confederation. [1] The English spelling of the name—George, instead of Georges, the usual French spelling—is explained by his having been named in honour of King George III.
- Education and Early Career
- The Rebellions of 1837-38
- Political Career
- Confederation
- The West
- Manitoba
- British Columbia
- The Transcontinental Railway
- Legacy
George-Étienne Cartier was from a wealthy family of grain exporters and millers. According to family legend, they were descendants of the family of Jacques Cartier. A graduate of the Sulpician Collège de Montréal, Cartier was called to the bar in 1835. He then joined the radical Fils de la Liberté (Sons of Liberty), to fight against the Château Cli...
In 1837, Cartier fought bravely alongside Wolfred Nelson and the rebels at the Battle of St-Denis. They successfully routed Colonel Charles Gore’s force of British regulars. (See Rebellion in Lower Canada.) After a narrow escape, Cartier lived in exile in Vermont. In 1838, he successfully petitioned to return and practice law in Montreal. Among his...
Cartier soon became active in politics. In 1841, he became Louis-Hippolyte LaFontaine’s campaign manager and right-hand man. The two were dedicated to reforming the Civil Code and restoring the Assembly of the Province of Lower Canada; French Canadians held a majority, but it had been nullified by the Act of Union in 1840. With responsible governme...
In the years leading up to Confederation, Cartier and his large block of supporters from Canada East (formerly Lower Canada) allied with Macdonald’s smaller cohort of Conservatives from Canada West (Upper Canada). This created political deadlock in the Province of Canada. They finally convinced George Brown and his supporters to join the Great Coal...
In the first years of Confederation, Cartier often served as acting Prime Minister during Macdonald’s illnesses. He played a key role in securing Rupert’s Land (1869) and in drafting the Manitoba Act (1870) and the British Columbia Act(1871). In 1868–69, he and William McDougall negotiated in London for the transfer of the HBC territory of Rupert’s...
Cartier may have met Louis Riel. Both had been educated at the Sulpician Collège de Montréal, although not at the same time. Cartier sympathized with the Métis. He played a key role in negotiating their acceptance of provincehood through their emissary, Abbé Ritchot. After passage of the Manitoba Act on 12 May 1870, Cartier sent Adams Archibaldand ...
Cartier welcomed British Columbia delegates John Sebastian Helmcken, Joseph Trutch and Robert Carrall to Ottawa in June 1870. He promised them a transcontinental railway if British Columbia joined Confederation. (The delegates had planned only to ask for a wagon road east.) Cartier negotiated the Terms of Union with British Columbia, which were pas...
Cartier promoted the development of rail throughout his career. He was heavily involved in the development of the Grand Trunk Railway and served as its solicitor. He was also chairman of the Railway Committee of Parliament in the Uniongovernment. Cartier was also a driving force in the early promotion of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR). This sea...
Cartier was the chief voice of the French Canadian community, the pivotal group in the union. As such, he was the kingpin of the Confederation movement. He masterfully made use of his block votes and his railway and militia interests to create a new union and a new nationality. He reconciled the majority of French Canada to Confederation on the gro...
Sir George-Étienne Cartier, Baronet was a statesman, Canadian prime minister jointly with John A. Macdonald (1857–58; 1858–62), and promoter of confederation and the improvement of Anglo-French relations in Canada. Cartier practiced as a lawyer until 1837, when he took part in the rebellion that.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
There are two great thrusts of George-Étienne Cartier’s career that ensured his legacy as a pre-eminent figure in Canadian history: the notion of duality, and economic development.
CARTIER, Sir GEORGE-ÉTIENNE, lawyer, politician, prime minister of the Province of Canada; b. 6 Sept. 1814 at Saint-Antoine-sur-Richelieu (Verchères County, L.C.), son of Jacques Cartier (1774–1841) and Marguerite Paradis; d. 20 May 1873 in London, Eng.
- J.-C. Bonenfant
- CARTIER, Sir GEORGE-ÉTIENNE
- Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 10
May 29, 2018 · Sir George-Étienne Cartier (1814-1873) was a Canadian statesman who led French Canada into the federation of British North America in 1867. George-Étienne Cartier was born in Saint-Antoine, Lower Canada, on Sept. 6, 1814. He studied at St Sulpice College, Montreal, in preparation for a legal career.
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Feb 25, 2015 · Among Cartier’s many achievements is instituting the Civil Code in Quebec and establishing provinces. Politically astute, he wielded great influence in the area of urban and economic development, not only in Montreal but all across Canada.