Sir George-Étienne Cartier | The Canadian Encyclopedia
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Sir George-Étienne Cartier

Sir George-Étienne Cartier, co-premier of the Province of Canada, lawyer, rebel, railway promoter, politician, Father of Confederation (born 6 September 1814 in Saint-Antoine, Lower Canada; died 20 May 1873 in London, England).

Sir George-Étienne Cartier
  1. September 06, 1814

    Sir George-Étienne Cartier, 1871.

    Sir George-Étienne Cartier 

    Birth of Sir George-Étienne Cartier

    Sir George-Étienne Cartier was born to a wealthy family of grain exporters and millers in Saint-Antoine, Lower Canada. A key architect and Father of Confederation, Sir George-Étienne Cartier led Québec into Confederation and helped negotiate the entry of the Northwest Territories, Manitoba, and British Columbia into Canada.

  2. June 24, 1834

    Sir George-Étienne Cartier 

    St-Jean-Baptiste Society

    The St-Jean-Baptiste Society was founded by journalist Ludger Duvernay, who wanted to stimulate a nationalist spirit among his compatriots and encourage them to defend their linguistic and cultural heritage.

  3. January 01, 1835

    Sir George-Étienne Cartier 

    Cartier Called to the Bar

    A graduate of the Sulpician Collège de Montréal, in 1835 George-Étienne Cartier was licensed to be a lawyer.

  4. November 23, 1837

    Rebellions of 1837, Lower Canada

    Sir George-Étienne Cartier 

    Cartier Fights in Rebellions of 1837

    In 1837 at Saint-Denis, George-Étienne Cartier fought bravely alongside Wolfred Nelson and the rebels as they successfully routed Colonel Charles Gore's force of British regulars in the Rebellions of 1837.

  5. January 01, 1841

    Sir Louis-Hippolyte LaFontaine

    Sir George-Étienne Cartier 

    Cartier Becomes Active in Politics

    In 1841 Sir George-Étienne Cartier 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, where French Canadians held a majority and which had been nullified by the Act of Union (1840).

  6. February 10, 1841

    Act of Union

    Sir George-Étienne Cartier 

    Act of Union in Effect

    The Act of Union came into effect, uniting Upper and Lower Canada into the Province of Canada, a legislative union with 84 members divided equally between Canada East and Canada West.

  7. January 01, 1843

    Sir George-Étienne Cartier 

    Cartier Appointed Secretary of the Saint-Jean-Baptiste Society

    Sir George-Étienne became secretary of the reorganized Saint-Jean-Baptiste Society in 1843.

  8. January 01, 1848

    Sir George-Étienne Cartier 

    Cartier Elected

    Sir George-Étienne Cartier was elected as a Liberal Reformer to the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada in 1848, in Verchères, Québec. He was soon brought into Cabinet.

  9. January 01, 1857

    Sir George-Étienne Cartier 

    Cartier Serves as Co-Premier

    Sir George-Étienne Cartier served as co-premier with John A. Macdonald in the Union parliaments of 1857–58 and 1858–62, in which ministry he set in motion the movement toward Confederation.

  10. September 01, 1864

    Delegates of the Charlottetown Conference, Prince Edward Island, 1864.

    Sir George-Étienne Cartier 

    Cartier Attends Charlottetown Conference

    At the Charlottetown Conference in 1864, Sir George-Étienne Cartier led the Canadian case for a great confederation of all the colonial provinces, inspiring the Maritime delegates with a commitment to build the Intercolonial Railway.

  11. October 10, 1864

    Québec Conference, 1864

    Sir George-Étienne Cartier 

    Cartier Attends Québec Conference

    At the Québec Conference, Sir George-Étienne Cartier argued for the creation of a new “political nationality,” and denounced Rouge leader A.A. Dorion’s contention that French Canada would be better off joining the United States, by stating that French interests could be preserved under the proposed Confederation.

  12. January 01, 1868

    Sir George-Étienne Cartier 

    Cartier Facilitates the Transfer of Rupert's Land

    In 1868–69, Sir George-Étienne Cartier and William McDougall negotiated in London for the transfer of the HBC territory of Rupert's Land and the North-Western Territory to the Dominion.

  13. January 01, 1870

    Canadian Pacific Railway

    Sir George-Étienne Cartier 

    Cartier Encourages BC to Join Confederation

    Sir George-Étienne Cartier welcomed British Columbia delegates John Sebastian Helmcken, Joseph Trutch and Robert Carrall to Ottawa in June 1870, and promised them a transcontinental railway if British Columbia joined Confederation (the delegates had planned only to ask for a wagon road east).

  14. May 12, 1870

    Sir George-Étienne Cartier 

    Cartier Helps Draft Manitoba Act

    Sir George-Étienne Cartier sympathized with the Métis, and 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 Archibald and many of his own hand-picked men to administer the new province.

  15. January 01, 1872

    Sir George-Étienne Cartier 

    ​Cartier Loses His Seat

    Sir George-Étienne Cartier’s plans to make Montréal a transcontinental trading terminus were opposed by rival railway promoters in Boston and Philadelphia. These promoters wanted to tap into the trade of the Canadian north-west by railway lines crossing the border. They heavily financed Cartier’s political rival in Montréal East, Louis-Amable Jetté of the short-lived Parti national, leading to Cartier’s defeat in 1872. Louis Riel quickly offered to resign his own seat in Manitoba, and Cartier soon became the MP for Saint Boniface.

  16. April 02, 1873

    Pacific Scandal Political Cartoon

    Sir George-Étienne Cartier 

    Pacific Scandal Revealed

    The Liberals broke news of the Pacific Scandal in Parliament. A spate of damaging letters and telegrams appeared in Liberal newspapers in July.

  17. May 20, 1873

    Sir George-Étienne Cartier 

    Death of Sir George-É. Cartier

    Sir George-Étienne Cartier died of Bright's Disease in London, England.

  18. November 05, 1873

    Pacific Scandal Political Cartoon

    Sir George-Étienne Cartier 

    Pacific Scandal Forces Resignations

    In the Pacific Scandal, the Macdonald government resigned over the evidence that members of the government had accepted campaign funds from Sir Hugh Allan in return for the Canadian Pacific Railway contract.