Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine
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Sir Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine (or La Fontaine) Baronet (1854) (October 4, 1807 – February 26, 1864 Montreal) was the first Prime Minister of the United Province of Canada. He was born in Boucherville, Lower Canada in 1807. A jurist and statesman, Lafontaine was first elected to the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada in 1830. He was a supporter of Papineau and member of the Parti canadien (later the Parti patriote). After the severe consequences of the Rebellions of 1837 against the British authorities, he advocated political reforms within the new Union regime of 1841.
Under this Union of the two Canadas he worked with Robert Baldwin and Francis Hincks in the formation of a party of Upper and Lower Canadian liberal reformers. He and Baldwin formed a government in 1842 but resigned in 1843. In 1848 he was asked by Lord Elgin to form the first administration under the new policy of responsible government. The Lafontaine-Baldwin government battled for the restoration of the French language, which was abolished with the Union Act and the principles of responsible government and the double-majority in the voting of bills.
While Baldwin was reforming Canada-West (Upper Canada), Lafontaine passed bills to abolish the tenure seigneuriale (seigneurial system) and grant amnesty to the leaders of the rebellions in Lower Canada who had been exiled. The bill passed, but it was not accepted by the loyalists of Canada East who protested violently and burned down the Parliament in Montreal.
Lafontaine retired to private life in 1851 but was appointed chief justice of Canada East in 1853. In 1854 he was created a baronet by Queen Victoria and a papal knight by Pope Pius IX.
[edit] See also
- Lower Canada Rebellion
- Timeline of Quebec history
- LaFontaine-Baldwin Symposium
- Louis-Joseph Papineau
| Preceded by Charles Richard Ogden |
Joint Premiers of the Province of Canada - Canada East 1842-1843 |
Succeeded by with Sir Dominick Daly |
| Preceded by Denis-Benjamin Papineau |
Premiers of Canada East 1848-1851 |
Succeeded by Augustin-Norbert Morin |
[edit] External links
- Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online
- National Assembly biography (in French)
- The Address to the Electors of Terrebonne, 1840
Categories: 1807 births | 1864 deaths | Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George | Members of the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada | Premiers of the Province of Canada | Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada | People from Longueuil | Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom | Canadian Baronets | Canadian knights
