Thomas Greenway
Encyclopedia
For the American
character actor
(1909-1985), see Tom Greenway
.
Thomas Greenway (March 25, 1838 – October 30, 1908) was a politician, merchant and farmer. He served as the seventh Premier
of Manitoba
, Canada
, from 1888 to 1900. A Liberal, his ministry formally ended Manitoba's non-partisan government
, albeit that a de facto two-party system had already existed for some years.
, Cornwall
, United Kingdom
, emigrating to Canada with his family in 1846. He was a Methodist in religion. His eldest child John Wesley Greenway
was born on August 27, 1861. Greenway moved his family west in 1878 to a 1000 acre stead in Manitoba
.
, contesting Huron South
for the Conservative Party
in 1872. He narrowly lost to Liberal candidate Malcolm Colin Cameron
, and suffered the same result in 1874. Cameron's 1874 victory was overturned for illegal campaign activities, however, and Greenway was elected unopposed the following year. He entered parliament as an "Independent Conservative", in opposition to Alexander Mackenzie
's Liberal government. He was also an active Methodist lay preacher.
Greenway's affiliation with the Conservative Party was always tenuous. He opposed protectionism
, and in 1876 voted for the budget of Liberal Finance Minister
Richard John Cartwright
. He generally favoured the Liberals for the remainder of his time in parliament (though continuing to sit as an Independent), and stood aside in favour of Cameron in 1878.
Greenway moved to Manitoba in 1879, having acquired a large tract of land in the province's southwestern corner (with financial backing from Cameron). He was the founder of Crystal City, Manitoba
. When a provincial election was held on 16 December of that year, he was elected unopposed in the riding of Mountain
. Greenway again referred to himself as an "Independent Conservative", and sought to represent his constituents in the manner of an independent country politician; however, he soon became known as a leading opponent of John Norquay
's government.
When Prime Minister John A. Macdonald
disallowed
Manitoba's local railway legislation in 1882, Greenway formed an opposition group known as the Provincial Rights Party
, which ran 15 candidates in the provincial election of 1883. Although it did not achieve immediate success (Norquay's government won 21 of 30 seats), it emerged as the most powerful voice on the opposition side. Greenway had to fend off a personal challenge from premier Norquay, who ran as a candidate in Mountain as well as his own riding of St. Andrew's. If Norquay hoped to silence the strongest opposition voice by this tactic, he was unsuccessful: Greenway won the riding by 330 votes to 244.
The Provincial Rights group subsequently consolidated the non-government MLAs into the Manitoba Liberal Party
— rather to the chagrin of some Winnipeg Liberals, who were suspicious of Greenway's rural base. Some extra-parliamentary "Provincial Rights" groups emerged in the same period. These faded away after a few public protests, but Greenway's control over the provincial Liberal organization soon became unchallengeable.
The Liberals believed they had a chance to win the provincial election of 1886, and in fact received about as many votes as Norquay's Conservatives. A personal visit from John A. Macdonald boosted Conservative strength, however, and Norquay's government won roughly 21 seats compared to 14 for the opposition. Greenway himself faced a surprisingly strong challenge in Mountain, defeating Conservative candidate R. Rogers by 385 votes to 370.
Norquay was unable to maintain his alliance with John A. Macdonald, and resigned after losing the support of his ministers in December 1887. When his successor D.H. Harrison proved unable to command a parliamentary majority, Greenway was asked by the Lieutenant Governor
to form a new administration in January 1888. Through by-election wins and defections, he was able to sustain a stable administration before calling new elections in mid-year.
Greenway's Liberal administration was tolerated by John A. Macdonald, who once claimed in private correspondence that he preferred Greenway to Norquay. The Premier's commitment to "liberalism" in the Canadian context was no stronger than his commitment to "conservatism" ten years earlier. As an administrator, he remained an independent figure unbothered by questions of ideology. Perhaps the only thing that Greenway unambiguously stood for in 1888 was provincial railway rights: when he assumed power, he promised to be more successful in securing these rights than the Norquay administration had been.
Greenway was extremely fortunate, in this sense, that his term began just as the Canadian Pacific Railway
voluntarily ended its provincial monopoly over rail travel, subject to hefty compensation from the federal government. He rode a wave of popular support to a landslide
election victory in the 1888 campaign
, taking 33 seats against 5 for the Conservatives. No Conservative even challenged Greenway in Mountain.
Greenway, however, was unable to resolve the railway issue. His administration mishandled negotiations for a new connection to the United States, and the CPR's continued to dominate the region. Transportation rates remained high, and provincial development suffered accordingly. One of Greenway's legislative supporters, Rodmond Palen Roblin, bolted to the Conservative opposition in disgust.
After failing in railway reform, Greenway turned his attention to education. His controversial reforms of Manitoba's school system
provoked a national crisis in the 1890s, and are still regarded as his administration's most notable accomplishment.
When Manitoba was created in 1870, the provincial government established a dual school system to reflect the province's demographic balance. The Manitoba Act of 1870 and School Act of 1871 provided for separate and equally funded Catholic and Protestant school boards. These boards were divided by language as well as religion: the province's original Catholic population was predominantly francophone, while its Protestant population was almost exclusively anglophone.
The demographics of Manitoba changed considerably between 1870 and 1888. Protestants came to outnumber Catholics by a significant margin, and the dual system was regarded by many new settlers as an anachronism. Many anglophones, both Conservative and Liberal, resented the continued state funding for French-language education. Greenway sought to appeal to these voters in 1890 by abolishing the dual system, and setting up a single Department of Education. Also in 1890, Greenway's Liberals enacted legislation to unilaterally abolish the province's obligation to ensure all its law were bilinqual, doing away with French-language legislation. This was declared illegal by two lower court decisions, with the Province ignored. In 1984, the federal Government referred the question to the Supreme Court of Canada, which held Greenway's actions had been unconstitutional. The Court forced Manitoba to translate all its legislation into French, a job that took seven years to complete.
Under Greenways's anti-French and anti-Catholic education legislation of 1890, while Catholic schools were allowed, but they were denied state funding; parents who sent their children to Catholic schools were required to contribute to their secular board as well. These reforms were popular with Protestants, particularly among the evangelical faiths. Greenway's government was re-elected in the 1892 election
, winning 28 seats to approximately 12 for the opposition. Greenway personally defeated Rogers for a second time in Mountain.
This election did not bring an end to the education issue. Greenway's legislation brought about a complex series of legal cases, as well as threats of disallowance
from various levels of government. The resulting controversy (known as the Manitoba Schools Question
) dominated Canadian politics in the mid-1890s, and divided both the Conservatives and Liberals on the national level.
In 1895, after the Privy Council refused to decide the matter, Conservative Prime Minister Mackenzie Bowell
passed remedial legislation defending Catholic rights. Greenway responded by calling another election, and again presented himself as the champion of provincial rights against federal intrusion. The result, on 15 January 1896, was another Liberal landslide victory
— Greenway's Liberals won 31 seats, compared with 6 for the still-leaderless Conservatives (the Patrons of Industry
, an upstart third party, were sidelined by the education controversy and won only 2 seats). These results were a significant blow to the federal Conservatives, who soon withdrew their remedial legislation. Bowell stood aside as national Conservative leader, leaving a weakened and badly-divided party in his wake.
Shortly thereafter, the federal Liberals under Wilfrid Laurier
won a national election, and resolved the Schools Questions with a mild compromise (providing minimal state support for Catholic and French education on a case-by-case basis). Greenway's efforts to introduce secular education into the province were successful, and the Laurier government's bid for further concessions in later years came to nothing.
The resolution of the education issue did not benefit Greenway's chances for re-election, however. No longer able to benefit from protest votes, the Liberals were defeated by the Conservatives under Hugh John MacDonald
(son of the former Prime Minister) in late 1899. Many voters were apprehensive about recent East European immigration into the province, and were offended by even the minor concessions which Greenway had made on the education question; the Conservative Party was able to tap into this xenophobia, and won 22 seats out of 40. Greenway reluctantly returned to the leadership of the opposition, and sought a patronage appointment to cap off his career. An attempt for an early Senate promotion came to nothing, and he continued to lead the Liberals in a desultory fashion through the election of 1903 (wherein his party won only 9 of 40 seats).
Greenway returned to federal politics in 1904, winning election for the Manitoba riding of Lisgar
. Although his loyalty to the Liberal Party was now unquestioned, he accomplished very little in Ottawa and continued to spend most of his time seeking out a comfortable sinecure. In 1908, he finally received an appointment to the expanded Board of Railway Commissioners. However, he suffered a fatal heart attack on the day that he was scheduled to be sworn in.
Greenway remained a controversial figure for much of the twentieth century. Some regarded his education reforms as discriminatory toward minority groups; others (including some in the social gospel and secular left) saw him as a champion of the public school system in western Canada. Since the rise of official bilingualism in the 1960s, Greenway's reputation has fallen somewhat.
Notwithstanding this, Greenway was certainly responsible for bringing a mature party system into Manitoba politics. Following his departure from the provincial scene, no one doubted that partisan politics had become an established part of Manitoba's cultural landscape.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
character actor
Character actor
A character actor is one who predominantly plays unusual or eccentric characters. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a character actor as "an actor who specializes in character parts", defining character part in turn as "an acting role displaying pronounced or unusual characteristics or...
(1909-1985), see Tom Greenway
Tom Greenway
Tom Greenway was an American character actor of film and television, whose career, primarily in television westerns, extended from 1949 to 1965.-Early life:...
.
Thomas Greenway (March 25, 1838 – October 30, 1908) was a politician, merchant and farmer. He served as the seventh Premier
Premier of Manitoba
The Premier of Manitoba is the first minister for the Canadian province of Manitoba. He or she is the province's head of government and de facto chief executive. Until the early 1970s, the title "Prime Minister of Manitoba" was used frequently. Afterwards, the word Premier, derived from the French...
of Manitoba
Manitoba
Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, from 1888 to 1900. A Liberal, his ministry formally ended Manitoba's non-partisan government
Non-partisan democracy
Nonpartisan democracy is a system of representative government or organization such that universal and periodic elections take place without reference to political parties.-Overview:...
, albeit that a de facto two-party system had already existed for some years.
Early life
Greenway was born in KilkhamptonKilkhampton
Kilkhampton is a village and civil parish in northeast Cornwall, United Kingdom. The village is situated on the A39 approximately four miles north-northeast of Bude.Kilkhampton was mentioned in the Domesday Book as "Chilchetone"...
, Cornwall
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
, United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, emigrating to Canada with his family in 1846. He was a Methodist in religion. His eldest child John Wesley Greenway
John Wesley Greenway
John Wesley Greenway was a Canadian civil servant and politician. He served as a Member of the Northwest Territories Council beginning in 1921 and also served as Commissioner of Dominion Lands for the Department of the Interior.-Early life:Greenway was born on August 27, 1861 in Bervie, Ontario...
was born on August 27, 1861. Greenway moved his family west in 1878 to a 1000 acre stead in Manitoba
Manitoba
Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...
.
Political career
Greenway began his political career in OntarioOntario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, contesting Huron South
Huron South
Huron South was a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that was represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1867 to 1935. It was created by the British North America Act of 1867 which divided the County of Huron into two ridings: Huron North and Huron South.In 1872, the County of...
for the Conservative Party
Conservative Party of Canada (historical)
The Conservative Party of Canada has gone by a variety of names over the years since Canadian Confederation. Initially known as the "Liberal-Conservative Party", it dropped "Liberal" from its name in 1873, although many of its candidates continued to use this name.As a result of World War I and the...
in 1872. He narrowly lost to Liberal candidate Malcolm Colin Cameron
Malcolm Colin Cameron
Malcolm Colin Cameron was a businessman and lawyer in Ontario. He represented Huron South in the Canadian House of Commons from 1867 to 1875 and from 1878 to 1882 and Huron West from 1882 to 1887, 1891 to 1892 and 1896 to 1898.He was born in Perth in Upper Canada in 1831. He was the son, probably...
, and suffered the same result in 1874. Cameron's 1874 victory was overturned for illegal campaign activities, however, and Greenway was elected unopposed the following year. He entered parliament as an "Independent Conservative", in opposition to Alexander Mackenzie
Alexander Mackenzie
Alexander Mackenzie, PC , a building contractor and newspaper editor, was the second Prime Minister of Canada from November 7, 1873 to October 8, 1878.-Biography:...
's Liberal government. He was also an active Methodist lay preacher.
Greenway's affiliation with the Conservative Party was always tenuous. He opposed protectionism
Protectionism
Protectionism is the economic policy of restraining trade between states through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, restrictive quotas, and a variety of other government regulations designed to allow "fair competition" between imports and goods and services produced domestically.This...
, and in 1876 voted for the budget of Liberal Finance Minister
Minister of Finance (Canada)
The Minister of Finance is the Minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet who is responsible each year for presenting the federal government's budget...
Richard John Cartwright
Richard John Cartwright
Sir Richard John Cartwright, PC, GCMG, PC was a Canadian businessman and politician. He was born and raised in Kingston, Ontario in a United Empire Loyalist family, the son of Harriet Dobbs Cartwright and the grandson of Richard Cartwright...
. He generally favoured the Liberals for the remainder of his time in parliament (though continuing to sit as an Independent), and stood aside in favour of Cameron in 1878.
Greenway moved to Manitoba in 1879, having acquired a large tract of land in the province's southwestern corner (with financial backing from Cameron). He was the founder of Crystal City, Manitoba
Crystal City, Manitoba
Crystal City is a village in the Canadian province of Manitoba. It is located on Highway 3, 16 kilometres north of the Canada-U.S. border border and 200 kilometres southwest of Winnipeg. The village is surrounded by the Rural Municipality of Louise....
. When a provincial election was held on 16 December of that year, he was elected unopposed in the riding of Mountain
Mountain
Image:Himalaya_annotated.jpg|thumb|right|The Himalayan mountain range with Mount Everestrect 58 14 160 49 Chomo Lonzorect 200 28 335 52 Makalurect 378 24 566 45 Mount Everestrect 188 581 920 656 Tibetan Plateaurect 250 406 340 427 Rong River...
. Greenway again referred to himself as an "Independent Conservative", and sought to represent his constituents in the manner of an independent country politician; however, he soon became known as a leading opponent of John Norquay
John Norquay
John Norquay was the Premier of Manitoba from 1878 to 1887. He was born near St. Andrews in what was then the Red River Colony, making him the first Premier of Manitoba to have been born in the region....
's government.
When Prime Minister John A. Macdonald
John A. Macdonald
Sir John Alexander Macdonald, GCB, KCMG, PC, PC , QC was the first Prime Minister of Canada. The dominant figure of Canadian Confederation, his political career spanned almost half a century...
disallowed
Disallowance and reservation
Disallowance and reservation are constitutional powers that theoretically exist in certain Commonwealth realms to delay or overrule legislation. Originally created to retain the Crown's authority over colonial authorities across the British Empire, these powers are now generally obsolete, or have...
Manitoba's local railway legislation in 1882, Greenway formed an opposition group known as the Provincial Rights Party
Provincial Rights Party
The Provincial Rights Party was a Canadian political party founded and led by Frederick W.A.G. Haultain in 1905 to contest elections in the new province of Saskatchewan.Haultain had been Premier of the North-West Territories prior to the province's creation...
, which ran 15 candidates in the provincial election of 1883. Although it did not achieve immediate success (Norquay's government won 21 of 30 seats), it emerged as the most powerful voice on the opposition side. Greenway had to fend off a personal challenge from premier Norquay, who ran as a candidate in Mountain as well as his own riding of St. Andrew's. If Norquay hoped to silence the strongest opposition voice by this tactic, he was unsuccessful: Greenway won the riding by 330 votes to 244.
The Provincial Rights group subsequently consolidated the non-government MLAs into the Manitoba Liberal Party
Manitoba Liberal Party
The Manitoba Liberal Party is a political party in Manitoba, Canada. Its roots can be traced to the late nineteenth-century, following the province's creation in 1870.-Origins and early development :...
— rather to the chagrin of some Winnipeg Liberals, who were suspicious of Greenway's rural base. Some extra-parliamentary "Provincial Rights" groups emerged in the same period. These faded away after a few public protests, but Greenway's control over the provincial Liberal organization soon became unchallengeable.
The Liberals believed they had a chance to win the provincial election of 1886, and in fact received about as many votes as Norquay's Conservatives. A personal visit from John A. Macdonald boosted Conservative strength, however, and Norquay's government won roughly 21 seats compared to 14 for the opposition. Greenway himself faced a surprisingly strong challenge in Mountain, defeating Conservative candidate R. Rogers by 385 votes to 370.
Norquay was unable to maintain his alliance with John A. Macdonald, and resigned after losing the support of his ministers in December 1887. When his successor D.H. Harrison proved unable to command a parliamentary majority, Greenway was asked by the Lieutenant Governor
Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba
The Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba is the viceregal representative in Manitoba of the Canadian monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, who operates distinctly within the province but is also shared equally with the ten other jurisdictions of Canada and resides predominantly in her oldest realm, the United...
to form a new administration in January 1888. Through by-election wins and defections, he was able to sustain a stable administration before calling new elections in mid-year.
Greenway's Liberal administration was tolerated by John A. Macdonald, who once claimed in private correspondence that he preferred Greenway to Norquay. The Premier's commitment to "liberalism" in the Canadian context was no stronger than his commitment to "conservatism" ten years earlier. As an administrator, he remained an independent figure unbothered by questions of ideology. Perhaps the only thing that Greenway unambiguously stood for in 1888 was provincial railway rights: when he assumed power, he promised to be more successful in securing these rights than the Norquay administration had been.
Greenway was extremely fortunate, in this sense, that his term began just as the Canadian Pacific Railway
Canadian Pacific Railway
The Canadian Pacific Railway , formerly also known as CP Rail between 1968 and 1996, is a historic Canadian Class I railway founded in 1881 and now operated by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, which began operations as legal owner in a corporate restructuring in 2001...
voluntarily ended its provincial monopoly over rail travel, subject to hefty compensation from the federal government. He rode a wave of popular support to a landslide
Landslide victory
In politics, a landslide victory is the victory of a candidate or political party by an overwhelming margin in an election...
election victory in the 1888 campaign
Manitoba general election, 1888
This was the seventh Manitoba general election and was held on July 11, 1888....
, taking 33 seats against 5 for the Conservatives. No Conservative even challenged Greenway in Mountain.
Greenway, however, was unable to resolve the railway issue. His administration mishandled negotiations for a new connection to the United States, and the CPR's continued to dominate the region. Transportation rates remained high, and provincial development suffered accordingly. One of Greenway's legislative supporters, Rodmond Palen Roblin, bolted to the Conservative opposition in disgust.
After failing in railway reform, Greenway turned his attention to education. His controversial reforms of Manitoba's school system
Manitoba Schools Question
The Manitoba Schools Question was a political crisis in the Canadian Province of Manitoba that occurred late in the 19th century, involving publicly funded separate schools for Roman Catholics and Protestants...
provoked a national crisis in the 1890s, and are still regarded as his administration's most notable accomplishment.
When Manitoba was created in 1870, the provincial government established a dual school system to reflect the province's demographic balance. The Manitoba Act of 1870 and School Act of 1871 provided for separate and equally funded Catholic and Protestant school boards. These boards were divided by language as well as religion: the province's original Catholic population was predominantly francophone, while its Protestant population was almost exclusively anglophone.
The demographics of Manitoba changed considerably between 1870 and 1888. Protestants came to outnumber Catholics by a significant margin, and the dual system was regarded by many new settlers as an anachronism. Many anglophones, both Conservative and Liberal, resented the continued state funding for French-language education. Greenway sought to appeal to these voters in 1890 by abolishing the dual system, and setting up a single Department of Education. Also in 1890, Greenway's Liberals enacted legislation to unilaterally abolish the province's obligation to ensure all its law were bilinqual, doing away with French-language legislation. This was declared illegal by two lower court decisions, with the Province ignored. In 1984, the federal Government referred the question to the Supreme Court of Canada, which held Greenway's actions had been unconstitutional. The Court forced Manitoba to translate all its legislation into French, a job that took seven years to complete.
Under Greenways's anti-French and anti-Catholic education legislation of 1890, while Catholic schools were allowed, but they were denied state funding; parents who sent their children to Catholic schools were required to contribute to their secular board as well. These reforms were popular with Protestants, particularly among the evangelical faiths. Greenway's government was re-elected in the 1892 election
Manitoba general election, 1892
This was the eighth Manitoba general election and was held on July 23, 1892....
, winning 28 seats to approximately 12 for the opposition. Greenway personally defeated Rogers for a second time in Mountain.
This election did not bring an end to the education issue. Greenway's legislation brought about a complex series of legal cases, as well as threats of disallowance
Disallowance and reservation
Disallowance and reservation are constitutional powers that theoretically exist in certain Commonwealth realms to delay or overrule legislation. Originally created to retain the Crown's authority over colonial authorities across the British Empire, these powers are now generally obsolete, or have...
from various levels of government. The resulting controversy (known as the Manitoba Schools Question
Manitoba Schools Question
The Manitoba Schools Question was a political crisis in the Canadian Province of Manitoba that occurred late in the 19th century, involving publicly funded separate schools for Roman Catholics and Protestants...
) dominated Canadian politics in the mid-1890s, and divided both the Conservatives and Liberals on the national level.
In 1895, after the Privy Council refused to decide the matter, Conservative Prime Minister Mackenzie Bowell
Mackenzie Bowell
Sir Mackenzie Bowell, PC, KCMG was a Canadian politician who served as the fifth Prime Minister of Canada from December 21, 1894 to April 27, 1896.-Early life:Bowell was born in Rickinghall, Suffolk, England to John Bowell and Elizabeth Marshall...
passed remedial legislation defending Catholic rights. Greenway responded by calling another election, and again presented himself as the champion of provincial rights against federal intrusion. The result, on 15 January 1896, was another Liberal landslide victory
Landslide victory
In politics, a landslide victory is the victory of a candidate or political party by an overwhelming margin in an election...
— Greenway's Liberals won 31 seats, compared with 6 for the still-leaderless Conservatives (the Patrons of Industry
Patrons of Industry
The Grand Association of the Patrons of Industry in Ontario was a Canadian farmers' organization formed in 1890 that cooperated with the urban labour movement to address the political frustrations of both groups with big business....
, an upstart third party, were sidelined by the education controversy and won only 2 seats). These results were a significant blow to the federal Conservatives, who soon withdrew their remedial legislation. Bowell stood aside as national Conservative leader, leaving a weakened and badly-divided party in his wake.
Shortly thereafter, the federal Liberals under Wilfrid Laurier
Wilfrid Laurier
Sir Wilfrid Laurier, GCMG, PC, KC, baptized Henri-Charles-Wilfrid Laurier was the seventh Prime Minister of Canada from 11 July 1896 to 6 October 1911....
won a national election, and resolved the Schools Questions with a mild compromise (providing minimal state support for Catholic and French education on a case-by-case basis). Greenway's efforts to introduce secular education into the province were successful, and the Laurier government's bid for further concessions in later years came to nothing.
The resolution of the education issue did not benefit Greenway's chances for re-election, however. No longer able to benefit from protest votes, the Liberals were defeated by the Conservatives under Hugh John MacDonald
Hugh John Macdonald
Sir Hugh John Macdonald, PC was the only surviving son of the first Prime Minister of Canada, Sir John A. Macdonald, and was a politician in his own right, serving as a member of the Canadian House of Commons and a federal cabinet minister, and briefly as the eighth Premier of Manitoba.-Early...
(son of the former Prime Minister) in late 1899. Many voters were apprehensive about recent East European immigration into the province, and were offended by even the minor concessions which Greenway had made on the education question; the Conservative Party was able to tap into this xenophobia, and won 22 seats out of 40. Greenway reluctantly returned to the leadership of the opposition, and sought a patronage appointment to cap off his career. An attempt for an early Senate promotion came to nothing, and he continued to lead the Liberals in a desultory fashion through the election of 1903 (wherein his party won only 9 of 40 seats).
Greenway returned to federal politics in 1904, winning election for the Manitoba riding of Lisgar
Lisgar (electoral district)
Lisgarwas a federal electoral district in Manitoba, Canada, that was represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1871 to 1988. This riding was created following the admission of Manitoba into the Canadian Confederation in 1870....
. Although his loyalty to the Liberal Party was now unquestioned, he accomplished very little in Ottawa and continued to spend most of his time seeking out a comfortable sinecure. In 1908, he finally received an appointment to the expanded Board of Railway Commissioners. However, he suffered a fatal heart attack on the day that he was scheduled to be sworn in.
Greenway remained a controversial figure for much of the twentieth century. Some regarded his education reforms as discriminatory toward minority groups; others (including some in the social gospel and secular left) saw him as a champion of the public school system in western Canada. Since the rise of official bilingualism in the 1960s, Greenway's reputation has fallen somewhat.
Notwithstanding this, Greenway was certainly responsible for bringing a mature party system into Manitoba politics. Following his departure from the provincial scene, no one doubted that partisan politics had become an established part of Manitoba's cultural landscape.