Blue Thunder: The Truth About Conservatives from Macdonald to Harper. Bob Plamondon

little too late. Parliament was dissolved, Bowell resigned and Tupper reluctantly became prime minister of Canada on May 1.Tupper, along with Kim Campbell (1993) and John Turner (1984), are the only prime ministers ever to hold the position without Parliament being in session.

      The election, which finally came on June 23, 1896, was fought over one issue: the Manitoba Schools question, which divided the Tories and hurt them in French Québec. Liberal leader Sir Wilfrid Laurier, whose approach to national politics closely emulated Macdonald’s, conveniently suspended his views on free trade and adopted Tory “national policies” of protection for Canadian industry. Laurier proposed dealing with the Manitoba schools crisis with reasonable accommodation and compromise; the so-called “sunny way.” What this ultimately meant was striking a deal with Premier Greenway that allowed some religious instruction within the public schools but did not restore separate schools.

      The Liberals won 117 seats, the Tories 86, in the 213seat legislature. A strong Conservative showing in the Maritimes was more than offset by a drubbing in Québec, where the Liberal native son won 49 of 65 seats. It mattered little to Quebecers that Tupper led the charge for remedial legislation to protect minority language rights, saying bravely in Toronto, “We must do right even if it means the downfall of the Conservative party.” Tupper actually won the popular vote, but Lord Aberdeen refused to confirm his ministerial appointments because of the seat totals and the Conservatives were out.

      During Tupper’s term as leader of the Opposition a key issue was Canada’s support for Britain’s war in South Africa: “I pressed [Prime Minister Laurier] in the strongest manner, and pledged him the support of my party to the policy of sending a Canadian contingent, and was fortunately able to induce him to change his attitude in regard to that important question.”

      Tupper did not fare much better in his last election than he had in his first. In 1900, the Liberals gained several seats despite Tory gains in Ontario. Tupper explained the losing strategy that meant the end of his leadership. “In Ontario, where Sir Wilfrid at the opening of the poll in 1900 had a major ity of twelve, I reversed that, and at the close had a majority of eighteen seats, but it was not enough to counteract the Liberal landslide in the Province of Québec. In that election, I sustained my first personal defeat, as I devoted practically nearly all my time to the campaign in Ontario.”

      Tupper moved to Bexleyheath in England to live with his daughter Emma, and remained there for the rest of his days, though he returned to Canada numerous times to visit his sons. He was appointed to the British Privy Council in 1907, where he was an advocate of closer economic ties between the two nations. He died on October 30, 1915, at the age of ninety-four. He was eulogized the following day in the Toronto Globe: “It goes without saying that he was endowed with a more than ordinary equipment of physical vigour, corresponding to his intense intellectuality and his exceptional willpower. He was always a strenuous antagonist in a political contest, giving no quarter and expecting none . . . there will endure in the general memory only the inherent greatness of the man and the undoubted value of the services he rendered to his country during a long, strenuous, and story career.”

      Tupper’s successor, Sir Robert Borden, remarked: “In Sir Charles Tupper passed away the greatest living Canadian . . . Premier of his native Province, Minister of Finance, Minister of Railways and Canals, High Commissioner of Canada in London, Prime Minister of Canada, no Canadian has had a more distinguished public career.”