LaFontaine, Sir Louis Hippolyte
LaFontaine, Sir Louis Hippolyte
(ləwē` ēpôlēt` läfôNtĕn`), 1807–64, Canadian political leader, b. Lower Canada (now Quebec). A lawyer, he entered (1830) the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada and supported Louis Joseph Papineau in his opposition to the British administration but did not approve of the rebellion of 1837. After the rebellion, with Papineau in exile, LaFontaine became the accepted leader of the French Canadians and of the Reform party in Lower Canada. Sir Charles Bagot, as governor-general, recognized the powerful coalition formed by the French Canadians and the moderate reformers of Upper Canada led by Robert BaldwinBaldwin, Robert,1804–58, Canadian statesman, leader of the movement for representative government in Canada, b. York (now Toronto), Ont. His father, William Warren Baldwin (1775–1844), was a leader of the Reform party and a supporter of the principle of responsible
..... Click the link for more information. and called into existence in 1842 the first Baldwin-LaFontaine ministry. When Bagot died, the ministry soon found itself in opposition to Sir Charles MetcalfeMetcalfe, Charles Theophilus Metcalfe, 1st Baron,
1785–1846, British colonial administrator, b. India. He entered the Indian civil service as a young man, rose quickly, and was provisional governor-general in 1835.
..... Click the link for more information. , his successor, on the issue of responsible government and resigned in 1843. With the triumph of the Reform party in 1847, the new governor-general, the 8th earl of ElginElgin, James Bruce, 8th earl of
, 1811–63, British statesman, son of the 7th earl. He served as governor of Jamaica (1842–46) and in 1847 was appointed governor-general of Canada.
..... Click the link for more information. , called into existence the second Baldwin-LaFontaine administration, notable for its reforms and its achievement of genuine responsible government. The test of the latter was the Rebellion Losses Bill (1849), brought in by LaFontaine, to compensate persons in Lower Canada who had suffered property loss during the rebellion of 1837. It was denounced as a "rebel measure" but was upheld by Lord Elgin at the cost of personal violence to himself. LaFontaine resigned in 1851; from 1853 until his death he served with distinction as chief justice of Lower Canada. He was made a baronet in 1854.