Clifford Sifton
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Sir Clifford Sifton (March 10, 1861 – April 17, 1929) was a Canadian politician best known for being Minister of the Interior under Sir Wilfrid Laurier. He was responsible for encouraging the massive immigration to Canada which occurred in the first decade of the 20th Century.
Born in Middlesex County, Upper Canada (now Ontario), Sifton moved with his family to Manitoba as a boy. He trained as a lawyer, and was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba in 1888. Sifton served in the cabinet of Thomas Greenway from 1891 to 1896 as Attorney General and Provincial Lands Commissioner. He played a role in negotiating the Laurier-Greenway Compromise, which temporarily resolved the Manitoba Schools Question.
In 1896, Sifton was elected a Member of Parliament and served as Minister of the Interior under Laurier. As Minister of the Interior he started a vigorous immigration policy to get people to settle and populate the West. Sifton established colonial offices in Europe and the United States. While many of the immigrants came from Britain and the United States, Canada also had a large influx of Ukrainians, Doukhobors, and other groups from the Austrian Empire. Between 1891 and 1914, more than three million people came to Canada, largely from continental Europe, following the path of the newly constructed continental railway. In the same period, mining operations were begun in the Klondike and the Canadian Shield.
In the federal election of 1900, Sifton retained his seat against a strong challenge from former Manitoba Premier Hugh John Macdonald.
After presiding over the creation of Alberta and Saskatchewan in 1905, Sifton resigned from cabinet following a dispute with Laurier over religious education.
Sifton retired from politics in 1911 and died in 1929.
External links
- Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online (http://www.biographi.ca/EN/ShowBio.asp?BioId=41997)pl:Clifford Sifton