- Joseph Israël Tarte
Joseph-Israël Tarte (
January 11 1848 –December 18 1907 ) was a Canadian politician and journalist.Tarte came to prominence as editor of several newspapers, "Le Canadien", "L'Événement", "La Patrie" and the "Quebec Daily Mercury". He was initially a follower of Sir
George-Étienne Cartier before hardening into a conservative ultramontanist supporter of Church intervention into politics but later became a Liberal and a critic of the Church.In 1876, Tarte was in charge of the campaign to elect
Hector Langevin to parliament and supported, in his published articles, the clergy's intervention in theby-election . Langevin was Cartier's successor asQuebec lieutenant to SirJohn A. Macdonald and de facto leader of the federal Conservative Party in French Canada. ASupreme Court of Canada decision declared that sermons by the clergy during the by-election campaign had played an intimidating role termed "influence indue spiritual" or "undue spiritual influence" - thus the court overturned the vote and called a new by-election which Langevin won by a reduced margin.Tarte himself sat as a member of the Quebec legislative assembly from 1877 to 1881 in the riding of Bonaventure and made moderate Conservative
Joseph-Adolphe Chapleau , Langevin's rival, a frequent target of both speeches and editorials. He was also charged with organizing the federal Conservative Party's campaign in theQuebec City region for the 1878 federal electionHe reconciled with Chapleau but was left out of his Cabinet along with the rest of the ultramontanist faction when he became
Premier of Quebec . Tarte chose not to run for re-election in 1881, partly due to being disconcerted by the Vatican's warnings against clerical influence in politics. By 1882 he had abandoned ultramontanism and returned to his earlier "Liberal-Conservative " position of moderation from which he criticised those who continued to hold an ultramontanist position. Tarte became increasingly disillusioned in the Conservative Party due to the Conservative government's hostility or indifference to French Canada in issues such as theManitoba Schools Question and the trial and execution ofLouis Riel - while Tarte had supported crushing theSecond Riel Rebellion he was troubled by the government's decision to allow Riel to hang. After briefly joining theParti national , he joined theLiberal Party of Canada . He played the leading role in exposing the McGreevy-Langevin scandal that resulted in McGreevy's expulsion from the House of Commons for corruption and forcing the resignation from Cabinet of Langevin, his former mentor.Wilfrid Laurier invited Tarte to enter federal politics and he was elected to theCanadian House of Commons in the 1891 federal election.In parliament, Tarte accused the Conservatives of bad faith in the Manitoba Schools Question and reneging on a promise to Manitoba's Archbishop Taché to intervene. When the Liberals took power following the 1896 federal election, Laurier appointed Tarte to Cabinet as Minister of Public Works. As such, Tarte dispensed patronage, helped solidify ties with the business community in Montreal and developed the
Port of Montreal .Later in his political career, Tarte opposed Canadian involvement in the Boer War and called for greater Canadian independence from Britain. Paradoxically, he later opposed Liberal policy on reciprocity campaigning instead for greater economic unity of the
British Empire and higher tariffs. This resulted in Laurier dismissing Tarte for breaking Cabinet solidarity. Tarte'sprotectionism brought him back into the orbit of the Conservative Party, now led byRobert Borden and Tarte briefly became the Conservative Party's Quebec organizer for two by-elections but chose not to run for re-election himself in the 1904 federal election choosing to return to journalism. His flirtation with the Conservatives ended and Tarte supported Laurier editorially. Physically, he grew increasingly weaker until his death in 1907External links
* [http://www.umanitoba.ca/colleges/st_pauls/ccha/Back%20Issues/CCHA1958/LaPierre.pdf Joseph Israel Tarte: Relations between the French Canadian Episcopacy and a French Canadian Politician (1874-1896)] " by Laurier Lapierre M.A.
* [http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0007873 Joseph-Israel Tarte, Canadian Encyclopedia]
* [http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=7097 Biography at "the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online"]
*s-ttl|title=
Member of Parliament from Montmorency
years=1890–1891s-ttl|title=Member of Parliament from L'Islet
years=1893–1896s-ttl|title=Member of Parliament fromSt. Johns—Iberville
years=1896–1900s-ttl|title=Member of Parliament from St. Mary
years=1900–1904
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