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One of the greatest privileges I had as prime minister was retracing Sir Wilfrid Laurier’s footsteps in travelling to London to honour a Queen on her Diamond Jubilee. While times had changed in world and Canadian politics, I still felt and heard the echoes of Sir Wilfrid’s Diamond Jubilee visit of so long before while I was in London in 2012.

It was there, at Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee in 1897, that our Canada took her first steps, under Laurier’s gifted leadership, onto the world stage. Canada has remained on Laurier’s confident path ever since.

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Sir Wilfrid Laurier took office in 1896, not long after the death of Canada’s Father of Confederation, Sir John A. Macdonald. The Laurier Years (1896-1911) were ones of great promise and growth for Canada. My own province, Alberta, along with Saskatchewan, joined Confederation on his watch; the entire West was settled by thousands from beyond our shores, and Canada’s stature, both continentally and internationally, heightened substantially.