Fielding, William Stevens

▪ Canadian journalist and statesman

born Nov. 24, 1848, Halifax, Nova Scotia [Canada]

died June 23, 1929, Ottawa

 journalist and statesman whose 19-year tenure as dominion finance minister was the longest in Canadian history.

      In 1864 Fielding joined the staff of the Halifax Morning Chronicle, the leading Liberal newspaper in Nova Scotia, where for 20 years he worked in various departments. From 1884 to 1896 Fielding was premier of Nova Scotia. An opponent of confederation (Nova Scotia had become a province of Canada in 1867), he represented the forces of discontent in the Maritime provinces and in 1886 won a provincial election on the promise to advocate repeal of the British North America Act.

      Entering the Cabinet of Sir Wilfrid Laurier in 1896, Fielding stood for economy, balanced budgets, federal subsidies to industry, and bilateral trade agreements. He introduced a new tariff granting preference to British manufactures and negotiated commercial treaties. The most famous of these, the Canadian-U.S. agreement of 1911, provided for reciprocal free trade in natural products. Its rejection by the Canadian electorate brought down the Laurier administration.

      During World War I, Fielding broke with Laurier over the conscription issue and supported the Union government. At the national Liberal convention in 1919 Fielding was narrowly defeated for the party leadership by W.L. Mackenzie King, in whose government he served as finance minister from 1921 to 1925.

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