The political career of Thomas Greenway
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Date
1974
Authors
Hilts, Joseph Alfred.
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Abstract
Thomas Greenway has been considered a peripheral figure in dissertations, theses, articles, and books dealing with aspects of Manitoba's history which bear on national issues. Consequently, the tendency has been to rely on J. W. Dafoe's Clifford Sifton in Relation to His Times for an assessment of Greenway's position as Premier of Manitoba. Further studies, relying to a large extent on the Sifton Papers, have considered Greenway as a vacillating, weak-willed individual who was dominated first by Joseph Martin and then by Clifford Sifton. This study of Thomas Greenway's political career will determine if this assessment has been accurate. Since little has been done on Greenway's Ontario apprenticeship, consideration of that period may indicate his political principles as well as to explain his conversion from the Liberal-Conservative to the Liberal party. His subsequent move to Manitoba and the primary motive for it will be examined along with his activities in Manitoba provincial politics. The main emphasis of this political biography will involve a study of the period from January, 1888, to January, 1900, when Greenway was Premier of Manitoba. The major issues to be considered will be federal disallowance policy, the Canadian Pacific monopoly, entry of the Northern Pacific into Manitoba, and the Manitoba School Question. Greenway's role in disallowance and the Canadian Pacific Railway monopoly will be studied in some detail to determine whether he deserves credit for these achievements or would they have resulted had John Norquay and. D. H. Harrison continued in power in Manitoba. The entry into Manitoba of the Northern Pacific has raised at least two related questions which this study will attempt to answer. Were Greenway and Martin bribed to permit the American road access to the province and was there competition in freight rates between the Northern Pacific and the Canadian Pacific Railways? The answers to these questions will have a direct bearing on the origins of the Manitoba School Question...