A Very Canadian Coup - The Rise and Demise of Prime Minister Mackenzie Bowell, 1894-1896

A fresh take on the Manitoba schools question and the Conservative Coup that toppled Canada-s fifth prime minister.

When Mackenzie Bowell became Canada-s fifth prime minister in December 1894, everyone - including Bowell - expected the job would involve nothing more than keeping the wheels on the Conservative wagon until a spring election.

Plans for a quiet caretakership were dashed in January 1895 when the courts ruled that the Manitoba government had violated Roman Catholics- constitutional rights by abolishing the provincial separate school system. Catholics in Quebec demanded that Bowell force Manitoba to restore the schools, while Ontario Protestants warned him to keep his hands off.

Backed into a corner, Bowell tried three times to negotiate a compromise with the Manitoba government over the course of 1895, but to no avail. By January 1896, seven of Bowell-s cabinet ministers had had enough. Convinced that Bowell had tarnished the Co