McGreevy, was expelled from parliament, and Sir Hector Langevin resigned his portfolio as minister of public works. The conservative party, which warmly resented these damaging exposures, grew thoroughly demoralised, and Tarte went over to Laurier and the liberal opposition. Unseated on petition in 1892, he remained out of parliament until 5 Jan. 1893, when he was returned for L'Islet at a bye-election. In the critical Manitoba education question, on which Sir Charles Tupper committed the conservatives to a policy of coercing the Manitoba legislature into granting special privileges to Roman catholic schools, Laurier was said to be wavering until Tarte persuaded him to declare for conciliation between the rival interests in Manitoba rather than for coercion in favour of the catholics. Tarte's organising ability proved to the liberal party a most valuable asset, especially in Quebec; the party came into power in 1896 and remained in office till 1911. Tarte was rewarded with the office of minister of public works in the Laurier administration (13 July 1896). Although he was defeated in the general election in Beauharnois, he was soon returned for St. John and Iberville. His administration of his department was most effective. Through his efforts the port of Montreal was equipped, and the St. Lawrence widened and deepened for twenty-five miles between Quebec and Montreal.
Unlike his liberal colleagues, Tarte was a strong protectionist. While he was the first leading French-Canadian openly to espouse the imperial federation cause, his policy of 'Canada for the Canadians' was hardly imperialistic, and he is said to have opposed the sending of Canadian contingents to take part in the South African war. In 1902 his public advocacy of higher tariffs for Canada compelled his retirement from the government. Thereupon he at once assumed the editorship of 'La Patrie.' He died in Montreal on 18 Dec. 1907, and was buried in the Côte des Neiges cemetery.
Tarte was twice married: (1) to Georgiana Sylvestre, by whom he had three sons and three daughters, who survive; and (2) to Emma Laurencelle, by whom he had one daughter.
[The Times, 19 and 23 Dec. 1907; Morgan, Canadian Men of the Time.]
TASCHEREAU, Sir HENRI ELZEAR (1836–1911), chief justice of Canada, born at St. Mary's in Beauce county, province of Quebec, on 7 Oct. 1836, was eldest son of Pierre Elzear Taschereau, a member of the Canadian Legislative Assembly, and Catherine Hénédine, daughter of the Hon. Amable Dionne, a member of the legislative council. The Taschereau family came from Touraine to Canada in the seventeenth century, and Taschereau was a co-proprietor of the Quebec seigniory of Ste. Marie de la Beauce, which had been ceded to his great-grandfather in 1746. The Taschereaus had been for two generations distinguished in the judicial and ecclesiastical life of Canada. Cardinal Elzear Alexander Taschereau [q.v.] was Sir Henri's uncle.
Henri Elzéar was educated at the Quebec Seminary, was called to the Quebec bar in 1857, and practised in the city of Quebec. He became a Q.C. in 1867, and in 1868 was appointed clerk of the peace for the district of Quebec, but soon resigned. From 1861 to 1867 he represented Beauce county as a conservative in the Canadian Legislative Assembly, and supported Sir John Alexander Macdonald [q. v.] and Sir George Cartier [q. v.] on the question of federation. On 12 Jan. 1871 he became a puisne judge of the superior court of the province of Quebec, on 7 Oct. 1878 a judge of the supreme court of Canada, and in 1902 chief justice of Canada in succession to Sir Samuel Henry Strong [q.v. Suppl. II]. Knighted in 1902, he became in 1904 a member of the judicial committee of the privy council. In 1906 he resigned the chief justiceship, and was succeeded by Sir Charles Fitzpatrick. Twice in that capacity he administered the government as deputy to the governor-general.
Taschereau was a LL.D. both of Ottawa and of Laval universities. When a law faculty was established at Ottawa University he was appointed to a chair, and in 1895 became dean of the faculty in succession to Sir John Sparrow Thompson [q. v.].
Taschereau's extensive knowledge of Roman and French civil law, as well as of the English statute and common law, enabled him to render important service to Canadian jurisprudence. As a legal writer he made a reputation by publishing the 'Criminal Law Consolidation and Amendment Acts of 1869 for the Dominion of Canada with Notes, Commentaries, etc.' (vol. i. Montreal, 1874; vol. ii. Toronto, 1875, with later editions), and 'Le Code de Procedure Civile du Bas-Canada' (Quebec, 1876). He further published in 1896 a 'Notice Généalogique sur la Famille
