The Baldwin-LaFontaine alliance

A statue of the two men is located on Parliament Hill in Ottawa

Canadian Encyclopedia editor James H. Marsh calls it "the friendship that brought responsible government," Without doubt, the political cooperation between the two statesmen Robert Baldwin and Louis LaFontaine was critical for the development of Canadian democracy.

In 1848 when the reformers came to power, the partnership between these two politicians prepared the ground for an inclusive democracy that would serve both English and French Canadians. When the new parliament assembled in Montreal, it was Baldwin who nominated the fluently bilingual A.N. Morin as speaker of the House, insisting that bilingualism was central to this role. LaFontaine seconded the motion, the House cheered, and history was made (James H. Marsh).

Another remarkable moment of cooperation had come years earlier, when French Canadians failed to elect LaFontaine out of suspicion that his cooperation with English reformers was a sellout. Subsequently, Baldwin introduced him as a candidate in the English riding of York, and he was elected, proving to both sides that the cooperation between the French and English reformers was real. Democracy was the goal.

The collaboration between these two early Canadian statesmen is now commemorated annually by the Institute for Canadian Citizenship.

The first LaFontaine-Baldwin lecture was given in 2000 by the self-described  "public intellectual" John Ralston Saul, who has also written a book about the two men's political accomplishments. A sampling of other lecturers includes native leader Georges Erasmus (2002), The Honorable Louise Arbour (2005), Inuit climate change spokeswoman Sheila Watt-Cloutier (2009) and the Aga Khan (2010).