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The first French Canadian prime minister, his year tenure remains the longest unbroken term of office among Canadian prime ministers and his nearly 45 years of service in the House of Commons is a record for the House. Laurier is best known for his compromises between English and French Canada. Laurier studied law at McGill University and practised as a lawyer before being elected to the Legislative Assembly of Quebec in He was then elected as a member of Parliament MP in the federal election.

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He also came to be known as a great orator. After serving as minister of inland revenue under Prime Minister Alexander Mackenzie from to , Laurier became leader of the Liberal Party in , thus becoming leader of the Official Opposition. He lost the federal election to Prime Minister John A. Macdonald 's Conservatives. However, controversy surrounding the Conservative government's handling of the Manitoba Schools Question, which was triggered by the Manitoba government's elimination of funding for Catholic schools, gave Laurier a victory in the federal election.

He paved the Liberal Party to three more election victories afterwards. As prime minister, Laurier solved the Manitoba Schools Question by allowing Catholic students to have a Catholic education on a school-by-school basis.

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Despite his controversial handling of the dispute and criticism from some French Canadians who believed that the resolution was insufficient, he was nicknamed "the Great Conciliator" for offering a compromise between French and English Canada. Laurier's government sought a middle ground between the two groups, deciding to send a volunteer force to fight in the Boer War and passing the Naval Service Act to create Canada's own navy.

In addition, his government dramatically increased immigration , oversaw Alberta and Saskatchewan 's entry into Confederation , constructed the Grand Trunk Pacific and National Transcontinental Railways, and put effort into establishing Canada as an autonomous country within the British Empire. Laurier's proposed reciprocity agreement with the United States to lower tariffs became a main issue in the federal election, in which the Liberals were defeated by the Conservatives led by Robert Borden , who claimed that the treaty would lead to the US influencing Canadian identity.

Despite his defeat, Laurier stayed on as Liberal leader and once again became leader of the Opposition. The anti-conscription faction of the Liberal Party, led by Laurier, became the Laurier Liberals, though the group would be heavily defeated by Borden's Unionists in the federal election.