In 1896 Wilfrid Laurier was voted prime minister and came up with a solution to the Manitoba Schools Question. A compromise was established whereby different types of religious instruction would be allowed within the single system, and French instruction would be available where there was significant demand. Tensions between English and the French rose again during the Boer War when the Britain went to war in South Africa. Most French sided with the Afrikaners, while the majority of English Canada supported the British. Under intense public pressure, Laurier sent a taken 1,000 troops to prevent anger on either side. The Canadian government later outfitted and sent more volunteers to fight, but did not send any official troops. Technology was booming at the turn of the century. In 1901, Guglielmo Marconi received the first transatlantic radio signal in St. John's, Newfoundland. Cities were also rapidly becoming industrialized - children offered a cheap labour source, and employers fought against unions seeking higher wages and better working conditions. The government did not have any problems attracting immigrants to the cities, but vast parcels of land remained vacant in the West. To encourage settlement, the government began a massive advertising campaign offering free land to anyone who would clear and work it. The huge influx of settlers that flooded the region because of the campaign led to the creation of two new provinces, Alberta and Saskatchewan, in 1905.

Boundary Changes

• 1897 Several district boundaries are slightly changed
• 1898 Yukon District becomes a separate territory
• 1903 Canada loses the Alaska Boundary Dispute
• 1905 District of Keewatin restored to the renamed "Northwest Territories," and Alberta and Saskatchewan become the eighth and ninth provinces