The City of Ottawa constituency serves as a riding of convenience for Wilfrid Laurier, Prime Minister of Canada. He is elected there in 1908, but simultaneously re-elected in Quebec East during the same election. He chooses Quebec East, which had brought him to power since 1877, and which he would represent until his death on February 17, 1919. He is less successful on his second attempt in December 1917. The constituents of the City of Ottawa obviously remember his reluctance to openly sides with bilingual schools.