What do you mean by conservative vs. liberal economic policy? There was always differences between them, but they were not what we would today consider Liberal or Conservative.

Even applying the idea of contemporary political spectrums to the past does not work well. The Left/Right dichotomy has undergone several transformations (across the Western world, let alone in Canada) over our 150 year history, and we can't just say "Laurier believed in Free Trade and so did Mulroney, so they are similar" or something like that.

If you're asking more distinctly about left/right politics - that has been embedded in Canadian political cultural since before Confederation. The Liberals had to overcome their "radical" roots in the 1870s-1890s to change their perception Quebec before Laurier could gain enough votes/riding to win the election in 1896.