Why was laurier defeated in 1911

In a federal election, the Conservatives under Robert Borden's leadership returned to power, winning seats to the Liberals' Laurier's Liberals had been in power since The election was a defeat for the Liberals' policy of free trade.

The first train arrived at Prince Rupert on April 9. As dominions of the British Empire, Canada and Newfoundland are also at war. Sir Robert Borden announced his decision in Parliament to implement Conscription. The imposition of conscription on reluctant French Canadians was a failure and bitterly divided the country along French-English lines.

The Military Service Act was passed, making most male British subjects up to 45 years of age liable for active military service Conscription. A total of , Canadians served in the Canadian armed forces, including , who went overseas; 60, were killed.

Search The Canadian Encyclopedia. Remember me. I forgot my password. Why sign up? Create Account. Submit an Edit. Laurier was the most prominent Liberal from his province. He became the recognized leader of the Quebec wing of the party.

In , Edward Blake was disappointed by the recent electoral defeat. He chose Laurier to succeed him as leader of the Liberal Party , despite the opposition of various eminent Liberals. They believed Laurier was too easygoing and too physically weak to be an effective leader. Laurier suffered from chronic bronchitis for much of his life. They also feared that Ontarians would associate him with Riel, and that Catholic clergy in Quebec still viewed him as a radical.

From on, Laurier devoted himself to building a truly national party and to gradually regaining power. His efforts were divided into two distinct phases. In the first and less successful, —91, he pursued the policy of unrestricted reciprocity with the United States.

Announced in , the program was rejected in the general election. Laurier was perceived as a continentalist and as anti-British. He was rejected by the Canadian electorate; but for the first time since , Liberals won a majority of the seats in Quebec.

The second more fruitful phase took place between and This was the period when Laurier, more sure of himself, built a strong national Liberal Party. At the time, the Conservatives were mired in difficulties after the death of Sir John A. In , Laurier organized an impressive political convention in Ottawa; there, the party approved a new program and the basis for a truly national structure.

In the election , the education rights of the Catholic minority in Manitoba became an important issue. In , Manitoba Liberals had established a uniform school system in place of the separate school system enjoyed to that point. This prompted protest from the Catholic minority. See Manitoba Schools Question. Laurier avoided taking a definite stand; but French Canadians believed he would be more supportive of minority rights than the Conservatives.

Contrary to the expectations of many French Canadians, Laurier did not champion the minority rights of Catholics in Manitoba. In , he signed the Laurier-Greenway agreement. This group would never again have the separate schools it enjoyed prior to ; although it would be possible to obtain religious instruction during the last half-hour of the school day and instruction in a language other than English. This approach kept him in power for many years. But it never completely redressed the wrongs committed against the Catholic minority.

Laurier adopted a similar approach to relations with Britain. Shortly after becoming prime minister, he began to reorganize the immigration system with Clifford Sifton. With William Fielding , he finalized the details of a tariff policy based on imperial preference.

In , Laurier went to London, England, to participate in his first colonial conference. He also received a knighthood. See also Commonwealth. This conciliatory stance was criticized by French Canadians who were fiercely opposed to any participation. However, Laurier and his Liberals easily won the election. They were well supported by Quebec; it gave the Liberals 57 of its 65 seats. After this victory at the polls, Laurier led his country forcefully. That same year, Laurier also commanded attention outside the country.

At the colonial conference in London, he again opposed all proposals to unify the Empire. In , shortly after the failure of the Alaska Boundary discussions with the US, Laurier revealed the most important policy of his second term; the construction of a second transcontinental railway.

The federal government would undertake the construction of a line called the National Transcontinental from Moncton and Quebec City to Winnipeg. By agreeing to multiple railways, much of it at public expense, Laurier mortgaged the future with a heavy financial burden.

At the peak of his prestige, he allowed nothing to check his ambitions. Canadians re-elected him with a comfortable majority on 3 November In , Laurier succeeded in adding two new provinces to the Dominion of Canada : Alberta and Saskatchewan. The first was the issue over a Canadian Navy. At the time the British Empire and Germany were building up their navies and Laurier attempted to find a compromise for Canada by starting up the Canadian Navy.

This decision was disliked by both French and English Canada, with French-Canadians refusing to give aid, and English-Canadians wanting the aid to go directly to Britain. The Liberals faced criticism in British Columbia and the Maritimes who felt that the party was abandoning ties to Great Britain through its foreign policies and its decision to create a Canadian Navy.

Laurier felt that the navy issue was splitting Canada in a way not seen since and the Manitoba Schools Question and to deal with this, he attempted to open up treaty talks with the United States that he believed would economically favour Canada, while at the same time would divide the Conservative Party as its western wing had wanted free trade while its eastern wing did not.

Unfortunately, the agreement had to be ratified by both the US Congress and Senate, rather than just the Senate, which would stall the hopes of Laurier later in the year. On Jan. The hope was that this would limit the blow back from the powerful manufacturing firms of Ontario and Quebec. This would not be the case. Several Liberal MPs would secretly begin working with the Conservatives, backed by the manufacturing firms, to stall the bill.

This was called the Revolt of the Eighteen, with their hardline being that the free trade agreement was the, quote:. While Borden accepted the support of these Liberals, that caused issues within his own party and Borden announced to his party members he would resign over the conflict. This put everyone in line and they presented a unified front for the election.

Macdonald used it as an election issue by invoking patriotism and fear over the United States annexing Canada. The Conservatives would do the same 20 years later and they would get ammunition in that fight thanks to a Republican in America named William Bennett.

He would introduce a resolution that asked the president to begin talks with Britain for how the United States could annex Canada. While President Taft rejected the proposal, the entire resolution was used by the Conservatives against the Liberals, as was a quote by the Speaker of the House, Democrat Champ Clark, who said quote:.

The people of Canada are of our blood and language. Farmers in that region wanted markets for their crops and supported free trade with the United States.

Scallion, the president of the Manitoba Grain Growers Association, would say of free trade, quote:. In Central Canada, there was little support for free trade among the many manufacturing businesses that dominated the economy in Ontario and Quebec. Borden, now seasoned with his third election campaign, would campaign on the platform of opposing free trade with the Americans, stating that there was a secret plan by the Americans to annex Canada and the free trade agreement was the first step.

Borden would say, quote:. The Conservatives would produce thousands of pamphlets that included the speeches of Clark and Bennett, which built up anti-Americanism in Canada prior to the election. Bourassa would campaign in Quebec for the Conservatives, even though the Conservatives were far more imperialist than the Liberals.

Even celebrated British author, Rudyard Kipling, would campaign for the Conservatives, writing an appeal that the Montreal Gazette published on Sept. Once that soul is pawned for any consideration, Canada must inevitably conform to the commercial, legal, financial, social and ethical standards which will be imposed on her by the sheer admitted weight of the United States. The Liberals focused their campaign on the economic benefits that free trade would bring to Canadians.

In the west, the Liberals spread the message that free trade would bring higher prices for Canadian products, and lower prices for Canadian necessities. In Quebec, where voters were angry over Laurier and his ties to England, he would focus on the alliance between Bourassa and Borden.

He would tell voters that a vote in support of Bourassa was simply a vote for Borden, who he called an imperialist. I feel the swing that makes it sure. I am pretty old at the game.