Sir robert laird borden biography sampler

In he became chairman of Canada's first mutual fund , the Canadian Investment Fund. Even after he stepped down as prime minister, Borden kept in touch with Lloyd George; Borden once told him of his retirement, stating, "There is nothing that oppresses me Borden died on June 10, , in Ottawa and is buried in the Beechwood Cemetery marked by a simple stone cross.

The Borden government's introduction of conscription, new taxes, and use of the North-West Mounted Police to break up the Winnipeg general strike are all examples of government intervention; with his emphasis on big government, he is remembered as a Red Tory. Borden's use of conscription in the war remains controversial. While historian J.

Granatstein wrote, "Canada's military couldn't have carried on without the controversial policy" and that "[The conscripts] played a critical role in winning the war", he also wrote that "To achieve these ends, he almost broke the nation. Borden's opposition towards free trade and his government's reversal of a campaign promise to exempt the sons of farmers from conscription helped the agrarian Progressive Party grow in popularity, which was dissatisfied with Borden's positions on these issues.

As historian Robert Craig Brown notes, "Moreover, Unionist support in western Canada was ephemeral and vanished at the first hints of peace. Borden was ranked 7th. Borden chose the following jurists to sit as justices of the Supreme Court of Canada :. Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk. Read Edit View history. Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version.

In other projects. Wikimedia Commons Wikisource Wikidata item. Prime Minister of Canada from to This article is about the prime minister of Canada. The Right Honourable. Liberal until Conservative after ; until , — Unionist — Laura Bond. Robert Borden's voice. Robert Borden being interviewed on July 23rd, , less than a year before his death. Early life and career — [ edit ].

Lawyer — [ edit ]. Early political career — [ edit ]. Leader of the Official Opposition — [ edit ]. Prime Minister — [ edit ]. Pre-war Canada [ edit ]. First World War [ edit ]. Major reforms [ edit ]. Economy [ edit ]. Conscription, Unionist Party, and election [ edit ]. See also: Conscription Crisis of Ukrainian Canadian internment [ edit ]. Main article: Ukrainian Canadian internment.

Borden and the Treaty of Versailles [ edit ]. Domestic policies and post-war Canada [ edit ]. Halifax Explosion [ edit ]. Main article: Halifax Explosion. Women's suffrage [ edit ]. Nickle Resolution [ edit ]. Further information: Canadian titles debate. Nationalization of railways [ edit ]. Main article: Winnipeg general strike. Retirement [ edit ].

After politics — [ edit ]. Legacy [ edit ]. Honours [ edit ]. Supreme Court appointments [ edit ]. Electoral record [ edit ]. Main article: Electoral history of Robert Borden. See also [ edit ]. Notes [ edit ]. Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Retrieved January 19, ISBN Retrieved January 27, Toronto: Williams Briggs. Retrieved January 31, The Canadian Encyclopedia.

Manitoba Historical Society. Retrieved February 1, York University. Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved February 9, Library and Archives Canada. Archived from the original on October 13, Retrieved February 11, In addition, a publicly-subscribed Canadian Patriotic Fund was organized in August , with responsibilities towards soldiers' families.

Retrieved February 21, Retrieved February 12, Bank of Canada Museum. Government of Canada. Retrieved February 13, Retrieved April 3, Fraser Institute. The Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan. Archived from the original on June 13, Retrieved February 14, November 3, June 5, Retrieved February 15, Retrieved February 20, Retrieved February 17, UBC Press.

CTV News. Borden was influenced by the progressive ideas about democratizing political parties and using state power in the public interest that were being debated in the United States. Borden agreed that the rapid expansion of the prairie region required new transportation routes. He countered with a proposal for a government-owned and -operated transcontinental railway, controlled not by private corporations but by the people of Canada.

It did not work. Borden talked of resigning. But the attractions of public life had begun to grow on him: he enjoyed the recognition a party leader received and the continual association with men of affairs that political life demanded. His confidence in his performance as leader had grown and his job was unfinished.

Sir robert laird borden biography sampler

But just before Christmas he decided to remain as party leader. The couple moved into their new home, Glensmere, on Wurtemburg Street and backing onto the Rideau River, in the summer of Borden spent much of his second term as leader developing a new platform for his party. A scheme to hold a policy convention was mooted and then shelved when Quebec Conservatives declined to attend.

It called, among other things, for reform of the Senate and the civil service, a more selective immigration policy, free rural mail delivery, and government regulation of telegraphs, telephones, and railways and eventually national ownership of telegraphs and telephones. Though he spent more than a year promoting the platform in speeches across the nation, the effort was not enough to prevent another victory by the Liberals in October Borden had now lost two general elections and his party four in a row.

Borden was more determined than ever to carry on. Many of his parliamentary colleagues had other ideas. They resented having been ignored in the planning of the Halifax Platform. They feared his ideas for developing party structures that would lessen their influence. And he had now led them to another painful defeat. In February the Conservatives placed upon the order paper of the House of Commons notice of a resolution recommending that Canada provide for its own coastal defence, something Laurier had promised in but never acted upon.

Early in March, before the resolution could be debated, a short-lived crisis in Great Britain over the relative strengths of the imperial and German navies shocked and surprised both parties. In English-speaking Canada public figures and many of the large urban dailies demanded a Canadian contribution to the sudden apparent shortfall in British Dreadnoughts.

Neither Laurier nor Borden was sympathetic to this clamour. Laurier proposed an amendment to the Conservative resolution, recommending that the house approve any necessary expenditure designed to promote the organization of a Canadian naval service which would work in close cooperation with the imperial navy. It was quickly accepted by the Conservatives and the revised resolution passed unanimously at the end of March.

In January Laurier introduced a bill to create a Canadian naval service, with ships stationed on both the Atlantic and the Pacific coasts. If required, they could be put at the service of the imperial navy in time of war. The Conservatives were deeply divided. Monk, whom Borden had reappointed as his Quebec lieutenant a year earlier, was demanding a plebiscite on the issue.

Borden continued to support the concept of a Canadian naval service — though not necessarily the one proposed by the Liberals — but now also favoured immediate aid. Many other Tory members wanted a simple, outright contribution to the imperial navy. In early April the Toronto Daily Star broke the story of seething discontent in the Tory caucus, claiming as many as seven different factions at war with each other.

Borden responded by handing his resignation as party leader to the chief whip on 6 April. He had no intention of leaving. Instead, he was challenging his caucus. He addressed it for an hour on the 12th and left knowing that his allies would beat back the revolt. Shortly after noon a motion reaffirming support for him was passed by all.

In November , responding to an invitation from the United States, Laurier sent his ministers of finance and customs to Washington to discuss a new Canadian-American trade arrangement. After another session there in January, the finance minister, William Fielding, announced the agreement in the house on the 26th. It was staggering in its breadth.

The two nations undertook to eliminate customs duties on a long list of natural products. Then there was another long list of reduced duties on many manufactured goods. The arrangement concluded with two further lists, one Canadian and one American, of lower duties on yet more processed products of the other nation. To avoid the possibility of the agreement being defeated in the United States Senate if it was styled a treaty, it had been decided to bring it into effect by reciprocal legislation.

The Conservatives, to a man, were stunned. It was the Tory premiers who initially rallied the troops. Their delegation met him on 1 March, anticipating that the reciprocity issue would force a new election. What would Borden do if he won? In short, they wanted representation of the anti-reciprocity Liberals in his cabinet. Borden quickly agreed and a curious coalition against the trade agreement began to emerge under his leadership.

Borden again threatened to resign, triggering a petition asking him to carry on. Sixty-five members signed; twenty did not. For a second time in a year opposition in his caucus had been crushed just as the prospects for eventual electoral victory looked better than they had in 15 years. In the House of Commons the party obstructed progress on the reciprocity bill.

After a two-month adjournment to allow Laurier to attend an imperial conference, the Liberals lost control of the commons, abandoned their bill, and dissolved the house on 29 July. For them the issue was not reciprocity, it was Laurier: Laurier and his Naval Service Act, Laurier and his capitulations to English Canadian interests through the years, Laurier and his alleged corrupt dominance of politics in Quebec.

The strategy worked brilliantly. On 21 Sept. In Quebec their representation jumped from eleven to twenty-seven. Borden was the new prime minister of Canada. All the Conservative premiers, McBride, Roblin, Whitney, and John Douglas Hazen of New Brunswick, were offered places but only Hazen accepted, becoming minister of marine and fisheries and minister of the naval service.

The other three chose to have their interests protected by surrogates. Though he had no political experience, he was appointed minister of finance and quickly became a close friend and trusted colleague of Borden. There was no shortage of veteran Tories waiting to be called. George Foster, deeply hurt that he did not get Finance, took Trade and Commerce.

The new government began with high hopes for a mildly progressive legislative program. From the Halifax Platform, Borden promised further reform of the civil service — Laurier had begun the process with the establishment of the Civil Service Commission in — but sidestepped the more controversial ideas of government regulation or public ownership of national franchises such as the telegraph and telephone systems.

The farmers, who were the principal victims of the defeat of reciprocity, needed attention. The Canada Grain Act of established a board of grain commissioners to supervise grain inspection and regulate the grain trade, and enabled the federal government to build or acquire and operate terminal elevators at key points in the grain marketing and export system.

A second measure provided financial support to the provinces for the purpose of encouraging agriculture. Another proposal had the backing of many manufacturers and businessmen. Yet another measure that year called for financial assistance to the provinces to build or improve provincial highways and begin the construction of a national highway system.

All of these initiatives seemed promising and a distinct departure from the Laurier era. To fulfill an election promise, the Manitoba boundary was extended to annex part of the District of Keewatin. Despite protests from French Canadian colleagues, Borden held that Ottawa could not force Manitoba to provide guarantees for separate schools that did not exist at the time of the transfer.

The Liberals, who had a huge majority in the Senate, retaliated. Once again the contribution-minded Tories in English-speaking Canada demanded action, and Borden, Hazen, Doherty, and Pelletier soon left for consultations in London; Monk refused to go. In the fall of Borden told his colleagues that his permanent naval plan was postponed and he was going to make a contribution of Dreadnoughts.

The debate among them dragged on for some weeks, with Monk again insisting that there must first be a plebiscite. On 18 October, realizing his position was hopeless, he resigned from cabinet. He was convinced that support for the imperial cause had to be recognized by Canada having a voice in the determination of imperial foreign policy. The debate in the house also went on for weeks, becoming ever more acrimonious.

Primeval passions. The impasse would continue in June , when the Senate rejected a bill, unanimously passed in the commons, to increase its numbers so as to give adequate representation to the western provinces. With partisan bitterness at a peak and good portions of its legislative program crippled, the Tories called out the battalions for a snap general election.

Borden had one plank to put to the people: a pledge to amend the constitution and have an elected Senate. However, the weakness of the party in Quebec and in Manitoba, where Roblin won only the barest of majorities in July, combined with the illness of Whitney in Ontario, caused him to draw back. On 22 June the king had awarded Borden the gcmg.

It was short-lived. On Friday morning, 31 July, Borden was on a train rushing for Toronto. The next day he was in his Ottawa office and on Tuesday evening, 4 Aug. Canada was at war. The war was greeted with enthusiasm. Prominent men of affairs competed for recognition of their contributions to the war effort. Robert Rogers guaranteed to support the dependants of members of the Fort Garry Horse who joined up.

Contact About Privacy. Ruslan Bodelan. Miroslav Lajcak. Scott McClellan. George Brown. Rebecca Harms. Ilaria Capua. Texts Video icon An illustration of two cells of a film strip. Video Audio icon An illustration of an audio speaker. Audio Software icon An illustration of a 3. Software Images icon An illustration of two photographs. Images Donate icon An illustration of a heart shape Donate Ellipses icon An illustration of text ellipses.

Donate icon An illustration of a heart shape "Donate to the archive" User icon An illustration of a person's head and chest.