CanadaWWI

Canada entered World War 1 because of its allegiance to Britain. Canada also had a new conservative government led by Sir Robert Laird Borden, who was the eighth prime minister of the country. This helped to unite the Canadians, who previously were more divided under the previous prime minister, Sir Wilfred Laurier. Especially important was the War Measures Act enacted in 1914 which allowed the Canadian government to assume emergency powered during times of war.Canada also had a new conservative government led by Sir Robert Laird Borden, who was the eighth prime minister of the country. This helped to unite the Canadians, who previously were more divided under the previous prime minister, Sir Wilfred Laurier. Especially important was the War Measures Act enacted in 1914 which allowed the Canadian government to assume emergency powered during times of war. Canada borrowed monies, women suffrage movement, conscription crisis of 1917, people gain more power over their own rights, statistics act, series of labour reforms.

Also of importance was the MIlitary Service Act of 1917, which served to split the Canadian Parliament between its French Canadian and English Canadian constituents, with almost all French Canadians opposing the Act and with almost all English Canadians being for the Act. The Act still passed, and conscription commenced; however volunteer numbers decreased due to the high casualties suffered in the war, and exemptions from the Act were removed.

Canada gave over $1,000,000,0002 (U.S.) in material goods and money to the allied cause while advances to Britain from Canada were more than $709,000,000. Most of the money given was from [|war bond]s purchased by the people.

Economically, it would look like Canada was going to lose out and not make any economic gains during this war. Coming into the 20th century Canada was looking like it was entering a depression. The [|Gross National product] had only grown slightly, the implicit price index began to fall and major droughts began to affect wheat harvest. How could a war help an oncoming depression?

In the years before 1914, 150,000 Ukrainian immigrants3 had settled into Canada during a period of time when jobs were very difficult to find and unemployment was high4. The war effort however, volunteered over 619,636 men and women5 which alleviated the unemployed and opened up jobs. Other industries that helped create jobs and flourished during the war were the steel and shelling industries, producing more than 60,000,000 shells6 over the course of the war.

Once the war started however, the GNP quickly rose to 1,965,1661 and started to rise faster. The [|Implicit price index] rose to 1.33 which was above pre-war averages.

Politically, Canada became more liberal. The woman's suffrage movement was becoming widely sought, resulting in full federal suffrage for women in 19187. Canada separated more from Britain even though it was not yet independent, Canadians started to develop national identity and relied less on Britain. In 1918 the 8 was passed, allowing for a census to be held and to organize prior statistics. People stared becoming more concerned with labor rights and started a series of labour reforms in 1917 with the creation of the 9. This lead up to the famous which resulted in the defeat of the conservative party holding office and the replacement with a new liberal government in 1929.



1www.roiw.org/1992/455.pdf 2http://faculty.marianopolis.edu/c.belanger/quebechistory/encyclopedia/Worldwar1.htm 3http://retirees.uwaterloo.ca/~marj/genealogy/ukrainian.html 4http://archives.queensu.ca/Exhibits/archres/wwi-intro/canada.html 5http://www.wwii.ca/content-8/world-war-i/facts-and-information/ 6http://www.oldandsold.com/articles26/world-war-one-26.shtml 7http://faculty.marianopolis.edu/c.belanger/quebechistory/encyclopedia/Canada- **WomensVote**[|?] - **WomenSuffrage**[|?] .htm 8http://www.vscouncil.ca/e_legislative_frame.html 9http://www.library.ubc.ca/spcoll/AZ/PDF/C/ **Canadian_Party_of_Labour**[|?] .pdf