1911 Canadian federal election
The 1911 Canadian federal election was held on September 21, 1911, to elect members of the House of Commons of Canada of the 12th Parliament of Canada.
221 seats in the House of Commons
111 seats needed for a majority
The central issue was Liberal support for a proposed agreement with the United States president William Howard Taft to lower tariffs. The Conservative Party denounced it because it threatened to weaken ties with Britain, submerge the Canadian economy and Canadian identity with the US, and lead to American annexation of Canada. The idea of a Canadian Navy was also an issue.
The Conservatives won, and Robert Borden became the eighth prime minister. The election ended 15 years of government by the Liberal Party of Wilfrid Laurier.
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The Liberal government was caught up in a debate over the naval arms race between the British Empire and Germany. Laurier attempted a compromise by starting up the Canadian Navy (now the Royal Canadian Navy) but failed to appease either the French-Canadians or English-Canadians: the former refused giving any aid, and the latter suggested sending money directly to Britain. After the election, the Conservatives drew up a bill for naval contributions to the British, but it was held up by a lengthy Liberal filibuster before it was passed in the House of Commons by invoking closure, only to be defeated by the Liberal-controlled Senate.
Ties to Britain[edit]
Many English Canadians in British Columbia and the Maritimes felt that Laurier was abandoning Canada's traditional links to their mother country, Great Britain. On the other side, the Quebec nationalist Henri Bourassa, who had earlier quit the Liberal Party over what he considered the government's pro-British policies, campaigned against Laurier in the province. Ironically, Bourassa's attacks on Laurier in Quebec aided in the election of the Conservatives, who held policies that were more staunchly imperialist than those of the Liberals.
In mid-1910, Laurier had attempted to kill the naval issue, which was settling English-Canadians against French-Canadians by opening talks for a reciprocity treaty with the United States. He believed that an economically-favourable treaty would appeal to most Canadians and have the additional benefit of dividing the Conservatives between the western wing of the party, which had long wanted free trade with the United States, and the eastern wing, which was more hostile to Continentalism.[2]
In January 1911, Laurier and US President William Howard Taft announced that they signed a reciprocity agreement, which they decided to pass by concurrent legislation rather than a formal treaty, as would normally have been the case.[2] As such, the reciprocity agreement had to be ratified by both houses of the US Congress rather than just the US Senate, which Laurier would later regret.