Conscription in Canada, and the Election of 1917

. . . in August, 1914, many Canadians eagerly joined the Canadian military, for many reasons.  In general, Canadians expressed support for this war.  So, Prime Minister Robert Borden pledged to only send people who volunteered for military service, and would not force anyone to go to war.

However, the war was not “over by Christmas” 1914, as predicted.  As the war dragged on, fewer and fewer men volunteered.  At the same time, the technologies used in the war meant casualties were significantly higher than anyone could have predicted.

In 1917, Borden visited the front lines in France.  When he returned, he was a changed man.

Instead of relying on volunteers, Borden wanted to use conscription (forced military service).
He knew the Allies needed more soldiers.  In fact, he was afraid the Allies might lose the war if they did not get more soldiers soon.  The voluntary system would not give Canada enough new soldiers.  Borden thought conscription was the only solution.

Borden hoped he would be able to introduce a Military Service Bill in the House of Commons and have a simple vote on conscription.  He believed time was of the essence and wanted to move quickly on this issue.  Many M.P.s, including some Conservatives from his own party, believed that the issue was too important to have a simple vote in the House of Commons.

Instead of a quick vote, the Liberal Party M.P.s held a filibuster (extend debate to delay a vote) in the House of Commons and prevented the issue from coming to a vote.  As a result, Borden had to call an election on the issue.

Borden knew holding an election would be risky, because there were three large groups that opposed conscription.

Group 1: Farmers
Farmers were opposed to conscription because they needed their sons/hired men to work on busy farms.

Group 2: Industrial Workers
Industrial workers opposed conscription because they now had full employment and made good money.

Group 3: French Canadians
French-Canadians opposed conscription because they saw the Great War as Europe’s war.  They thought Canada had already sent too many men, and should just send supplies instead.

Henri Bourassa, a French- Canadian politician, argued against conscription.  In fact, he scoffed at the idea.  How could a small nation like Canada, with only 8 million people, possibly create an army big enough to defeat Germany?  Answer: we can’t.  He argued that Canada should avoid conscription, and instead should focus on sending the Allies more of the supplies they needed.
In comparison, Canada would send, in total, 600 000 soldiers to the Great War.

What should Borden Do?

Answer: Change the election rules!

Yep!!  Borden did something that no Prime Minister could do today (sorry Stephen Harper):

He changed the election rules to make it more likely that his Conservative Party (and therefore, conscription) would win the election of 1917.  In other words, he rigged the election.

How did he rig the election?

Very simply, Borden’s Conservatives gave the vote to people they thought would vote for conscription and took the vote away from those they thought would vote against conscription.
They certainly did not want to be forced to join the war.  He instituted...

1.  The Military Voter’s Act

In 1917, in order to vote Canadians had to be male, aged 21 or older, and a British citizen.
Borden’s Conservatives passed the Military Voters Act, which gave soldiers at home and overseas the right to vote, even if they were under age 21.
Why does this Military Voters Act make sense?

Allowing all Canadian soldiers (no matter their age or where they were posted) the ability to vote makes sense--conscription affects them.  However, only the Government had “access” to the soldiers.  Thus, only Borden’s Conservatives could advertise to them.

Borden had exclusive access to 500 000 soldiers.
Borden’s message to soldiers was: 
	A vote for conscription means a man will come to take your place. 
	A vote against consription means you’re here for life.

If you were a soldier, how would you vote?  
Borden expected most of the soldiers to vote for conscription.  Most of them did.

2.  The Wartime Elections Act

Borden’s Conservatives passed the War Time Elections Act, which gave the vote to wives, mothers, daughters, and sisters of soldiers (as long as they were 21 or older).  This gave Borden an estimated extra 900 000 voters.

Why didn’t Prime Minister Borden give ALL women the chance to vote in the 1917 election?  
They certainly contributed to the war doing work overseas, in the factories and as volunteers.

Borden’s Conservatives used the same message with these women as they did with the soldiers overseas:  
A vote for conscription means a man can take his place. 
A vote against conscription means he’s there for life.

If you were a voting woman in 1917, how would you vote?

Borden expected most of these women to vote for conscription so their soldier-man would get help.  He did not give the vote to all women because he knew that many of them would vote against conscription to keep their men (husbands, sons, brothers, fathers, etc.) at home.

The War Time Elections Act also denied the right to vote to many people from an enemy country, even though they might have been living in Canada since 1904.  Borden’s Conservatives were worried that these “enemies” might vote against conscription so that the Allies would have too few soldiers and lose the war.

The War Time Elections Act also denied conscientious objectors (pacifists) the right to vote because they hated all wars.  This meant that some Canadian citizens could not vote because they disagreed with the government.  Borden’s Conservatives believed the conscientious objectors would vote against conscription, and took their voting rights away.

French - English Relations

Borden invited Liberal M.P.s to form a Union Government with his Conservatives, as long as these Liberals supported conscription.  This action split the Liberal Party (along French and English, destroying Laurier’s efforts to create a political party that represented both English and French).  

Usually voters just had two choices when voting: Conservative or Liberal.  
Now they had three: 
	Conservative (conscription)
	Union Liberal (conscription)
	Liberal (no conscription)
This gave conscription a greater chance of winning.

More tricks...

Do you know the name of the riding (constituency) that you live in?  Soldiers who voted had to write the name of their home riding on their ballot, but many did not know it, especially those soldiers who were voting for the first time.  Borden’s Conservatives took these “unknown” votes and put them in ridings with close results.  

Despite all of these efforts, the Khaki Election (an election influenced by war) of 1917 was very close, but the Union Party won the election.  Soon after, the Military Service Act was passed in January, 1918.  This meant that all men aged 18 to 45 could be conscripted.  All had to register at their local recruiting office and could be called up for service at any time. 

Men could apply for an exemption.  Exemptions that were granted fell under three categories:
Exemption 1:
conscientious objectors/pacificts (for obvious reasons) h

Exemption 2:
Workers in essential war occupations or who were not easily replaced t

Exemption 3:
Those for whom military service would be a hardship (e.g. health, family). 

In the end...

Just over 400 000 men were called to be in the army because of conscription.  In Ontario and Quebec, almost 200 000 men were exempted.  By the time the war ended on November 11, 1918 (11 months after conscription started) there were 96 000 conscripted men in the Canadian military.  Only 24 000 of them ever made it to France before the war ended.  No one knows if any of them ever did any fighting on the front lines. 

In other words, conscripted Canadian soldiers were not needed to end the war, but how could Borden know that in December, 1917?

He couldn’t!!  But NOW, he had a divided, unhappy country to deal with. would win.