Sir Robert Laird Borden

January 1, 2011

Civics ISU

on

Sir Robert Laird Borden

Table of Contents

Introduction- Page 3

Early life and the Beginning of his Career- Page 3

Politics-Page 3

Head of the Canadian Government-Page 4

World War One-Page 4

After the War-Page 6

Retirement-Page 6

Death-Page 6

Honors- Page 6

Bibliography:-Page 7

  

Introduction

            Sir Robert Laird Borden was a great Canadian man. Sir Robert Borden was born on June, 26, 1884 and died on June, 10, 1937. He was a lawyer, politician and Canada's eighth prime minister.

Early life and the Beginning of his Career

            Robert Borden was born at Grand Pré, Nova Scotia, on June 26, 1854. He had a small and formal education. He had spent five years teaching at private academies in Nova Scotia and in New Jersey. He became interested in law and spent four years studying and passed the Nova Scotia Bar in August 1878, placing first in the bar examinations. Borden first practiced law in Halifax, then in Kentville, and again in Halifax, where in 1889 he became head of his own law firm. He seemed headed of a successful career until he became interested in politics.

Politics

            Robert Borden was a liberal until he changed to the conservative side over the reciprocity (free trade) issue with the Americans. Borden was elected to Parliament in the 1896 federal election as a conservative. In 1901 he was selected as leader of the conservative party to replace sir Charles Tupper.

            On September 25, 1889 he married Laura Bond and they had no children.

            Over the next ten years Borden worked hard to rebuild the conservative party and establish  a  reform policy. He eventually made the Halifax platform of 1907 which was described as "the most advanced and progressive policy ever put forward in Federal affairs". This policy could have called for reform of the senate and civil services, 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. unfortunately for him the conservative party had lost in the 1908 federal election to Sir Wilfred Lauriers liberals.

            The following election the conservatives had won. In the 1911 federal election the conservatives won when they had campaigned against Laurie's proposal for a free trade agreement with the United States.

Head of the Canadian Government

            In 1911 Sir Robert Laird Borden was sworn in as the eighth Prime Minister over Canada.

World War One

            Robert Borden leadership over Canada during World War One was truly remarkable. Several Major things had happened. He and His government passed the War Measures Act in 1914. Borden also sent half a million soldiers to England to help with the war. When the Canadians heard the casualty reports and they realized that the war was not going to end soon some stopped volunteering.

            In 1917 Borden had instituted the the Military Service Act, the Wartime Business Profits Tax of 1917 and the Income Tax,which was the first direct taxation by the Canadian federal government.   Borden decided that conscription was needed to reinforce Canada's troops. Borden formed a Coalition Union Government with many liberals to implement conscription. This government won the 1917 election. Quebec was opposed to conscription, and after Borden's efforts to unite with Laurier in a coalition failed, he determined on a coalition without Quebec. Canada was badly split, and the irony of the situation was that conscripts did not reach the front in sufficient numbers to have major impact before the end of the war

            Borden wanted to make a Canadian army, rather than have Canadian soldiers split up and assigned to British divisions as had happened during the Boer War. Canadian troops proved themselves to be among the best in the world, fighting at the Somme, Ypres, Passchendaele, and especially at the Battle of Vimy Ridge.

            Borden played a big role in world affairs in the transforming the British Empire into a partnership of equal states, the Commonwealth of Nations, a term that was first discussed at an Imperial Conference in London during the war.

            Borden also introduced the first Canadian income tax, which at the time was meant to be temporary, but was never repealed.

            Borden was convinced that Canada had become a nation on the battlefields of Europe, he demanded that it have a separate seat at the Paris Peace Conference. This was opposed by British and the Americans who would say it would be a extra British vote. Borden responded to that by pointing out that since Canada had lost more men than the U.S. in the war, they at least had the right to the representation of a small minor power. After that the British Prime Minister David Lloyd George relented, and convinced the  Americans to accept the presence of separate Canadian delegation. Borden also won a separate representation in the League of Nations for the Dominion.
             Borden was the last prime minister to be knighted after the House of Commons discontinued to  grant any future titles to Canadians in 1919 with the adoption of the Nickle Resolution.

 After the War

That same year the Winnipeg General Strike was stopped when Borden approved the use of troops to put it down which was feared to be the result of Bolshevik ideology from the Soviet Union.

Retirement

            Robert Borden retired on the 10^th of July 1920 and passed the Prime Ministers role to  Arthur Meighen, He hoped he would have a nice and peaceful retirement but that did not happen. The next year he was called back to be Canadian delegate at the Washington Naval Disarmament Conference of 1921-1922, and in 1930 he was Canada's representative at the League of Nations in 1930.

            He was the Chancellor of Queen's University from 1924 to 1930 and also was Chancellor of McGill University from 1918 to 1920 while still Prime Minister. At his death he stood as president of two financial institutions Barclay's Bank of Canada and the Crown Life Insurance Company.

Death

            He died on 10 June 1937 in Ottawa at the age of 82 and is buried in the Beechwood Cemetery marked by a simple stone cross.

Honors

            Sir Robert Laird Borden received many great honors. He was the last Canadian Prime Minister to be knighted (in 1915) since, due to The Nickle Resolution, no others have been. Sir Robert Borden is pictured on the Canadian $100 bill. Sir Robert Borden was honored by having a high school named after him in the Nepean part of Ottawa, Ontario. Sir Robert Borden was also honored by having a junior high school named after him in Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia. The town of Borden, Saskatchewan was named after him. and the town of Borden in Western Australia was named after him.

            He also published several works including Canada in the Commonwealth and Robert Laird Borden: His Memoirs (1938), edited by his nephew Henry Borden.

Bibliography:

wikipedia .com

awnsers.com

about.com

thecanadianencyclopedia.com

biography.com