Robert Borden

Sir Robert Laird Borden (June 26, 1854 – June 10, 1937) was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the eighth prime minister of Canada from 1911 to 1920. He is best known for his leadership of Canada during World War I.

Borden was born in Grand-Pré, Nova Scotia. He worked as a schoolteacher for a period and then served his articles of clerkship at a Halifax law firm. He was called to the bar in 1878 and soon became one of Nova Scotia's most prominent barristers. Borden was elected to the House of Commons in the 1896 federal election, representing the Conservative Party. He replaced Charles Tupper as party leader in 1901, but was defeated in two federal elections by Liberal Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier in 1904 and 1908. However, in the 1911 federal election, Borden led the Conservatives to victory, on the basis that that the Liberals' proposed trade reciprocity treaty with the United States would lead to the U.S. influencing Canadian identity and weaken ties with Great Britain.

Borden's early years as prime minister focused on strengthening relations with Britain. Within three years of taking office, World War I broke out. To support the war effort, he established the Canadian Expeditionary Force and enacted the War Measures Act, which granted the government sweeping powers. To finance the conflict, his government issued victory bonds, raised tariffs, and introduced new taxes, including the federal income tax. In 1917, facing what he believed to be a shortage in Canadian soldiers, Borden introduced conscription, which caused significant controversy in French Canada and ignited the Conscription Crisis. Despite this, his Unionist Party, a coalition of Conservatives and pro-conscription Liberals, was elected with an overwhelming majority in the 1917 federal election. After the war, Borden sought to expand the autonomy of Canada and other Dominions at the Paris Peace Conference, including by signing the Treaty of Versailles as independent parties. In doing so, Canada established itself as a founding member of the League of Nations. Domestically, Borden's government dealt with the aftermath of the Halifax Explosion, introduced women's suffrage in federal elections, nationalized railways by establishing the Canadian National Railway, and deployed the North-West Mounted Police to suppress the 1919 Winnipeg general strike.

Borden retired from politics in 1920. In his retirement, he was Chancellor of Queen's University from 1924 to 1930 and was president of two financial institutions, the Barclays Bank of Canada and the Crown Life Insurance Company, from 1928 until his death in 1937. Borden places above-average among historians and the public in rankings of prime ministers of Canada. He was the last prime minister born before Confederation and the last prime minister to be knighted, having accepted a knighthood in 1914.

Early life and career (1854–1874)

Borden was born and educated in Grand-Pré, Nova Scotia, a farming community at the eastern end of the Annapolis Valley. His great-grandfather, Perry Borden Sr. of Tiverton, Rhode Island, had taken up Acadian land in this region in 1760 as one of the New England Planters. The Borden family had immigrated from Headcorn, Kent, England, to New England in the 17th century. Also arriving in this group was a great-great-grandfather, Robert Denison, who had come from Connecticut at about the same time. Perry had accompanied his father, Samuel Borden, the chief surveyor chosen by the government of Massachusetts to survey the former Acadian land and draw up new lots for the Planters in Nova Scotia. Through the marriage of his patrilineal ancestor Richard Borden to Innocent Cornell, Borden is descendant from Thomas Cornell of Portsmouth, Rhode Island.

Borden's father, Andrew Borden, was judged by his son to be "a man of good ability and excellent judgement" and of a "calm, contemplative and philosophical" turn of mind, but "he lacked energy and had no great aptitude for affairs." His mother Eunice Jane Laird was more driven, possessing "very strong character, remarkable energy, high ambition and unusual ability". Her ambition was transmitted to her first-born child, who applied himself to his studies while assisting his parents with the farm work he found so disagreeable. Borden's cousin, Sir Frederick Borden, was a prominent Liberal politician.

At age nine, Borden became a day student for the local private academy, Acacia Villa School. The school sought to "fit boys physically, morally, and intellectually, for the responsibilities of life." There, Borden developed an interest in the Greek, Latin, and Hebrew languages. At age 14, Borden became the assistant master for classical studies. In late 1873, Borden began working as a professor for classics and mathematics at the Glenwood Institute in Matawan, New Jersey. Seeing no future in teaching, he returned to Nova Scotia in 1874. In 1882, Borden, despite being a Liberal, accepted Wallace Graham's request to move to Halifax and join the Conservative law firm headed by Graham and Charles Hibbert Tupper. In 1886, Borden broke with the Liberal Party after he disagreed with Premier William Stevens Fielding's campaign to withdraw Nova Scotia from Confederation. In the autumn of 1889, when he was only 35, Borden became the senior partner following the departure of Graham and Tupper for the bench and politics, respectively. They had no children. Bond later became president of the Local Council of Women of Halifax, until her resignation in 1901. She also later became president of the Aberdeen Association, vice-president of the Women's Work Exchange in Halifax, and corresponding secretary of the Associated Charities of the United States. The Bordens spent several weeks vacationing in England and Europe in the summers of 1891 and 1893. In 1894, Borden bought a large property and home on the south side of Quinpool Road, which the couple called Pinehurst.

Prime Minister (1911–1920)

Pre-war Canada

To aid the farmers who would have benefited had the reciprocity treaty been implemented, Borden's government passed the Canada Grain Act of 1912 to establish a board of grain commissioners that would supervise grain inspection and regulate the grain trade. This law would also allow the federal government to build or acquire and operate grain elevators at key points in the grain marketing and export system.

In 1912 and 1913, Borden's government sought to pass a naval bill that would have sent $35 million for the construction of three dreadnoughts for the British Navy. Laurier, now Opposition leader, argued that the bill would threaten Canadian autonomy. In May 1913, the bill was blocked by the Liberal-controlled Senate.

Major reforms

On August 22, 1914, Parliament passed the controversial War Measures Act (with support from both Conservatives and Liberals), which gave the government extraordinary and emergency powers, including the right to censor and suppress communications, the right to arrest, detain, and deport people without charges or trials, the right to control transportation, trade and manufacturing, and the right to seize private property during times of "war, invasion or insurrection". The act also allowed Borden to govern by order in council, meaning that Cabinet was allowed to implement pieces of legislation without the need for a vote in the House of Commons and Senate.

Borden's government created the Canadian Patriotic Fund to give financial and social assistance to the families of soldiers. The government also raised tariffs on some high-demand consumer items to boost the economy. In 1918, to gain information on Canada's population, social structure, and economy, the government established the Dominion Bureau of Statistics through the Statistics Act. It was renamed Statistics Canada in 1971. In December 1914, Borden stated, "there has not been, there will not be, compulsion or conscription." As the war dragged on, more troops for the CEF were deployed through the voluntary force. In July 1915, the number of CEF soldiers increased to 150,000 before being increased to 250,000 in October 1915 before doubling to 500,000 in January 1916. By mid-1916, the rate of volunteers enlisting started to slow down. This led Borden and White to successfully negotiate a $50 million loan in New York City in 1915. Canada also succeeded in negotiating larger bond issues in New York in 1916 and 1917. In 1918, a Victory Bond of $300 million brought in $660 million.

In 1917, Borden's government introduced the income tax which came into effect on September 20, 1917. The tax exempted the first $1,500 of income for single people (unmarried persons and widows and widowers without dependent children); the tax exempted the first $3,000 for everyone else. Single people were taxed at four percent while the tax rate ranged from two to 22 percent for married Canadians with dependents and an annual income over $6,000. Due to its several exemptions, only two to eight percent of Canadians filed tax returns during the early days of the income tax. When the war ended in 1918, $8 million in income tax revenue had been recorded, which was a small fraction of the national net debt of $1.6 billion. Though Borden's government declared the income tax to be temporary, it has remained in place ever since.

In 1917, facing skyrocketing prices, Borden's government established the Board of Grain Supervisors of Canada to distance the marketing of crops grown in 1917 and 1918 away from the private grain companies. It was succeeded by the Canadian Wheat Board for the 1919 crop.

Conscription, Unionist Party, and 1917 election

In Spring 1917, Borden visited Europe and attended the Imperial Conference. There, he participated in discussions that included possible peace terms and helped spearhead the passage of Resolution IX which called for a post-war constitutional conference to "provide effective arrangements for continuous consultation in all important matters of common Imperial concern, and for such necessary concerted action, founded on consultation, as the several Governments may determine." The act became law on August 29, 1917.

275px|thumb|right|Borden speaking to wounded soldiers at a hospital in the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front, March 1917]]

The disputes over conscription triggered the Conscription Crisis of 1917; most English Canadians supported the policy whereas most French Canadians opposed it, as seen by protests in Quebec. In a bid to settle Quebec opposition towards the policy, Borden proposed forming a wartime coalition government composed of both Conservatives and Liberals. Despite Borden offering the Liberals equal seats in the Cabinet in exchange for Liberal support for conscription, the proposal was rejected by Liberal leader Laurier. In October, Borden formed the Unionist Party, a coalition of Conservatives and pro-conscription Liberals (known as Liberal–Unionists). Laurier, maintaining his anti-conscription position, refused to join the Unionist government and instead created the "Laurier Liberals", a party of Liberals opposed to conscription.

250px|thumb|right|Borden addressing troops in England, April 1917

The 1917 federal election was held on December 17. The election was Canada's first in six years; it was supposed to be held in 1916 due to the constitutional requirement that Parliament last no longer than five years, but was delayed by one year due to the war. Months before the election was called, Borden's government introduced the Military Voters Act that allowed all 400,000 conscripted Canadian soldiers — including those who were underage and born in Britain, to vote. The act also allowed current and former Indigenous veterans to vote. In addition, the Wartime Elections Act allowed female relatives of soldiers (excluding Indigenous women) to vote. However, this law confiscated voting rights from German and Austrian immigrants (i.e. immigrants from "enemy nations") who moved to Canada during and after 1902 as well as those who exempted from the coming conscription draft, including conscientious objectors. Some believe that these laws put the Unionists in a favourable position.

The Unionist election campaign criticized French Canada for its low enlistment rate to fight in the war. Fearing the possible event of a Liberal victory, one of the Unionist pamphlets highlighted ethnic differences, stating, "the French Canadians who have shirked their duty in this war will be the dominating force in the government of this country. Are the English-speaking people prepared to stand for that?" To suppress the anti-conscription "Easter Riots" that occurred in Quebec City between March 28 and April 1, Borden's government used the War Measures Act, invoked martial law, and deployed more than 6,000 troops. The troops and rioters exchanged gunfire, resulting in four civilian deaths and as many as 150 casualties.

Another 80,000 Ukrainian Canadians were not imprisoned but were registered as "enemy aliens" and were compelled to report regularly to the police. Their freedom of speech, movement, and association were also restricted. in a January 1916 letter to the High Commissioner of Canada in the United Kingdom, George Perley, Borden wrote:

On October 27, 1918, British Prime Minister David Lloyd George requested Borden to visit Britain for possible peace talks. Borden replied stating, "the press and the people of this country take it for granted that Canada will be represented at the Peace Conference." World War I ended shortly after on November 11, 1918. Borden told his wife, Laura, that "Canada got nothing out of the war except recognition." Not only did Borden's persistence allow him to represent Canada in Paris as a nation, it also ensured that each of the dominions could sign the Treaty of Versailles in its own right and receive a separate membership in the League of Nations. Also during the conference, Borden tried to act as an intermediary between the United States and other members of the British Empire delegation, particularly Australia and New Zealand over the issue of the League of Nations Mandate. Borden also discussed with Lloyd George the possibility of Canada taking over the West Indies but no agreement was reached.

On May 6, 1919, Borden issued a memorandum calling for Canada, as a member, to have the right to be elected to the League's council. This proposal was accepted by Lloyd George, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, and French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau. These three leaders also included Canada's right to contest for election to the governing body of the International Labour Organization. Borden departed Paris on May 11; his Cabinet ministers Charles Doherty and Arthur Sifton signed the Treaty of Versailles on his behalf. Borden helped set up the Halifax Relief Commission that spent $30 million on medical care, repairing infrastructure, and establishing pensions for injured survivors.

150px|thumb|right|Borden surveying the ruins of the [[Halifax Explosion]]

Women's suffrage

On May 24, 1918, female citizens 21 and over were granted the right to vote in federal elections. In 1920, Borden's government passed the Dominion Elections Act to allow women to run for the Parliament of Canada. However, these two laws prevented or discouraged Asian Canadian and Indigenous Canadian women and men from voting.

Nickle Resolution

Despite being knighted himself, Borden disapproved of the process by which Canadians were nominated for honours and in March 1917 drafted a policy stating that all names had to be vetted by the prime minister before the list was sent to Westminster. In mid-1917, Borden agreed with MP William Folger Nickle's proposal to abolish Hereditary titles in Canada. In addition to the abolition of the Hereditary titles, it was later learned that with the exception of military distinctions, honours would not be granted to residents of Canada without the approval or the advice of the Canadian prime minister. Borden's government established the Canadian National Railways (CN) as a Crown Corporation. The organization originally consisted of four railways: the Intercolonial Railway, the Canadian Northern Railway, the National Transcontinental Railway, and the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway. In January 1923, a fifth one was added: the Grand Trunk Railway. All five of these railways were financially struggling as a result of their inability to borrow from banks (mainly British) during the First World War.

1919 Winnipeg general strike

After the war, the working class experienced economic hardship. In a bid to address this problem, construction and metal trades workers in Winnipeg, Manitoba, sought better wages and better working conditions by negotiating with their managers. In May 1919, as a result of talks between the workers and their managers breaking down, several strikes started; on May 15, the Winnipeg Trades and Labor Council (WTLC) called for a general strike as a result of the negotiations collapsing. Within hours of the Winnipeg general strike breaking out, nearly 30,000 workers resigned.

Afraid that the strike would spark conflicts in other cities, Borden's government intervened. His Cabinet ministers Arthur Meighen and Gideon Robertson met with the anti-strike Citizens’ Committee but refused to meet with the pro-strike Central Strike Committee. Taking the advice of the Citizens' Committee, Borden's government threatened to fire federal workers unless they returned to work immediately. The government also changed the Immigration Act to allow the deportation of British-born immigrants. On June 17, the government arrested 10 leaders of the Central Strike Committee and two members of the trade union, One Big Union. On June 21, Borden's government deployed troops from the North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) to the strike scene to maintain public order. As a result of the protestors beginning to riot, the NWMP charged at the protestors, beat them with clubs, and fired bullets. Two people were killed and the violent incident became known as "Bloody Saturday". Within days, the strike ended.

Retirement

With his doctors recommending that he should leave politics immediately, Borden told his cabinet on December 16, 1919, that he was going to resign. Some cabinet members begged him to stay in office and take a year-long vacation. Borden took a vacation for an unspecified amount of time and returned to Ottawa in May 1920. Borden announced his retirement to his Unionist caucus on Dominion Day, July 1, 1920. Before he retired, the caucus asked him to choose his successor as leader and prime minister. Borden favoured his Finance Minister William Thomas White. With White refusing, Borden persuaded cabinet minister Arthur Meighen to succeed him. Meighen succeeded Borden on July 10, 1920. Borden retired from politics altogether in that same month. He was Vice-President of The Champlain Society between 1923 and 1925 and was the Society's first Honorary President between 1925 and 1937. He also was president of the Canadian Historical Association in 1930–31. In 1928 Borden became president of two financial institutions: Barclays Bank of Canada and the Crown Life Insurance Company. In 1932 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...books, some business avocation, my wild garden, the birds and the flowers, a little golf, and a great deal of life in the open – these together make up the fullness of my days." In his funeral, a thousand World War I veterans lined the procession route. The Canadian War Museum wrote, "The pressures of war drove Borden’s government to unprecedented levels of involvement in the day-to-day lives of citizens."

thumb|140px|upright|Statue on [[Parliament Hill, Ottawa]]

Borden's use of conscription in the war remains controversial. While historian J. L. 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." In the 1917 federal election, in what was seen as a backlash against Borden and the Unionist Party's pro-conscription position, Quebec voted overwhelmingly in favour of the anti-conscription Laurier Liberals; the Unionists won only three seats. Historian Robert Craig Brown wrote, "The political cost [of conscription] was enormous: the Conservative Party’s support in Quebec was destroyed and would not be recovered for decades to come." The Progressive Party was founded by Thomas Crerar, who was Borden's minister of agriculture until 1919, when he resigned over his opposition towards high tariffs and his belief that the government's budget did not pay enough attention to farmer's issues. In the 1921 federal election that saw the Conservatives plummet to third place, the Progressives became the second-largest party and swept Western Canada, a region that Borden's Unionists won over in the election four years previously. As historian Robert Craig Brown notes, "Moreover, Unionist support in western Canada was ephemeral and vanished at the first hints of peace." and John Ralston portrays Borden in episode 5 of season 19 "The Borden Ultimatum" (November 3, 2025) of the Canadian television period detective series Murdoch Mysteries.

Honours

Borden was the last Canadian Prime Minister to be knighted (in 1914) since, in deference to the Nickle Resolution, no others have been. However, R. B. Bennett (Prime Minister 1930–35) was created 1st Viscount Bennett after leaving office.
Borden was honoured by having two secondary schools named after him, in the Nepean part of Ottawa, and in the Scarborough section of Toronto.
Borden was also honoured by having Sir Robert Borden Junior High School named after him in Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia.
The town of Borden, Western Australia, was named after him.
Borden has appeared on the Canadian one-hundred-dollar note since 1975.

Supreme Court appointments

Borden chose the following jurists to sit as justices of the Supreme Court of Canada:

Louis Henry Davies (as Chief Justice, November 23, 1918 – May 1, 1924; appointed a Puisne Justice under Prime Minister Laurier, September 25, 1901)
Pierre-Basile Mignault (October 25, 1918 – September 30, 1929)

Electoral record

Notes

Bibliography

By Sir Robert

Borden, Robert (1971) Letters to Limbo. Toronto; Buffalo, N.Y.: University of Toronto Press
1938: Borden, Robert (1938). Robert Laird Borden: his memoirs; edited and with an introduction by Henry Borden. 2 vols. (xxii, 1061 p) London: Macmillan
Canadian Constitutional Studies by Robert Borden at archive.org
Comments on the Senate's rejection of the Naval Aid Bill by Robert Borden at archive.org

External links

Sir Robert Borden fonds at Library and Archives Canada
Comments on the Senate's rejection of the Naval Aid Bill
Historic plaque at Grand-Pré
Photograph:Robert L. Borden, 1905 - McCord Museum