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Doing Our Bit
In 1910, then Prime Minister Sir Wilfred Laurier said, "when Britain is
at war, Canada is at war. There is no distinction." Although that was true,
Canada had the autonomy to define the size and type of support it offered the
United Kingdom's war effort. In general, Canadians in Parliament and in cities,
farmlands and outports embraced the declaration of war with naive enthusiasm.
Men and women sang in the streets, and young men, mostly British-born, swarmed
to recruiting centres across the country to "do their bit," convinced
the war would be short and decisive. Even in Quebec, which was normally not a
friend of the British Empire or Imperialism, there was an appreciation that the
invasion of Belgium and the risk to France must be countered. That said, recruitment
in Quebec was still much lower than in the rest of Canada.
When Canada entered the war it was in the midst of a depression and a two-year
prairie drought. Those factors, along with patriotic zeal and a sense of moral
outrage at the way |
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Germany had attacked Belgium and
its people, fueled recruitment.
The British government requested 25,000 troops of Canada and the next Prime Minister,
Sir Robert Borden, and his cabinet agreed willingly. They put the strong-willed
and
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Sir Robert Borden
Prime Minister Robert Borden. Borden led the Conservative
government as the war began and was Prime Minister for its duration. |
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