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Meanwhile, Canadian industry was being turned into a blast furnace for weapons.
The need for shells, fuses, guns and tanks was so vast that every manufacturing
facility in British dominions was turning to their production. The lucrative
contracts the government handed out to manufacturers left politicians open to
graft and corruption. In fact, the Shell Scandal touched politicians as high
as Sam Hughes, causing Borden to scrap Canada's Shell committee before real political
damage was done.
By 1918, rationing, guidelines for saving gas and consumables, strikes, rebellion
against conscription, neighbours spying on neighbours and a rising death toll
had soured most Canadians on the Great War. It had gone on too long and had cost
far more in money, lives and lifestyle than was tenable.
Fortunately for Borden's government, the Great War ended on November 11, 1918.
The Canadian Corps, which had begun WWI as a largely untrained group of gungho
farm boys, |
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clerks and shopkeepers, ended the war as a depleted, hardened band of warriors.
They had put Canada on the martial and diplomatic map, had been responsible in
good measure for the successes of the last days of the war and had changed the
face of Europe.
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The Felixstowe F5
Wing panels of the Felixstowe F5 flying boat are under construction. 30 of the
planes were constructed at Canadian Aeroplanes Limited.
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