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Militia Act
The Militia Act of 1883 created permanent staff for militia schools which was the first step to creating a permanent military force within Canada.The Militia Act of 1883 was not a newly created law in Canada but was simply a revised version of the 1855 Militia Act.Before 1883 the Canadian Militia had been a primarily volunteer service with many only volunteering or being organized in times of conflict. The Militia Act was created and put into law by Wilfrid Lauriers Liberals -
Beginning of Second Boer War
The Second Boer War was important to Canadian history as it was Canada's First Foreign War. "During the conflict the government of Canada sent 1000 volunteer infantrymen in October of 1899 and created the 2nd (Special Service) Battalion and Royal Canadian Regiment (RCR) created"(BOURRIE 2017). Canada's contributions to the conflict would increase throughout the war sending another 6000 soldiers throughout the conflict which would create the 3rd Battalion RCR, 1st, 2nd and Halifax contingents -
End of the Second Boer War
The Second Boer War was an extremely important war for Canada as it showed the world that Canada was not only a part of Britain but was a strong and independent nation itself. Many Canadians distinguished themselves in the Second Boer War: "four Canadians received the Victoria Cross, 19 the Distinguished Service Order and 17 the Distinguished Conduct Medal for their service in the Second Boer War" (BOURRIE 2017). -
Militia Act 1904
In 1904 the Militia Act would be revised by parliament it would be done in order to combat issues that had arisen in the Boer War. In the war both the British and the Canadians would argue to great lengths about leadership/chain of command. The revised Militia Act of 1904 sought to solve this by creating the Militia Council of civilians and military officials whose role was to resolve such conflicts between allied combatants The act also doubled the Permanent Canadian Militia to 4000 soldiers. -
Robert Borden made leader of Conservative Party and runs for election against Liberal leader Wilfrid Laurier
"Robert Borden began his political career in 1896 when he was convinced to join by family friend Charles Tupper"(Cook 2014) . By 1901 Robert Borden had been elected to head of the Conservative Party for the province of Nova Scotia. In 1904 opportunity presented itself in Ottawa and Borden leapt at the chance becoming the Federal Conservative Leader. His first federal election in 1904 would go poorly though as Borden would lose by a majority even losing his own riding in his hometown of Halifax. -
Robert Borden embarkes on two and a half month journey
In 1907 Robert Borden would travel across Canada to meet and speak with both politicians and Canadian citizens alike. This campaign was created by the Conservative Party of Canada in order to bolster support for the Conservative party after losing by such a large majority in the past Federal election. -
1908 Canadian Election
In 1908 the role of Prime Minister would once again be up for grabs. Unfortunately even after the Robert Borden's cross Canada campaign Borden's Conservatives lose to Laurier's Liberals again. However unlike in the recent past elections the Liberals won by only a slim margin with 50.4% of the votes which would go down as the narrowest margin of victory in Wilfrid Laurier's time in office. -
Creation of the Department of External Affairs
In 1909 Wilfrid Laurier and the Liberal Party of Canada would establish the Department of External Affairs. This department was seen as important for two main reasons "It would give Canada a voice on the international stage and would display Canada's sovereignty distinguishing us as a separate entity from Britain" (Hilliker and Barry 2014). The department was created for one singular function this was to represent Canada internationally and negotiate beyond border issues. -
Naval Service Act
The Naval Service Act was created in 1910 by Wilfrid Laurier and the Liberal Party of Canada.The Naval Service Act was very important as it created the Royal Canadian Navy and was created to help Britain in their arms race against Germany. The Naval Service Act introduced increased funding to Britain to pay for the construction of the newly designed HMS Dreadnought and also began funding for the construction of Canada's own naval service the Royal Canadian Navy. -
Robert Borden becomes eighth Prime Minister of Canada
In 1911 Robert Borden's hard-work finally paid off, he had beaten Wilfrid Laurier and the Liberal Party of Canada. This was no easy task as Wilfrid Laurier leading up to the 1911 election had been the prime minister of Canada for fifteen years. In 1911 this all changed Robert Borden and the Conservative Party of Canada won a minority victory over the liberals with 48.5% of the vote to the Liberals 45.8%. -
Robert Borden announced end of Naval Shipbuilding Program started by Liberal Party
In 1912 Prime Minister Robert Borden would bring to parliament a plan to remove the shipbuilding program that had been created by Wilfrid Laurier and the Liberal Party. French Canadian cabinet member (Conservative Party) Frederick Monk argued against this plan and demanded a "nationwide plebiscite" (Cook, 2013). This plebiscite was negatively received by parliament and the plebiscite was rejected. -
Frederick Monk resigns
Monk would resin on October 18th, 1912 in response to the rejection of his proposed plebiscite. After Monk left parliament and the Conservative Party of Canada this would lead to many issues for Robert Borden the most important being that he lost what little influence he had in French Canada. This would exacerbate future issues such as the conscription crisis and create animosity between the Conservative Party and French Canadians. -
Introduction of the Naval Aid Bill
On December 5th of 1912 Robert Borden announced publicly a plan to officially end the Naval shipbuilding program and remove legislation created by the Naval Service Act. "Borden planned to end the act but also planned to conserve relations between Canada and Great Britain his plan to do this was to donate $35 million to Britain for the construction of three HMS dreadnoughts" (Cook 2014). The plan to build Canadian warships would be postponed indefinitely if the bill were to pass. -
Naval Aid Bill Blocked
On April 9th, 1913 in order to pass he Naval Aid Bill for the first time in History the Conservatives enacted closure on debate over the Naval Aid Bill. This would anger parliament especially Wilfrid Laurier and the opposing Liberal Party who saw it as "failure of democracy and reason" (Cook 2014). The issue was brought to the senate which was Liberal controlled and on June 5th, 1913 the bill was blocked and after further weeks of debate appeared to disappear from parliament debate completelly. -
World War One Begins
After the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand war was declared by Germany and Austria-Hungary on the countries:Great Britain, France, Russia and therefore Canada as a dominion of Great Britain.Further countries such as Italy, Romania and the Ottoman Empire would join in soon after beginning 'The Great War'.
