Unit 5: The "Roaring" 1920s Flashcards
Final Exam (Post-Confederation)
The Impact of the Great War and Postwar Disconnect
Veterans returning expected to return home to a better life and better country, after fighting in a horrific war, gruesomely killing the “enemies” and “winning.” And yet, they return home to unemployment and economic turmoil.
Gender Relations: the war’s changes to gender become questionable as men are returning, and expect women to step back out of the workforce and into the homes.
Russian Revolution has an ideological impact on Canada, and many of those on the left are given hope after a successful revolution has overthrown a communist party.
The economy kicks into high gear during the war, trying to produce as much as they can for the war, and then all of the sudden the war ends, and the economic recession returns with the weight of the war.
What leads to the Winnipeg General Strike?
Not all of Canada benefits from the war in the same way. The western provinces and cities do not get the same contracts that Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes do.
So in the Labour movement, we see a split in 1919.
The western delegates of the Trades and Labour Congress (based out of Ontario) break off and form their own union in the West called the One Big Union and they are frustrated because the Central Canadian Unions (i.e. Eastern Unions) are too moderate and conservative, they are not radical enough.
1919: Winnipeg General Strike
On May 1 1919, a strike breaks out in Winnipeg: The Winnipeg General Strike. J.S. Woodsworth is the leader of the Winnipeg General Strike. Winnipeg is the most race and class divided city in Canada. It is a town filled with poor immigrants, and it becomes the place that labour decides to take a stand and go on a general strike, and the entire city is shut down. The struggle between labour and capital is fought in Canada, and the rest of the country watches nervously.
The strike committee takes over the city, and Winnipeg becomes the labour capital conflict at the end of the war. The veterans split; they become divided by on which side of the Winnipeg General Strike they stand. People begin to look for scapegoats in foreigners and immigrants to blame for economy, when in reality, it was a result of white Anglo-Saxons. This is largely a result of the anti-immigrant sentiment that built during the Great War.
The city of Winnipeg puts a ban on all parades to avoid potential violence. A group of veterans decide that if they want to march on the streets, they will, as they have just fought for 5 years in a horrific war. This leads to “Bloody Saturday” on June 20 1919. A group of veterans march along the streets of Winnipeg, and as they approach the Winnipeg landmark, a tramcar approaches them and they flip it onto its side. The mounties charge, and it turns into a violent riot of Veterans vs. Veterans along the streets of Downtown Winnipeg. The downtown is destroyed, and the Winnipeg strike comes to an end on June 21st 1919 without any of its objectives achieved. The strike leaders are jailed and the government sets up a committee to find the problem, and the foreigners are blamed.
New Generation of Political Leaders
Robert Borden retires in 1920, and his coalition government begins to disintegrate and people begin to return to their parties (and the Liberal party is split).
Borden is replaced by Arthur Meighen (Conservative).
Arthur Meighen has baggage to carry. He was the solicitor general in Borden’s government during the Winnipeg General Strike and is the face of crushing the strike. He was the architect of the wartimes election act (that gave some women the vote, and took away the vote from enemy aliens).
There is a change in the Liberal Party, as well. Wilfred Laurier dies in 1919 (his funeral is the largest state funeral that Canada has ever seen) and William Lyon Mackenzie (Liberal) wins Liberal Party.
Prime Ministers become university trained experts with pHDs from out of country with academic experience.
William Lyon Mackenzie King
- Grandson of William Lyon Mackenzie, leader of the Rebellion of 1837 in Upper Canada
- Graduate of Toronto, Chicago and Harvard with a PhD in political economy
“Liberal” and “Conservative”: Clear Meaning
The Liberals represent autonomy, anti-conscription, free trade and individual, minority and provincial rights
The Conservatives represent imperial unity, conscription, protectionism, big business and the state.
King and Meighen were viewed as “politicians” and despised one another.
The Progressives
The rise of the farmers…
The big issue in the election of 1911 was the loss of the Free Trade Bill, which lead to the Agrarian revolt
Neither party could represent farmer’s interests
Breaking the two-party tradition…
1919: The UFO (united Farmers of Ontario) win office in Ontario
1921: The UFA (united Farmers of Alberta) win office in Alberta
1922: UFM (United Farmers of Manitoba) win office in Manitoba
They become known as the Progressives (lead by T.A. Crerar). They are puritans in government that represent agriculture and small-town, rural values. The Progressives ran in the 1921 federal election.
Three parties means the possibility of minority governments.
1921 Election
None of the three main parties - Liberals, Conservatives or Progressives - won a majority and none had representation in all regions.
(1) Conservatives won 50 seats
(2) Liberals won 116 seats (winning all seats in Quebec and maritimes, but only 26 west of Ottawa)
(3) Progressives won 26 (sweeping the west, but winning only 1 in maritimes and none in Quebec)
For the first time, the public elected a House of Commons divided along regional lines.
The Progressives could not resolve their differences and prove politically ineffective. They established a Party based solely on farmers at a time of rural depopulation.
William Lyon Mackenzie comes in and must deal with a minority government for the first time in Canadian history
He views the progressives as “liberals in a rush” and wants to bring them back to the Liberal party by joining political ideals.
From 1921-1925, Mackenzie King’s minority government ruled precariously, relying on the support of the Progressives (gradually reduced tariffs and restored preferential freight rates). But the early 1920s were difficult economically, and King had to choose between Quebec and the West.
1925: Custom Scandal
In 1925, the Custom Scandal breaks out; it is a wide scale corruption in the Canadian customs government (which deals with cross-border goods). Alcohol is being smuggled across the border from the US who does not have prohibition. It is a scandal about how alcohol and cars are being moved across the border within the liberal government. This scandal heats up so much so that it seems the progressives will no longer support the liberals.
1925 Election
In the election of 1925, the liberals lost heavily and the numbers fell from 116 to 99 in a House of Commons with 248, and Mackenzie King lost his seat.
The Conservatives doubled their seats and gained support in the Maritimes.
The Progressives declined to 24 seats.
King-Byng Affair
King realizes that his government faces defeat, and decided to circumvent normal parliamentary procedure. He asked the governor general, Lord Byng, to dissolve Parliament and call an election before a confidence vote could be taken in the house. The PM had the constitutional right to make such a request, but the governor general had the right to refuse it. Byng felt that King was acting dishonourably by not accepting the verdict of the people in the recent election. King wants Lord Byng to dissolve the house and have another election, and Byng is disgusted and refuses King’s request, and King resigns on June 28 1925. Byng asked Arthur Meighein to form a government, and he does, but it only lasts 3 days before being defeated by a single vote. In 1926, Arthur Mehin and the Conservative Party are voted into office, and voted out of office 3 days later. Byng has no choice but to dissolve Parliament and call the election that he had denied King a few days earlier.
1926: Election
King took the traditional Liberal position of advancing Canadian autonomy, maintaining that Byng acted unconstitutionally. His strategy worked, he sidestepped a scandal (which Meighen claimed was the real issue of the election), overcame what was almost a defeat to the Conservatives, and gained office. King, facing a scandal that should have destroyed him in 1925, is back in office in 1926 with the majority. King Liberals are in power with majority government in 1926 just as the economy begins to improve.
1923: Imperial Conferences
Coming out of the war, there was a sense that the sacrifices and contributions made by Canada in the war for Britain meant that Canada should have more of a say
- Imperial War Cabinet: Robert Borden could attend, as PM of Canada.
- By the end of the war, Britain agrees to establish the Imperial Conferences.
- Imperial Conferences will be held every 3 years, and the leaders of the white, self-governing dominions of the British Empire (Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Irish free state)
- They are there to discuss joint imperial policy
- The Conferences of 1923 and 1926 (Mackenzie King attends both) are the most important
The 1923 Imperial Conference
In 1923, Canada finds itself aligned with South Africa and the Irish free State against imperial state centralization
Australia and New Zealand are concerned about the rise of Japan in the far East
Canada, South Africa and Irish free State want dominion autonomy: they want to be able to decide if they will join war
Mackenzie plays a big role in this conference, and they destroy any idea of centralized imperial state. They want Canada to have its own say.
1923: Canada signs the Halibut Treaty, the very first international treaty that Canada signs alone without Britain
The 1926 Imperial Conference
They establish the 1926: Balfour Declaration
Balfour Declaration puts the dominions on the same level as the British government. There is no more colonial office, but instead, a family of united nations under the British Crown. By 1926, Canada is signing its own treaties.
