Conscription crisis (1917)

As the First World War dragged on, with its enormous demand for human and material resources and with voluntary recruitment declining, Prime Minister Sir Robert Laird Borden imposed military conscription in the summer of 1917. Following a campaign on this issue, the December elections deeply divided Canadians and resulted in persistent bitterness, especially between French Canadians who opposed conscription and English Canadians who favoured the Union government that had been created in October 1917 to impose conscription. The political cost was enormous: the Conservative Party’s support in Quebec was destroyed and would not be recovered for decades to come.