Federal election of 1911

It was partly because of his exasperation with the resistance to his reciprocal trade plan with the United States that Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier decided to settle the question by triggering an election in 1911. Reciprocal trade with the United States, which was at the heart of the election campaign, gave rise to a debate in which supporters of economic protectionism and the link with imperial trade on one side, and believers in a continental philosophy of trade on the other, were opposed. Although secondary to reciprocal trade, the creation of a Canadian navy was the other issue in the campaign. The imperialist nationalists and the purely Canadian nationalists had locked horns over this matter and had been engaging in acrimonious debate ever since 1909.

On 21 Sept. 1911 the Conservatives took all 7 seats in British Columbia, 8 of 10 in Manitoba, and 73 of 86 in Ontario. In Quebec their representation jumped from 11 to 27. Robert Laird Borden’s Tories had won 134 seats in the House of Commons; Laurier’s Liberals were returned in 87 constituencies. Borden was the new prime minister of Canada.