By Zola Elder
FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS
Sir Robert Laird Borden GCMG PC KC (June 26, 1854 – June 10, 1937) was a Canadian lawyer and politician who was the eighth prime minister of Canada from 1911 to 1920. He is best known for his leadership of Canada during World War I.
Borden was born in Grand-Pré, Nova Scotia. He worked as a schoolteacher for a period and then served his articles of clerkship at a Halifax law firm. He was called to the bar in 1878, and soon became one of Nova Scotia’s most prominent barristers. Borden was elected to the House of Commons in the 1896 federal election, representing the Conservative Party. He replaced Charles Tupper as party leader in 1901, but was defeated in two federal elections by Liberal Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier in 1904 and 1908. However, in the 1911 federal election, Borden led the Conservatives to victory after he claimed that the Liberals’ proposed trade reciprocity treaty with the United States would lead to the US influencing Canadian identity and weaken ties with Great Britain.
Borden’s early years as prime minister focused on strengthening relations with Britain. Halfway through his first term, World War I broke out. To send soldiers overseas, he created the Canadian Expeditionary Force. He also became significantly interventionist by passing the War Measures Act which gave the government extraordinary powers. To increase government revenue to fund the war effort, Borden’s government issued victory bonds, raised tariffs, and introduced new taxes including the income tax. In 1917, facing what he believed to be a shortage in Canadian soldiers, Borden introduced conscription, angering French Canada and sparking a national divide known as the Conscription Crisis. Despite this, his Unionist Party composed of Conservatives and pro-conscription Liberals was re-elected with an overwhelming majority in the 1917 federal election. At the Paris Peace Conference, Borden sought to expand the autonomy of Canada and other Dominions. On the home front, Borden’s government dealt with the consequences of the Halifax Explosion, introduced women’s suffrage for federal elections, nationalized railways by establishing the Canadian National Railway, and controversially used the North-West Mounted Police to break up the 1919 Winnipeg general strike.
Borden retired from politics in 1920. In his retirement, he was Chancellor of Queen’s University from 1924 to 1930 and was president of two financial institutions, the Barclays Bank of Canada and the Crown Life Insurance Company from 1928 until his death in 1937. Borden places above-average among historians and the public in rankings of prime ministers of Canada. Borden was the last prime minister born before Confederation and the last prime minister to be knighted, having accepted a knighthood in 1914.
TODAY’S ALMANAC
Question of the Day
Advice of the Day
Home Hint of the Day
Word of the Day
Puzzle of the Day
Born
- Henry Cavendish (chemist) –
- Benjamin West (painter) –
- The Viscount Monck (first Governor General of Canada 1867 – 1868.) –
- Cassie Chadwick (con artist, also known as Elizabeth Bigley, Emily Heathcliff, and Lydia DeVere) –
- Helen Hayes (actress) –
- Claude Simon (author) –
- Thelonious Monk (jazz pianist) –
- James Clavell (author) –
- Ed Wood (filmmaker) –
- Ben Vereen (actor) –
- David Lee Roth (singer) –
- Tanya Tucker (country music singer) –
- Jodi Benson (singer, voice of Ariel in The Little Mermaid) –
- Brett Favre (football player) –
- Dale Earnhardt Jr. (race car driver) –
- Mya (singer) –
Died
- Cassie Chadwick (con artist) –
- Yul Brynner (actor) –
- Orson Welles (actor & director) –
- Joseph Cates (director & producer) –
- Christopher Reeve (actor) –
- Ken Caminiti (baseball player) –
- Alex Karras (football player & actor) –
Events
- The United States Naval Academy (then named the Naval School) is founded in Annapolis, Maryland.–
- Tobacco heir Griswold Lorillard shocked his contemporaries by showing up to the autumn ball in a tailless dinner jacket, thus making the Tuxedo known–
- Sir Robert Borden became the 8th prime minister of Canada–
- In Washington, D.C., President Woodrow Wilson pushed the button that relayed the signal to blow up the center of the Gamboa Dike that was keeping Atlantic waters from Pacific waters in the Panama Canal–
- The American opera Porgy and Bess opened on Broadway–
- The movie Lassie Come Home premiered–
- The Red Baron first appeared in Peanuts comic strip–
- The Supremes appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show–
- London Bridge dedicated, Lake Havasu City, Arizona–
- Soyuz 25 mission scrapped after docking troubles–
- President Jimmy Carter signed a bill authorizing the minting of the Susan B. Anthony dollar coin–
- Asteroid Cruithne (quasi-satellite of Earth) discovered–
- The New England Patriots set an NFL record for consecutive victories with their 19th straight win–
- An unidentified boom was heard in parts of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Maine around 11:30 am. In some areas, shaking was also felt. An earthquake or military plane sonic boom were ruled out as possible causes.–
Weather
- Washington, D.C., had its earliest measurable snow of the 20th century–
- Worcester, Massachusetts, was blanketed with 7.5 inches of snow.–
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