Voter Almanac

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The Election Campaign

Laurier did not seem worried that his government was threatened by the Conservatives. He was confident that his 15 year political record would lead him to success again.

Liberal Strategy

The Liberals focused on the economic benefits that reciprocity would bring to Canadians. Laurier had experienced strong support for free trade in the West, and Liberal politicians in those areas had a simple message that reciprocity meant “higher prices for our products and a lower price for our necessities.” They dismissed the Conservative accusations that supporters of free trade were being disloyal to Canada and to Britain. For the Liberals, free trade was simply an issue of economic growth for Canada.

In Quebec, where the naval question was the most important issue, Laurier faced a tough campaign. Laurier had always been able to balance French and English interests, but he was accused of deserting his French countrymen by giving into Britain’s demands. He was characterized as an imperialist. To counter this, Laurier pointed out the strange alliance between Bourassa and Borden. He said that a vote for Bourassa was a vote for Borden, and Borden himself was an imperialist despite his relationship with Bourassa. Laurier characterized their alliance as a “black contract,” made despite ideological differences just to achieve political ends.

Conservative Strategy: The Bourassa-Borden Alliance

The Conservative-Nationalist alliance was never formally set out, but Bourassa would run 28 Nationalist candidates as Conservatives. The reason for this was to provide a stronger opposition to Laurier. The anti-Liberal forces, especially in Quebec , needed to work together to defeat the government. Although the Conservatives had previously branded Bourassa a rebel for his anti-imperialist policies, they needed his support to defeat the Liberals.

The Conservative-Nationalist Alliance allowed Borden to focus his efforts in Ontario, where he portrayed Laurier as disloyal to the British Empire through his reciprocity agreement with the United States. Bourassa was left to focus on Quebec, where he attacked Laurier as disloyal to his fellow French Canadians by selling out their military interests to British control.

The Conservatives did not support reciprocity. Although the Liberals emphasized the commercial benefits that free trade would bring, the Conservatives chose to appeal to the sentimental aspects of reciprocity with the USA:

• They characterized free trade as a policy of continentalism and annexation to the USA
• The accused the Liberals of being disloyal to Canada and to Britain
• They rallied the voters who were hostile to the USA by running under a slogan of “no truck or trade with the Yankees”
• They pointed out that Canadians were sufficiently prosperous, and that they were willing to sacrifice further gains in order to show their resentment towards years of USA hostility and condescension

The sentimental Conservative campaign was aided by Champ Clark (the American Speaker of the House of Representatives). He said, “I hope to see the day when the American flag will float over every square foot of the British North American possessions…” The actual commercial benefits of reciprocity were overshadowed by these kinds of statements, as feelings of national pride and USA hostility became the centre of the campaign.

In Quebec, Bourassa used his anti-imperalist messages to portray Laurier’s policies as “moral evils.” He accused Laurier of abandoning Canadian autonomy in favour of British military interests.

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Election Results

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