Voter Almanac

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The Political Campaign

The 1917 election campaign was characterized by regional differences and bitter racial rivalries. This was the most violent campaign in Canadian history. Riots and mobs in cities divided French and English Canada more deeply than ever.

Unionist Strategy

Borden had to be careful to prevent pro-conscription Liberals and Conservatives from running against each other in the same riding. This would divide the Unionists’ strength and defeat the whole purpose of a Union Government. They were, for the most part, successful at ensuring that only one Union candidate ran.

The Unionists played up the strength of their coalition arrangement, arguing that it allowed the government to look out for everyone’s interests, regardless of partisan affiliations. They emphasized that this would allow them to bring an end to patronage. The Unionists also campaigned on feelings of patriotism. Campaign speeches characterized a vote for Laurier as a “vote against the men at the front,” and a “vote for Germany.” The Unionists also made emotional appeals by promising to support voters’ relatives serving overseas. Concerned about their support in the West and rural Ontario, they promised that farmers and their sons actively engaged in agriculture would be exempted from conscription.

Although conscription was the focus of most of the election, the Unionists also attempted to appeal to other concerns by emphasizing their support of labour. They were committed to creating jobs and protecting the rights of workers.

Liberal Strategy

Outside of Quebec, the Liberals had a difficult time in this campaign. They had lost media support, so candidates were forced to travel extensively to get their message heard. Laurier was in poor health, and made very few speeches.

Despite their opposition to conscription, the Liberals promised to increase the war effort. They emphasized that there were other ways to increase enlistments, and that the voluntary system had not been given a fair chance. They said that if a Liberal government was forced to consider conscription, a national referendum would be held to let the people decide. Like the Unionists, the Liberals also attempted to wrap themselves in the flag. They argued that Canadians should not support a policy that they had no part in developing. They also pointed to the divisiveness of the debate, noting that conscription would disrupt the national unity that Canadians had worked so hard to achieve since Confederation

Laurier had the support of Henri Bourassa, the premier of Quebec. Bourassa appealed to Quebecois by saying that the war involved no Canadian interests, and therefore Canadians should not be involved. He characterized the British war effort and Borden’s conscription as an attempt at Anglo-Saxon imperialism and a centralizing scheme that would reduce Quebec’s influence in Canada.

Since Laurier could be sure of support in Quebec and Borden could be sure of support in Ontario, both leaders believed that western votes would make the difference in this election. This was especially important to Laurier because of all the western Liberals who had joined the Union government. One of his strategies was to sidestep the conscription issue in the West and promise farmers to lower tariffs on their imported agricultural implements and products.

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