88-629: Imperial Economic Conference may refer to: 1923 Imperial Conference of British Empire prime ministers held in London The British Empire Economic Conference of prime ministers held in Ottawa in 1932 Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Imperial Economic Conference . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change
176-541: A rump of 40; this was the largest majority government at the time. For the first time in his political career, King led an undisputed Liberal majority government. Upon his return to office in October 1935, he seemed to demonstrate a commitment (like Franklin Roosevelt ) to the underprivileged, speaking of a new era where "poverty and adversity, want and misery are the enemies which liberalism will seek to banish from
264-473: A century of federal planning that repositioned Ottawa as a national space in the City Beautiful style. Confederation Square , for example, was initially planned to be a civic plaza to balance the nearby federal presence of Parliament Hill and was turned into a war memorial. The Great War monument was not installed until the 1939 royal visit, and King intended that the replanning of the capital would be
352-608: A component of his broader program of social reform. He drew on four broad traditions in early North American planning: social planning, the Parks Movement, the City Scientific, and the City Beautiful . King's greatest impact was as the political champion for the planning and development of Ottawa, Canada's national capital. His plans, much of which were completed in the two decades after his death, were part of
440-589: A dominion with responsible government to an autonomous nation within the British Commonwealth . King asserted Canadian autonomy against the British government's attempts to turn the Commonwealth into an alliance. His biographer asserts that "in this struggle Mackenzie King was the constant aggressor". The Canadian High Commissioner to Britain, Vincent Massey , claimed that an "anti-British bias"
528-532: A majority. After his loss, King stayed on as leader of the Liberals, becoming the leader of the Opposition for the second time. King began his years as Opposition leader convinced that his government did not deserve defeat and that his government's financial caution helped the economy prosper. He blamed the financial crisis on the speculative excesses of businessmen and on the weather cycle. King argued that
616-460: A measure was introduced and passed "restoring the Crow's Nest Pass railways rates on grain and flour moving eastwards from the prairie provinces." A Farm Loan Board was set up to provide rural credit; advancing funds to farmers "at rates of interest and under terms not obtainable from the usual sources," while other measures were carried out such as preventative measures against foot and mouth disease and
704-601: A narrow majority of 118 out of 235 seats. The Conservatives won 50, the newly formed Progressive Party won 58 (but declined to form the official Opposition), and the remaining ten seats went to Labour MPs and Independents; most of these ten supported the Progressives. King became prime minister. As prime minister of Canada, King was appointed to the Privy Council of the United Kingdom on 20 June 1922 and
792-470: A new precedent for the role of British Dominions . King expanded the Department of External Affairs , founded in 1909, to further promote Canadian autonomy from Britain. The new department took some time to develop, but over time it significantly increased the reach and projection of Canadian diplomacy. Prior to this, Canada had relied on British diplomats who owed their first loyalty to London. After
880-522: A post-war election , in which the Liberals lost their majority government . In his final years in office, King and his government partnered Canada with other Western nations to take part in the deepening Cold War , introduced Canadian citizenship , and successfully negotiated Newfoundland 's entry into Confederation . After leading his party for 29 years, and leading the country for 21 + 1 ⁄ 2 years, King retired from politics in late 1948. He died of pneumonia in mid-1950. King's personality
968-486: A skating party when a young woman fell through the ice of the partly frozen Ottawa River . Harper dove into the water to try to save her, and perished in the attempt. King led the effort to raise a memorial to Harper, which resulted in the erection of the Sir Galahad statue on Parliament Hill in 1905. In 1906, King published a memoir of Harper, entitled The Secret of Heroism . While deputy minister of labour, King
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#17327727974591056-478: A teaching position at the university but earned political credit with Mulock, the man who would invite him to Ottawa and make him a deputy minister only five years later. While studying at the University of Toronto, King also contributed to the campus newspaper, The Varsity , and served as president of the yearbook committee in 1896. King subsequently wrote for The Globe , The Mail and Empire , and
1144-562: The Chinese Immigration Act, 1923 banning most forms of Chinese immigration to Canada. Immigration from most countries was controlled or restricted in some way, but only the Chinese were completely prohibited from immigrating. This was after various members of the federal and some provincial governments (especially British Columbia ) put pressure on the federal government to discourage Chinese immigration. Also in 1923,
1232-662: The 1911 general election , which saw the Conservatives defeat the Liberals and form government. After his defeat, King went on the lecture circuit on behalf of the Liberal Party. In June 1914 John D. Rockefeller Jr. hired him at the Rockefeller Foundation in New York City, to head its new Department of Industrial Research. It paid $ 12,000 per year, compared to the meagre $ 2,500 per year
1320-775: The Chanak Crisis without Parliament 's consent and negotiating the Halibut Treaty with the United States without British interference. In the 1925 election , the Conservatives won a plurality of seats, but the Liberals negotiated support from the Progressive Party and stayed in office as a minority government . In 1926, facing a Commons vote that could force his government to resign, King asked Governor General Lord Byng to dissolve parliament and call an election. Byng refused and instead invited
1408-701: The Great Depression led to a defeat at the polls in 1930 . The Conservative government's response to the depression was unpopular and King returned to power in a landslide victory in the 1935 election . Soon after, the economy was on an upswing. King negotiated the 1935 Reciprocal Trade Agreement with the United States, passed the 1938 National Housing Act to improve housing affordability, introduced unemployment insurance in 1940, and in 1944, introduced family allowances – Canada's first universal welfare program . The government also established Trans-Canada Air Lines (the precursor to Air Canada ) and
1496-607: The Irish Free State , while still autonomous communities within the British Empire , ceased to be subordinate to the United Kingdom. Thus, the governor general ceased to represent the British government and was solely the personal representative of the sovereign while becoming a representative of The Crown . This ultimately was formalized in the Statute of Westminster 1931 . On September 14, King and his party won
1584-658: The National Film Board . King's government deployed Canadian troops days after the Second World War broke out . The Liberals' overwhelming triumph in the 1940 election allowed King to continue leading Canada through the war. He mobilized Canadian money, supplies, and volunteers to support Britain while boosting the economy and maintaining morale on the home front. To satisfy French Canadians , King delayed introducing overseas conscription until late 1944. The Allies ' victory in 1945 allowed King to call
1672-602: The Toronto News . Fellow journalist W. A. Hewitt recalled that, the city editor of the Toronto News left him in charge one afternoon with instructions to fire King if he showed up. When Hewitt sat at the editor's desk, King showed up a few minutes later and resigned before Hewitt could tell him he was fired. After studying at the University of Chicago and working with Jane Addams at her settlement house, Hull House , King proceeded to Harvard University . While at
1760-585: The 1890s and later obtained a PhD – the only Canadian prime minister to have done so. In 1900, he became deputy minister of the Canadian government's new Department of Labour. He entered the House of Commons in 1908 before becoming the federal minister of labour in 1909 under Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier . After losing his seat in the 1911 federal election , King worked for the Rockefeller Foundation before briefly working as an industrial consultant. Following
1848-458: The Bennett government's budget deficits as irresponsible, though didn't suggest his own idea of how budgets could be balanced . King also denounced the "blank cheques" parliament was asked to approve for relief and delayed the passage of these bills despite the objections of some Liberals who feared the public might conclude that the Liberals had no sympathy for those struggling. Each year, after
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#17327727974591936-596: The British Columbia Interior, mandating that they either resettle east of the Rocky Mountains or face deportation to Japan after the war. He played a major role in laying the foundations of the Canadian welfare state and establishing Canada's international position as a middle power . With a total of 21 years and 154 days in office, he remains the longest-serving prime minister in Canadian history . King studied law and political economy in
2024-503: The British government could commit another to an action without its consent. The conference's final report affirmed the Canadian and South African position and thus was a step away from the concept of a centralised British Empire in favour of a more decentralised British Commonwealth without central authority, subsequently affirmed by the Balfour Declaration of 1926 and the Statute of Westminster 1931 . Speaking at
2112-569: The Canadian parliament, it declared that it alone had the authority to declare war on behalf of Canada. The other Dominion prime ministers failed to support Lloyd George's action. When a new peace treaty, the Treaty of Lausanne , was negotiated with Turkey in 1923, the Dominion governments did not participate in the negotiations or sign and they declared that the UK acted only for itself and not on behalf of
2200-662: The Conservative government have its way. Though he gave the impression of sympathy with progressive and liberal causes, he had no enthusiasm for the New Deal of American President Franklin D. Roosevelt (which Bennett eventually tried to emulate, after floundering without solutions for several years), and he never advocated massive government action to alleviate the Depression in Canada. As Opposition leader, King denounced
2288-479: The Conservative rivals. When Laurier died in 1919, King was elected leader in the first Liberal leadership convention , defeating his three rivals on the fourth ballot. He won thanks to the support of the Quebec bloc, organized by Ernest Lapointe (1876–1941), later King's long-time lieutenant in Quebec. King could not speak French, but in election after election for the next 20 years (save for 1930), Lapointe produced
2376-526: The Conservatives held more seats in the House than any other party, they did not control a majority. They were soon themselves defeated on a motion of non-confidence on July 2. Meighen himself then requested a dissolution of Parliament, which Byng now granted. King ran the 1926 Liberal election campaign largely on the issue of the right of Canadians to govern themselves and against the interference of
2464-553: The Conservatives to form government, who briefly held office but lost a motion of no confidence . This sequence of events triggered a major constitutional crisis , the King–Byng affair . King and the Liberals decisively won the resulting election . After, King sought to make Canada's foreign policy more independent by expanding the Department of External Affairs while recruiting more Canadian diplomats. His government also introduced old-age pensions based on need. King's slow reaction to
2552-617: The Conservatives would attempt to introduce such a scheme in Britain; however, the British public feared higher prices for basic products (particularly food), and this fear was a factor in the Conservative government's defeat in the election of December 1923 . Baldwin's successor Ramsay MacDonald repudiated the plan and it would not see fruition until the British Empire Economic Conference of 1932. The conference attempted to coordinate industrial research for
2640-533: The Crown. The Liberal Party was returned to power with a minority government , which bolstered King's position on the issue and the position of the Prime Minister generally. King later pushed for greater Canadian autonomy at the 1926 Imperial Conference which elicited the Balfour Declaration stating that upon the granting of dominion status, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Newfoundland , South Africa, and
2728-559: The Dominions. In addition, prior to the Imperial Conference, Canada negotiated the Halibut Treaty with the United States and did so without involving the United Kingdom or allowing the British government to sign on Canada's behalf. This was a departure from earlier practice in which the British government had sole responsibility for imperial foreign affairs and a constitutional right to conduct foreign policy on behalf of
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2816-527: The King-Hertzog principle). The Conference affirmed the Canadian position that dominions had the right to pursue their own foreign policy autonomously from Britain and the Empire and could negotiate and sign treaties on their own behalf. It was also recognised that each member of the Empire was obliged to avoid taking any action that would injure another member and that neither the Dominion governments nor
2904-499: The King–Byng episode, King recruited many high-calibre people for the new venture, including future prime minister Lester Pearson and influential career administrators Norman Robertson and Hume Wrong . This project was a key element of his overall strategy, setting Canada on a course independent of Britain, of former colonizer France , as well as of the neighbouring powerful United States. Throughout his tenure, King led Canada from
2992-666: The Liberal Party was paying. He worked for the Foundation until 1918, forming a close working association and friendship with Rockefeller, advising him through the turbulent period of the 1913–1914 Strike and Ludlow Massacre –in what is known as the Colorado Coalfield War –at a family-owned coal company in Colorado , which subsequently set the stage for a new era in labour management in America. King became one of
3080-564: The North Pacific Ocean . In 1923, King's government negotiated the Halibut Treaty with the United States. The treaty annually prohibited commercial fishing from November 16 to February 15; violation would result in seizure. The agreement was notable in which Canada negotiated it without a British delegate at the table and without ratification from the British Parliament ; though not official, convention stated that
3168-476: The Progressive caucus lacked the party discipline that was traditionally enforced by the Liberals and Conservatives. The Progressives had campaigned on a promise that their MP's would represent their constituents first. King used this to his advantage, as he could always count on at least a handful of Progressive MPs to shore up his near-majority position for any crucial vote. In 1923, King's government passed
3256-472: The Progressives gradually weakened. Their effective and passionate leader, Thomas Crerar , resigned to return to his grain business, and was replaced by the more placid Robert Forke , who joined King's cabinet in 1926 as Minister of Immigration and Colonization after becoming a Liberal-Progressive . Socialist reformer J. S. Woodsworth gradually gained influence and power, and King was able to reach an accommodation with him on policy matters. In any event,
3344-491: The United Kingdom would have a seat at the table or be a signatory to any agreement Canada was part of. King argued the situation only concerned Canada and the United States. After, the British accepted King's intentions to send a separate Canadian diplomat to Washington D.C. (to represent Canada's interests) rather than a British one. At the 1923 Imperial Conference , Britain accepted the Halibut Treaty, arguing it set
3432-576: The United States on an as-needed basis, performing service to the war effort by helping to keep war-related industries running smoothly. In 1918, King, assisted by his friend F. A. McGregor, published Industry and Humanity: A Study in the Principles Underlying Industrial Reconstruction , a dense, abstract book he wrote in response to the Ludlow massacre . It went over the heads of most readers, but revealed
3520-459: The University of Chicago, he participated on their track team as a half-mile runner. He earned an MA in political economy from Harvard in 1898. In 1909, Harvard granted him a PhD degree for a dissertation titled "Publicity and Public Opinion as Factors in the Solution of Industrial Problems in Canada." He is the only Canadian Prime Minister to have earned a PhD. In 1900, King became editor of
3608-488: The University of Toronto. King became a lifelong practising Presbyterian with a dedication to social reform based on his Christian duty. He never favoured socialism . King enrolled at the University of Toronto in 1891. He obtained a BA degree in 1895, an LLB degree in 1896, and an MA in 1897, all from the university. While studying in Toronto he met a wide circle of friends, many of whom became prominent. He
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3696-527: The World War I memorial. However, the symbolic meaning of the World War I monument gradually expanded to become the place of remembrance for all Canadian war sacrifices and includes a war memorial. King called an election in 1925 , in which the Conservatives won the most seats, but not a majority in the House of Commons . King held onto power with the support of the Progressives. A corruption scandal discovered late in his first term involved misdeeds around
3784-586: The autumn of 1923, the first attended by the new Irish Free State . While named the Imperial Economic Conference , the principal activity concerned the rights of the Dominions in regards to determining their own foreign policy. Where previous Imperial Conferences were held in public session, the 1923 conference allowing for in camera discussion with a resolution "that at meetings of this nature, where questions of high policy and of
3872-482: The conference on the subject of suffrage for non-whites South African politician and former Imperial War Cabinet member Jan Smuts stated, If there was to be equal manhood suffrage over the Union, the whites would be swamped by the blacks. A distinction could not be made between Indians and Africans. They would be impelled by the inevitable force of logic to go the whole hog, and the result would be that not only would
3960-649: The constituency of York North , which his grandfather had once represented. The Liberal Party was deeply divided by Quebec's opposition to conscription and the agrarian revolt in Ontario and the Prairies. Levin argues that when King returned to politics in 1919, he was a rusty outsider with a weak base facing a nation bitterly split by language, regionalism and class. He outmaneuvered more senior competitors by embracing Laurier's legacy, championing labour interests, calling for welfare reform, and offering solid opposition to
4048-493: The crisis. King coldly replied that the Canadian Parliament would decide what policy to follow, making clear it would not be bound by London's suggestions. King wrote in his diary of the British appeal: "I confess it annoyed me. It is drafted designedly to play the imperial game, to test out centralization versus autonomy as regards European wars...No [Canadian] contingent will go without parliament being summoned in
4136-742: The critical seats to give the Liberals control of the Commons. When campaigning in Quebec, King portrayed Lapointe as co-prime minister. Once King became the Liberal leader in 1919 he paid closer attention to the Prairies , a fast-developing region. Viewing a sunrise in Alberta in 1920, he wrote in his diary, "I thought of the New Day, the New Social Order. It seems like Heaven's prophecy of
4224-578: The customs scandal that could force his government to resign, advised the Governor General , Lord Byng , to dissolve Parliament and call another election. Byng, however, declined the Prime Minister's request – the first time in Canadian history that a request for dissolution was refused; and, to date, the only time the governor general of Canada has done so. Byng instead asked Leader of the Opposition , Arthur Meighen, to form government. Although
4312-868: The darker races beyond the pale of democracy and of modern humanity was listened to with sympathetic attention in England. It is without doubt today the dominant policy of the British Empire." On the issue of trade, Australian prime minister Stanley Bruce lobbied hard and consistently for the Conservative government of Stanley Baldwin to make changes to Great Britain's trading arrangements to give preference to Dominion products over imports from elsewhere. Bruce argued for Empire-wide economic trading arrangements that would see domestic demands filled by production from member states before seeking supplemental imports from other countries and empires. Baldwin and
4400-423: The dawn of a new era, revealed to me." Pragmatism played a role as well, since his party depended for its survival on the votes of Progressive Party Members of Parliament, many of whom who represented farmers in Ontario and the Prairies. He convinced many Progressives to return to the Liberal fold. In the 1921 election , King's Liberals defeated the Conservatives led by Prime Minister Arthur Meighen , winning
4488-513: The death of Laurier in 1919, King acceded to the leadership of the Liberal Party. Taking the helm of a party torn apart by the Conscription Crisis of 1917 , he unified both the pro- conscription and anti-conscription factions of the party, leading it to victory in the 1921 federal election . King established a post-war agenda that lowered wartime taxes and tariffs. He strengthened Canadian autonomy by refusing to support Britain in
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#17327727974594576-544: The dominions, including signing treaties on their behalf. The British, Australian, and New Zealand governments wished the conference to adopt a broad common foreign policy statement however Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King and South African Prime Minister J. B. M. Hertzog argued that allowing the conference to make decisions that were binding on the dominions would encroach on their autonomy and that foreign policy of each Dominion should be determined by that Dominion's parliament (henceforth referred to as
4664-524: The earliest expert practitioners in the emerging field of industrial relations . King was not a pacifist, but he showed little enthusiasm for the Great War ; he faced criticism for not serving in Canada's military and instead working for the Rockefellers. However, he was nearly 40 years old when the war began, and was not in good physical condition. He never gave up his Ottawa home, and travelled to
4752-615: The election with a plurality of seats in the Commons: 116 seats to the Conservatives' 91 in a 245-member House. During the Chanak Crisis of 1922, King refused to support the British without first consulting Parliament , while the Conservative leader, Arthur Meighen, supported Britain. King sought a Canadian voice independent of London in foreign affairs. In September 1922 the British Prime Minister, David Lloyd George , appealed repeatedly to King for Canadian support in
4840-488: The establishment of grading standards "to assist in the marketing of agricultural products" both at home and overseas. In addition, the Combines Investigation Act of 1923 was aimed at safeguarding consumers and producers from exploitation. A Fair Wages and Eight Hours Day Act was introduced in 1930. King's government was in power at the beginning of the Great Depression , but was slow to respond to
4928-408: The expansion of the Beauharnois Canal in Quebec; this led to extensive inquiries and eventually a Royal Commission , which exposed the Beauharnois Scandal . The resulting press coverage damaged King's party in the election. Early in his second term, another corruption scandal, this time in the Department of Customs, was revealed, which led to more support for the Conservatives and Progressives, and
5016-414: The family. King's father was a lawyer with a struggling practice in a small city, and never enjoyed financial security. His parents lived a life of shabby gentility, employing servants and tutors they could scarcely afford, although their financial situation improved somewhat following a move to Toronto around 1890, where King lived with them for several years in a duplex on Beverley Street while studying at
5104-414: The federal government used the report to justify the first legislation outlawing narcotics in Canada. King was first elected to Parliament as a Liberal in the 1908 federal election , representing Waterloo North . In 1909, King was appointed as the first-ever minister of labour by Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier . King's term as minister of labour was marked by two significant achievements. He led
5192-492: The federal government-owned Labour Gazette , a publication that explored complex labour issues. Later that year, he was appointed as deputy minister of the Canadian government's new Department of Labour, and became active in policy domains from Japanese immigration to railways, notably the Industrial Disputes Investigations Act (1907) which sought to avert labour strikes by prior conciliation. In 1901, King's roommate and best friend, Henry Albert Harper , died heroically during
5280-431: The first instance". The British were disappointed with King's response but the crisis was soon resolved, as King had anticipated. After Chanak, King was concerned about the possibility that Canada might go to war because of its connections with Britain, writing to Violet Markham : Anything like centralization in London, to say nothing of a direct or indirect attempt on the part of those in office in Downing Street to tell
5368-417: The government modified the Immigration Act to allow former subjects of Austria-Hungary to once again enter Canada. Ukrainian immigration resumed after restrictions were put in place during World War I. King had a long-standing concern with city planning and the development of the national capital, since he had been trained in the settlement house movement and envisioned town planning and garden cities as
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#17327727974595456-431: The greatest consequence to all parts of the British Commonwealth are surveyed and dealt with, it was of the first importance that the representatives present should feel able to speak among themselves with the utmost freedom and in a spirit of complete confidence." The conference occurred in the wake of several important developments in Empire diplomacy. The Chanak Crisis of 1922 was a threatened military conflict between
5544-449: The land". Once again, King appointed himself as secretary of state for external affairs ; he held that post until 1946. Promising a much-desired trade treaty with the U.S., the King government passed the 1935 Reciprocal Trade Agreement. It marked the turning point in Canadian-American economic relations, reversing the disastrous trade war of 1930–31, lowering tariffs, and yielding a dramatic increase in trade. More subtly, it revealed to
5632-454: The late 1930s. Historian Jack Granatstein notes, "the scholars expressed little admiration for King the man but offered unbounded admiration for his political skills and attention to Canadian unity." King is ranked among the top three of Canadian prime ministers. King was born in a frame house rented by his parents at 43 Benton Street in Berlin ( now Kitchener ), Ontario to John King and Isabel Grace Mackenzie. His maternal grandfather
5720-441: The link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Imperial_Economic_Conference&oldid=932889028 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages 1923 Imperial Conference The 1923 Imperial Conference met in London in
5808-412: The mounting crisis. He felt that the crisis was a temporary swing of the business cycle and that the economy would soon recover without government intervention. Critics said he was out of touch. Just prior to the election, King carelessly remarked that he "would not give a five-cent piece" to Tory provincial governments for unemployment relief. The opposition made this remark a catch-phrase; the main issue
5896-410: The newly formed Republic of Turkey and the United Kingdom . During the crisis, the British cabinet issued a communiqué threatening to declare war against Turkey on behalf of the UK and the Dominions. British Prime Minister David Lloyd George had not consulted the Dominions and Canada disavowed the British ultimatum: when Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King referred the issue to
5984-410: The passage of the Industrial Disputes Investigation Act and the Combines Investigation Act , which he had shaped during his civil and parliamentary service. The legislation significantly improved the financial situation for millions of Canadian workers. In 1910 Mackenzie King introduced a bill aimed at establishing an 8-hour day on public works but it was killed in the Senate. He lost his seat in
6072-618: The people of the Dominions what they should or should not do, and to dictate their duty in matters of foreign policy, is certain to prove just as injurious to the so-called 'imperial solidarity' as any attempt at interference in questions of purely domestic concern. If membership within the British Commonwealth means participation by the Dominions in any and every war in which Great Britain becomes involved, without consultation, conference, or agreement of any kind in advance, I can see no hope for an enduring relationship. For years, halibut stocks were depleting in Canadian and American fishing areas in
6160-410: The possibility that King would be forced to resign, if he lost sufficient support in the Commons. King had no personal connection to this scandal, although one of his own appointees was at the heart of it. Opposition leader Meighen unleashed his fierce invective towards King, stating he was hanging onto power "like a lobster with lockjaw". ` In June 1926, King, facing a House of Commons vote connected to
6248-432: The practical idealism behind King's political thinking. He argued that capital and labour were natural allies, not foes, and that the community at large (represented by the government) should be the third and decisive party in industrial disputes. He expressed derision for syndicates and trades unions, chastising them for aiming at the "destruction by force of existing organization, and the transfer of industrial capital from
6336-566: The present possessors" to themselves. Quitting the Rockefeller Foundation in February 1918, King became an independent consultant on labour issues for the next two years, earning $ 1,000 per week from leading American corporations. Even so, he kept his official residence in Ottawa, hoping for a call to duty. In 1917, Canada was in crisis; King supported Liberal leader Wilfrid Laurier in his opposition to conscription , which
6424-490: The provincial governments, he inaugurated a system of old-age pensions based on need. In February 1930, he appointed Cairine Wilson as the first female senator in Canadian history. Reductions in taxation were carried out such as exemptions under the sales tax on commodities and enlarged exemptions of income tax, while in 1929 taxes on cables, telegrams, and railway and steamship tickets were removed. Measures were also carried out to support farmers. In 1922, for instance,
6512-562: The purposes of promoting intra-empire trade and this was largely successful, with Departments of Scientific and Industrial Research being founded in the UK , New Zealand and India , and the Commonwealth Institute of Science and Industry being restructured in Australia. William Lyon Mackenzie King William Lyon Mackenzie King (December 17, 1874 – July 22, 1950) was a Canadian statesman and politician who
6600-405: The throne speech and the budget, King introduced amendments that blamed the depression on Bennett's policy of high tariffs. By the time the 1935 election arrived, the Bennett government was heavily unpopular due to their handling of the depression. Using the slogan "King or Chaos", the Liberals won a landslide victory , winning 173 out of the Commons' 245 seats and reducing the Conservatives to
6688-636: The whites be swamped in Natal by the Indians but the whites would be swamped all over South Africa by the blacks and the whole position for which the whites had striven for two hundred years or more now would be given up. So far as South Africa was concerned, therefore, it was a question of impossibility. For white South Africa it was not a question of dignity but a question of existence. Commenting on this speech African-American historian and Pan-Africanist W. E. B. Du Bois wrote that "This almost naïve setting of
6776-495: The worst mistake Canada could react to the Depression was to raise tariffs and restrict international trade. He believed that over time, voters would learn that they had been deceived by Bennett and would come to appreciate the King government's policy of frugality and free trade . King's policy was to refrain from offering advice or alternative policies. Indeed, his policy preferences were not much different from Bennett's, and he let
6864-635: Was William Lyon Mackenzie , first mayor of Toronto and leader of the Upper Canada Rebellion in 1837. His father was a lawyer and later a lecturer at Osgoode Hall Law School . King had three siblings: older sister Isabel "Bella" Christina Grace (1873–1915), younger sister Janet "Jennie" Lindsey (1876–1962) and younger brother Dougall Macdougall "Max" (1878–1922). Within his family, he was known as Willie; during his university years, he adopted W. L. Mackenzie King as his signature and began using Mackenzie as his preferred name with those outside
6952-480: Was "one of the most powerful factors in his make-up". In domestic affairs, King strengthened the Liberal policy of increasing the powers of the provincial governments by transferring to the governments of Manitoba , Alberta , and Saskatchewan the ownership of the crown lands within those provinces, as well as the subsoil rights; these in particular would become increasingly important, as petroleum and other natural resources proved very abundant. In collaboration with
7040-552: Was an early member and officer of the Kappa Alpha Society , which included a number of these individuals (two future Ontario Supreme Court Justices and the future chairman of the university itself). It encouraged debate on political ideas. He also was simultaneously a part of the Literary Society with Arthur Meighen , a future political rival. King was especially concerned with issues of social welfare and
7128-469: Was appointed to investigate the causes of and claims for compensation resulting from the 1907 anti-Oriental riots in Vancouver's Chinatown and Japantown . One of the claims for damages came from Chinese opium dealers, which led King to investigate narcotics use in Vancouver , British Columbia. Following the investigation King reported that white women were also opium users, not just Chinese men, and
7216-571: Was complex; biographers agree on the personal characteristics that made him distinctive. He lacked the charisma of such contemporaries as Franklin D. Roosevelt , Winston Churchill , or Charles de Gaulle . Cold and tactless in human relations, he lacked oratorical skill and his personality did not resonate with the electorate. He kept secret his beliefs in spiritualism and use of mediums to stay in contact with departed associates and particularly with his mother, and allowed his intense spirituality to distort his understanding of Adolf Hitler throughout
7304-478: Was influenced by the settlement house movement pioneered by Toynbee Hall in London, England. He played a central role in fomenting a students' strike at the university in 1895. He was in close touch, behind the scenes, with Vice-Chancellor William Mulock , for whom the strike provided a chance to embarrass his rivals Chancellor Edward Blake and President James Loudon . King failed to gain his immediate objective,
7392-521: Was sworn at Buckingham Palace on October 11, 1923, during the 1923 Imperial Conference . During his first term of office, from 1921 to 1926, King sought to lower wartime taxes and, especially, wartime ethnic and labour tensions. "The War is over", he argued, "and for a long time to come it is going to take all that the energies of man can do to bridge the chasm and heal the wounds which the War has made in our social life." Despite prolonged negotiations, King
7480-501: Was the deterioration in the economy and whether the prime minister was out of touch with the hardships of ordinary people. The Liberals lost the election of 1930 to the Conservative Party, led by Richard Bedford Bennett . The popular vote was very close between the two parties, with the Liberals actually earning more votes than in 1926, but the Conservatives had a geographical advantage that turned into enough seats to give
7568-469: Was the tenth prime minister of Canada for three non-consecutive terms from 1921 to 1926, 1926 to 1930, and 1935 to 1948. A Liberal , he was the dominant politician in Canada from the early 1920s to the late 1940s. King is best known for his leadership of Canada throughout the Great Depression and the Second World War . In August 1944, he ordered the displacement of Japanese Canadians out of
7656-706: Was unable to attract the Progressives into his government, but once Parliament opened, he relied on their support to defeat non-confidence motions from the Conservatives. King was opposed in some policies by the Progressives, who opposed the high tariffs of the National Policy . King faced a delicate balancing act of reducing tariffs enough to please the Prairie-based Progressives, but not so much as to alienate his vital supporters in industrial Ontario and Quebec, who perceived tariffs were necessary to compete with American imports. Over time,
7744-420: Was violently opposed in the province of Quebec . The Liberal party became deeply split, with several Anglophones joining the pro-conscription Union government, a coalition controlled by the Conservatives under Prime Minister Robert Borden . King returned to Canada to run in the 1917 election , which focused almost entirely on the conscription issue. Unable to overcome a landslide against Laurier, King lost in
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