The British Commonwealth of Nations
(Wilfrid Laurier on the Left, Robert Borden on the Right)
The Rise of Republicanism was gaining steam throughout the world during the late 18th century's forward. The Old Great European Colonial Empires once considered untouchable in there own rank became to see the start of industrialization bring new ideas of liberalism to the forefront for the first time since the ages of the Roman and Greek civilizations. Calls for reform in the system and for individual liberty for different peoples in overseas colony's and at home began to pop up. In the United Kingdom, key enlightenment came from new and upcoming philosophers advocating a return to the Grecian democratic process and a formation of a new ideology collectively known as
"Liberalism" which main priority was one for the individual to have the right to liberty and individual choice which went directly against the social normal's of the 17th and 18th Century English Monarchical Traditions and support for traditionalism and the crown.
A key luminary in this movement was one of John Locke. Born in 1632 in Wrington as a son of a county clerk and captain of a cavalry force under the Parliamentarians in the early parts the English Civil War, his family were puritans. He attended the prestigious Westminster School in 1647 where he was exposed to new radical ideas of modern philosophers like René Descartes and came much more interested into there works then the classical philosophers of the old.
He became in close contact with Anthony Ashley Cooper, the 1st Earl of Shaftesbury. He would greatly influence his future works and he would later go on to co-found the Whigs Party which supported the rule of the Parliament over the king, advocating a Constitutional Monarchy and helped spearhead the early Liberal Movement. John Locke himself would spend the rest of his life as a political theorist and would himself move between England and the Netherlands often. A active writer he would write dozens of books on political theory and philosophy and would became one of the great thinkers to come out of 17th Century England. Along with his theory's on the mind and identity, he also wrote on his ideal perception of what a good government would look like.
In his 1689 essay, Two Treaties of Government, he directly countered the the prevailing theory of absolute monarchy and divine right to that rule best summed up in Robert Filmer's work Patriarcha in which these ideals were held up as truth and the ideal government. Locke called for in his essay
a Social Contract between the individual and society. In it he said that
human nature is both reasonable and tolerant however also selfish and that in the natural state of being, all individuals are equal and had the right to defend there Life, Health, Liberty, or Possessions as Locke wrote it. This was theorized by some to be where the
Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of happiness in the United States Declaration of Independence originated from.
This along with his other works helped create the Traditional Liberal ideology of liberty and self-governance and this directly went against the European Monarchical Absolutism of divine rule of Kings and Queens and the minimal rule of there Representative parliaments or houses of representation. Although at first this was just seen as a small and minimal ideology soon to be let go by the vast populous as nonsense; it soon began to grow and as more people began to hear Locke's and his pears work on Republicanism and Liberalism, it became more and more apparent that this idea of thinking would not go away. Even in Locke's lifetime his ideas became more visible with the Glorious Revolution.
After a successful handing over of the crown to the Dutch backed William III and Mary II, they created the English Bill of Rights in 1689 directly based off of the Lockean principles which included regular parliaments, free elections, freedom of speech, and prohibition of cruel and unusual punishments by the state. Thus laying the groundwork for constitutional monarch in England and the beginning of the end of absolute monarchy in not only England but all of Europe and the old dynasty's of Europe knew it and feared it. Meanwhile once the colony's got a hold of the Liberal Tradition, they began to demand it. In the British Thirteen colony's on the American East coast stretching from Georgia to Maine, readers of the works of Locke began to question the legitimacy of the English crown and there right to tax without representation or known as taxation without representation in which unreasonable high amount of taxes were planted over the colony's for them to pay for the problems of the English homeland in the British Isles.
In America, new philosophers advocating the same liberalism and republicanism began to pop up including Thomas Paine whose 1774 pamphlet titled
Common Sense was a instant successful in the growing discontented American Colony's who finally in 1775 rose up in Lexington and Concord to finally defeat the British in the 1783 Treaty of Paris and create the American Republic we know today. The new nation would for the first time in century's advocate a form of representative democracy first in the Articles of Confederation, and second in the United States constitution and bill of rights.
The British Empire knowing America was a lost cause from the day of their defeat in Yorkstown sought to contain it and stop its spread into other colonial territory's of the British Empire. They did this by increasing military presence in supposedly loyalist colony's like Canada and the Indian princely kingdoms while in a attempt to keep any revolts liberalized some institutions and made local affairs much more autonomous then before. This was able to work, at least for now, and the British Empire was able to stay mostly untouched post-American Revolution up until the the turn of the 20th century.
Meanwhile there continental neighbors were not so lucky. In France, war debt from the American Revolution was finally enough for the French people and they soon became to Republicanism, Liberalism, and then radicalism, and in the process a Republican styled monarchy was restored under Napoleon I who would restore France to greatness and in less then a decade take half of Europe by storm. But him unsuccessful invasion of Russia combined with War fatigue by his army was finally mounting and Napoleon ultimately failed. But his legacy of Republicanism and Republican themes monarchy's stayed with Europe and year by year the absolute monarchy's of Europe became less and less absolute. A period of revivalism of the absolute monarchism of Europe occurred between 1815 and 1848 as Napoleon in the short term discredited Republicanism as a ideology only leading to dictatorship. But the people would not fail into the same trap again and the revolutions of 1848 would finally end many of the continental monarchy's or at least these monarchy's more in line with the representation of the people or little more then a puppet head of a representative house of congress in other cases.
France was one of the cases were the monarchy ended forever and with the abdication of Louis Philippe I in February 24th, 1848 due to the July revolution of 1848, a Republic was established in France. Meanwhile in other states like the Austrian Empire the revolutions failed and the absolute domination of the monarchy, of which ruled the Hapsburg's, remained firm. What did remain constant however was a European wide push towards liberalism by the end of the 19th century and entering the gilded age, most absolute monarchy's in pure form were lost to history in Europe and a series of constitutional monarchy's scattered the lands. The Progressive Era posed a threat to the order of Europe as did the revolutions on 1848 and the Napoleonic Wars however unlike those, the new era was a response to the faults of capitalism and liberalism, both social and economically wise. The new liberal order in Europe knew how to handle this and in order to quell potentially socialist revolvers, a series of welfare states emerged throughout Europe: first in Germany and then throughout the western European powers of the United Kingdom, France, Italy, and Spain. And thus these were quelled and instead nationalism ruled Europe once more and the late 1800's even say a re-emergence of traditionalism and monarchism in places like Germany. What can be said through all of this is that Liberalism, as Locke was one of the main contributors to, was able to successfully end the major absolute monarchy's of Europe by the dawn of the Great War.
And in many cases even constitutional monarchy's were abandoned in favor of raw republics in places like France. In places like Locke's birth place of the English Empire, the monarchy which Locke was against was able to reform itself into a constitutional monarchy in Locke's own lifetime, however the English Monarchy remained and was much more influential compared to the late 19th century major powers and even rivaled the influence that the German and Austrian Monarchy's held on government decisions. In a Irony most of all, while the rest of Europe favored Lockean Liberalism, in England a type of Reformist Lockean pseudo liberalism was established in the homeland of Locke himself. Then we arrive to the turn of the century. The early 1900's brought increasingly left wing politics to the United Kingdom and the Lockean Liberalism was to many to right wing and not enough for true reform. New socialist splinter groups began to advocate for either the reform or overthrowing of capitalism in favor of a socialist or communist economic system.
The United Kingdom's establishment like with Bismarck in Germany helped create a welfare state under the Gladstonian Reformist Liberals of the Liberal Party which was basic at best. And this was able to quell much of the more socialist aspects of the revolutionaries. In its place stood the foundations of the modern british left as Social Democracy and Democratic Socialism took center stage under the newly formed Labour Party whose main goal was to better the conditions of the workers.
This obviously meant they were able to first grow and prosper in the industrial northern city's including Manchester and Liverpool where the products of the industrial revolution were evident in the horrible living standards of the industrial family. The Labour Party would for the first decade find themselves scrapping for fourth and third place but the 1919-1921 recession brought a new opportunity for them and they were able to use it first becoming a member of the majority government in with the Liberals in 1923 and soon became majority party in a Snap election a few years later.
And thus Ramsay MacDonald became one of the first Labour Prime Ministers in the country's history. His new policy's overseas were vastly different from his predecessors in regards to the colony's. He gave each individual colony the right to self governance in ordnance with the British Empire and effectively independence in all but name. These colony's still had to pay taxes, respect the English crown, send troops in wars if needed, and still overall support the British if they asked for it but in regards to local governments, they were much more independent then before. Under him and in alliance with King George V, in 1925 The Balfour Declaration of 1926 was created in which the Commonwealth of Nations was formed.
In the territory's such as Australia and Canada, Governor-generals of each nation of would now serve as independent of there own affairs in foreign policy while supporting the institution of the crown as a symbolic and political figurehead for each country. Also a new rank system for colony's would be established with nations like Canada and Australia holding most of the same equal rank as the United Kingdom itself. This British Commonwealth of Nations would not be the centralized state it once was but still was a formidable force as each country pledged to defend the United Kingdom if attacked and thus the British Empire in a sense was still around.
But with the declaration, each colonial country's government gained more power in legislative affairs. Each country's politics got much more interesting (in a competitive sense) hence the increase in power and thus the decentralized system allowed for new parliamentary democracy's to fully be recognized by the British Crown legitimate and new parliamentary democracy's would led to the modern political theaters to these major English speaking nations
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General Elections at the Federal and State level in Canada had been going on for much longer then the 1926 Balfour Election. The First General Election in fact occurred in 1867 with the election of conservative John A. Macdonald over the unofficial Liberal leader George Brown and Anti-Confederation leader Joseph Howe who opposed Canadian Unionism. Of course up to the signing of the Draft, it didn't mean much to be Prime Minister of Canada however mass self autonomy by the British allowed for the Canadian Prime Minister post to at least be powerful in the Canadian Territory's. Which was a desired destiny for both of the major political party's of Canada: The Liberals and Conservatives.
Unlike some of its commonwealth members including the United Kingdom, Canada was very much a two party system. Rarely did any party get over 5% of the vote during the 19th to early 20th century political period in Canada that wasn't the Liberals or the Conservatives. These two party's dominated both at the federal and the provincial level and the occasional third party or rebellious MP was quickly put down after a year or too of immense pressure. At the General Election level, the election was really just a hand off between the Conservatives and Liberals. From from the formation of the confederation to 1896, the conservatives only lost once in 1874 to Alexander Mackenzie and were led by John A. Macdonald who was the first prime minister of Canada. However from 1896 to 1911, the Liberals dominated under Wilfred Laurier and under him reached new peaks as a party when they nominated there first Francophone Prime Minister. Under him, he underwent his compromise between French and English Canada's and sought to unite both as one under the confederation. Besides that he pushed individual liberty and a decentralized form of governmental federalism and further declared more autonomy against the British Empire which the British were forced to accept as reality, not wanting a potential bad relationship or even perhaps war. He would go down as one of the Great Statesman of Canadian History.
In the policy realm, the ideas of both major party's were in obvious contention with each other. These varied from MP to MP with some on the more progressive side of each party and others on the more traditionalist end however the main idea went like this: The Liberals under Laurier were a party of continentalism, anti-imperialism, support for the aspirations of the Quebecois, support for free trade, and a responsible or a reformist government (this varied from MP to MP). This was not a centralized party and was only managed at the provincial and even smaller governmental levels by the individual Liberal politician. Laurier tried to change this with a national party goal and agenda push for the goals listed as the official party policy. He was denied this chance at first but soon the Liberals got the message. The Conservatives on the other hand supported national protectionism outside of the British Empire and its Commonwealth, closer ties to England, overall conservatism and traditional Toryism supporting the crown and support for imperialism. Originally called the Liberal-Conservative Party, it dropped Liberal in 1873. They had strained relations with the Quebecois and under the ministry of one of the Quebecois own in Laurier of the Liberals, this divide grew for the Conservatives. By policy alone they were very much like there Republican Party neighbor to the south and like the Republicans were often seen as the professional class or businessman party with high tariffs only in place to protect Canadian business. This Tariff issue was the main divided line between the two party's as besides in affairs with the British Empire, America, and International Trade, they were very similar on the domestic front advocating some form of a more effective or smaller federal government and some more of a moderate to a weak form of government decentralization.
The Conservatives after being in the dark for more then 15 years under the Liberal Wilfrid Laurier, finally thought they had there chance in 1911 under the increasingly murky waters the Laurier Ministry had left on the issue of Trade. Laurier and the Liberals were very much in favor of Free Trade and under Laurier's terms in office had signed away many free trade deals. Most of these with the Americans which left Laurier opponents seeing a opportunity. The Conservatives argued Laurier wanted to sell Canada off to the Americans and Americanize the country. After Champ Clark remarked I look forward to the time when the American flag will fly over every square foot of British North America up to the North Pole. The people of Canada are of our blood and language in the United States House of Representatives discussing trade deals with there northern neighbor, there was a attempt and a introduction of a resolution by Republican Representative, William M. Bennett who proposed the United States talk with Canada on a way to annex Canada. This embroiled many Canadians and
infuriated most conservatives and Anti-American Sentiment was at a all time high in Canada. It got so bad that many newspapers even advised Americans to, if visiting Canada, to not tell the Canadians that they are American in case of a violent response. In Canada, many in Laurier's cabinet and in the supposedly major Liberal leaning Newspapers began to realize that support for the free trade bills with America was not the most popular position. The Conservatives took this opportunity to win the 1911 election and nominated Robert Borden of the district of Halifax. Running on a platform of protectionism, he called out Laurier for his attempts
to end Canadian Sovereignty and
Americanize Canada. Canadians agreed with this message and Robert Borden began prime minster defeating Laurier with 48% of the vote and winning 132 seats in a 47 seat gain.
The Borden ministry would prove to be rather successful. On his promise to end the free trade deals with the United States, he ended all current trade deals that Laurier had been working on with Taft and with Roosevelt ended most of the past ones. In 1914, the German Empire declared war on the enemy's of the Austro-Hungarians and thus the Great War started. After Belgium was invaded by the Germans, the British Empire joined the war. As per being a colonial entity of the British, Robert Borden and the country of Canada declared war on Germany and the central powers and soon started conscription. This conscription was felt as morally wrong by some Canadian and a ensuing Conscription crisis occurred on whether to send Men to die in Europe and how much was enough. Borden was a staunch defender of British interests and ignored these concerns aiding the British with troops. So he sent more troops to fight for the British then any other British Colony during the Great War. Meanwhile the issue of the right for military officers to vote were solved in Military Voters Act of 1915 allowing them too do so. Second the issue of Women Sufferage was acted upon partially by him in the Wartime Elections Act. This act gave the vote to the wives, widows, mothers, and sisters of soldiers serving overseas. The 1917 General Election was held and he held a high rating of approval by the Canadian public. The Liberals on the other hand were scrambling to reorganize. Laurier still maintained a high rank in the party itself and the crucial Quebecois machine in the party backed him fully. However he died with a heart attack in July of 1916 at 73. His funeral was unite the nation with tens of thousands lining the streets in the capital to pay tribute to him. With such a major figure gone, the Liberal Party scrambled to find a leader to hold up against the popular Borden. There was calls to just unite with Borden under what was called a Unionist Party Coalition. The Party held a national convention on this in Quebec City. In a decisive vote, most Liberal MPs supported the unionist in the election with Borden. In the ensuing election was the least competitive election in Canadian history. With no major opposition, Borden was basically handed another term while his party gained massively.
He was re-elected in a absolute landslide taking 89% of the vote (though that was because Liberal decided not to run but coalition with them) and them winning more then 200 seats in the Parliament while the Liberals barely held more 30 at the moment. Canada was there's for the taking and Borden and his conservatives held master sway over the politics of the country. The Unionist alliance however soon broke up with the Liberals not wanting to become a vassal of the conservatives and thus a extinct party. At there lowest point yet, they needed a leader. In order to elect one in 1918 they held there first leadership election. The main contenders was William Lyon Mackenzie King, a close friend of the late Laurier, he found himself on the left of the party and was supported by the radical wing of the party. On the other side was a multitude of other candidates but the main contender for the right wing of the party was the former Premier of Nova Scotia and a moderate in his own right, William Stevens Fielding. The convention was continuous and considered competitive but finally the first ballot was cast
Fieldings was able to be King on the second ballot in a quicker race then thought and secured the nomination rather easily after. With the Liberals having nominated Fieldings, this represented a sharp return to classical Liberal politics and of even Pre-Laurier Liberal politics with support for a platform that seemed to come out of the late 1800s of not only continued Free Trade, but of the classical Liberal ideas of independence from the United Kingdom, though this time fully, and a decentralized government. Fielding meanwhile, not wanting to disturb the very crucial Quebecois voting block for the party, allowed for the classical Laurier Liberal support of Quebec autonomy and support for them to be at a equal advantage as English Canada. Though to try to get in more English Canadians, he toned down on the Quebec nationalism and made a pivot towards the Anglo Canadian professional with support for internationalism and pivot towards the Anglo Canadian westerner with a domestic policy full of the classic Liberal ideology wrapped in a populistic hybrid framing the Conservatives as the party of the Rich and a increased support for farming.
Meanwhile out west in the same area that the Liberals were trying to target, a new party emerged. In 1919, angry over the extremely high tariffs on farm goods by the Borden Government, a collection of mostly Liberal though some conservative MPs from the Unionist alliance, split from the coalition in dispute with there farming policy and formed the newly formed Progressive Party. Basing there support out west they support agrarian and farming interests and under Thomas Crerar supported a Social Democratic domestic plan along with Free Trade, a issue they thought the Liberals were too weak on.
Back in the Conservative Party, the popular Robert Borden was begged by many members to run away. However a increasingly aging Borden declined and having been just knighted by the Queen in 1915 would retire from politics. He appointed Arthur Meighan, a key cabinet members of his administration. Generally seen as weak and indecisive leader, his lack of real leadership of the party and the resulting trouble that brung in the party resulted in a much lower rating of approval then his predecessor. He was considered vulnerable going into the 1921 elections and the world wide recession of 1919-1921 did not help his cause.
The race was very competitive with all three candidates having a real shot at winning. If the Progressives won, they would be the first real third party to win a plurality or majority of seats in the Parliament. If the Liberals one then they could retake control of the government for the first time since 1911 and if the Conservatives won then they could continue on there government since 1911. Each candidate attacked each other during the brief but intense campaign season. Meighan accused Fieldings of being a
American Puppet while Fieldings called Meighan
A weak, indecisive, and corrupt leader. Meanwhile Crerar accused the Liberals of being weak on Free Trade and accused the conservatives of working against the
Average Canadian Interests. Meanwhile at the same time Meighan called Crerar a
A Communist agent of Moscow! while Fieldings called him a
Idealistic Idiot who should not get near the Prime Ministership. Ultimately the campaign ended on December 6th and the Canadian People decided that to lead them into the 1920s, they wanted...
In a split decision, Canadians choose a hung parliament. The Liberals ultimately came on down though more then 20 short with just 95 seats due to there heavily wins in Quebec and the Maritime states. Meanwhile the newly formed Progressive to everyone's surprise came in second place defeating the conservatives and becoming a opposition party. This was the first time in the country's history that a party other then the Liberals or Conservatives beat out either one and they were in a close second place spot gaining 77 seats and about 700,000 votes while winning almost all of the western provinces, minus Yukon, and gaining a strong second in Ontario. Finally the Conservatives were humiliated. They lost 138 seats and came in third for the first time in the nations history. They barely held onto there strongholds in the Yukon to the insurgent Progressives and in Ontario to the insurgent Progressives and Liberals who gained mass amounts of supposed safe conservative seats. The whole political diaphragm was changed with this election, and the conservative majority in Canada once seen impenetrable after the 1917 election crumbled in a instant to a insurgent third party and the Liberals.
Needed a majority government, the Liberals natural friends were the Progressives. The Progressives were originally mostly former Liberals and very free trade like the Liberals. After some negotiations a agreement was made. The Progressives would join with the Liberals in coalition in return for farming concessions and a move to the overall Left on economics. The Liberal Progressive Coalition hence was formed and William Stevens Fielding was elected Prime Minister by now a more then 150 seat combined majority coalition with the conservatives in a distant third.
In his new government Fielding got to work. A strict fiscal conservative, he sought on the domestic front that paying down debts, especially from the war, should come first. He alliance with the Progressives however forced him to compromise. But his support for lowering War time debt was supported by both factions. So in a 1922 resolution the Canadian parliament passed a act mandating the lowering of wartime debt by 75% by 1929 to be fully completed in the mid 1930's. His deadlines however were much longer then expected and he already made his 75% goal by 1927 and would be finished by late 1928. Meanwhile on Tariffs, Fielding significantly lowered the tariff rates from there highs under Borden with full Progressive support and he made several free trade deals with America and France with much more success then the last time it was attempted and so the opposition was muttered. In 1926, Fielding along with the other leaders of the British Empire meet in London to create the beginning of the Commonwealth. Fully backed by Fielding who wanted greater independence for Canada, he was able to reduce British influence over Canada to mostly just symbolic then actually militarily and politically.
By 1925, Fielding so far had governed a successful and non-controversial first term and the 1925 General Election was seen as a victory waiting to happen for the Liberals. The Conservatives still in shambles decided to reorganize and were confident in making at least gains in 1925. On hearing his defeat Meighan resigned from his leadership of the conservatives and nominated high ranking cabinet official in his administration and MP from London, Canada John Franklin White. White, a relatively unknown and little MP from London, was born to a industrial family and he managed the London Rolling Mill company and then as city alderman for London and then the city's controller up until he was elected to parliament in the tight 1921 elections as one of the few conservatives to hold there seat for the Conservative Party. Politically wise, he was again a unknown though in the parliament however when he did vote he was known to support the party line on protectionism, especially since he was from a industrial city, and also Toryism supporting the Great War and sending troops over there and supporting British influence over Canada.
White was handed over a destroyed party with only 63 seats in the Parliament. He sought to restore that and fought hard for his party in the 1925 elections against the popular Fielding. His way of accomplishing this he thought was by regaining the western provinces for the country and campaigned for farming subsidy's and farming tariff relief, which to some in the party was frowned upon. He personally campaigned in the Provinces of Alberta and Manitoba while also campaigning in his home province of Ontario. Knowing Fielding, from the Martime Provinces, would hold onto them and the very Liberal supporting Quebec and so refused to campaign there. Even though the very first proto-polling for this election out of all past elections should that Fielding would win with a decisive win and build up on his gains. They were even showing the Liberal's themselves would get a majority while the Progressives and Conservatives lagged
Fielding meanwhile refused to campaign much relying on the Liberal Party, local MPs, and advertising to do it for him. He touted his successful first term however and told how his free trade policy's helped the average Canadian more then it hurt Canada. His main goal for the election was too gain a majority in the Parliament and finally remove the shackles of the Left Wing Progressives. He wanted to govern independently for himself and the Liberals and this was the only way this could be done.
Finally, the Progressives. After a major success in 1921 and success in forming there first majority government with the Liberal, they had high hopes for 1925. They themselves hoped for a majority or at least a plurality bigger then the Liberals who they knew would abandon the Progressives if they got a majority. There leader Thomas Crerar had showed signs of leaving the party back for his farming business in Alberta but the success of the Party forced him to stay as the prospect of being Prime Minister was much likely then before. Crerar campaigned hard in 1925 and especially in 1925. He worked in the western provinces of Alberta, British Columbia, and Manitoba the longest and wanted to solidify there gains there for future elections while gaining the remaining Liberal and Conservative MPs in those provinces. However they did face a challenge in there own home area out in the West by the Conservatives under White who themselves wanted the West back. On October 29th, 1925 the country voted and in the end they wanted to keep Fielding to not many's surprise
The election came in and it proved to be decisive. Fielding and his Liberals won in a absolute landslide. They know held a majority of seats at 130 out of 245 total seats and took more 10% more the popular vote then there nearest opponents. On the map they were able to win back British Columbia for the party and gain a slight plurality of seats in Ontario, Whites home province, though White held on by a large margin in his London home. The Progressives meanwhile lagged behind and lost a decent 12 seats and lost ground in there core western provinces of Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan. They also lost the province of British Columbia itself with a slight Liberal plurality there. Finally the Conservatives were perhaps the most disappointed with the results. Expecting to gain seats in the election, they lost one seat while losing the core conservative province of Ontario. In fact it was so bad, on the map the Conservatives barely held onto there Yukon province. The one bright spot for them was slight gains out west in Manitoba, Alberta, and Sakatchewan winning about 5-10 seats throughout. Though this was made up elsewhere by further losses. By Margin, the key to the majority status of the Liberal was by holding nearly every single seat in Quebec for them while gaining near total domination over the Maritime states winning about 75-90% of seats throughout the three maritime provinces. This along with plurality wins in Ontario and British Columbia was able to give them a majority. Overall it was a good night for the Liberals, a bad night for the Progressives, and a terrible night for the Conservatives not because they lost much seats but because they lost seats in the first place.
Now entering the later half of the 1920s, the economic boom of the world and especially in the Canadian and the American homelands looked long and endless and the Liberals hoped this prosperity would last and could not collapse. Little did they know that this own attitude would inevitably led to there collapse later into the timeline of History.
