Big Man on Campus
If anything, the choice to place Joseph Raymond Fournier Préfontaine into one of the largest and most important departments within the Dominion was initially a somewhat questionable decision, albeit a rather expected one. Préfontaine’s successor had been similarly lambasted as a “layman” when it came to the inklings of the marine environment and Prefontaine with his meagre experience on the Montreal Harbor commission was not much different. Although behind the scenes, Préfontaine’s appointment can be viewed as mainly that of a convenient political favor. Préfontaine was a powerhouse on the level of municipal politics and his cutthroat dealings and reforms had resulted in a sizable political machine backing him from his local areas, Montreal largely. As the previous major of one of the largest cities in Canada, he had been a close supporter of Laurier and help drum up many volunteers to go to fight the Boers, something Laurier likely kept in mind given the snake pit Ottawa had quickly morphed into during the entire debacle. It was doubly helpful for Laurier to line his appointees with French men who shared his views, the temperamental people of Quebec tended to be fairly less so when they had one of their own within the stands one could say. The Department of Marine and Fishers would need all of the help it could get in the future politically as well.
Even with the obvious personal preferences put aside, the former Montreal mayor had quite the personality. He was known to be incredibly hard working, prideful and single minded when it came to his responsibilities, for the better of for the worse. A man of his caliber was needed in the wake of the cabinet shakeup, Canada was changing rapidly. The responsibilities of the Department would be stressed even more with the various tasks that needed seeing to, updates to the marine transport infrastructure, jump starting the non-existent civilian shipbuilding industry, development of various ports throughout Canada, new shipping channels, etc. During this overall shuffle, the Department of Marine and Fisheries essentially took over the majority of the responsibilities and jurisdiction of the Department of Public Works, to great applause from Préfontaine, who’s aggressive and seemingly boundless energy gobbled up additional responsibilities like a bottomless pit. Overall, the Marine and Fisheries took over roles regarding hydrographic work, construction projects within the St Lawrence channel, harbor repair, control over harbor commissioners and even supervision of new Marconi wireless stations on the East Coast. All of the related funding was also taken in by the Department which alongside the already bloated budget for the department, caused Ottawa based politicians to worry somewhat. Préfontaine was now in charge of the Department with the largest budget within the nation as a whole and his newly acquired power only pushed him to try and acquire more.
While Préfontaine was cementing his control over his newly expanded Department, the public awareness for naval ventures within Canada received another jump start. Following the 1902 Colonial Conference, the Navy League of Great Britain sent a representative across all of the colonies in order to help raise support for various naval initiatives. The first stop in this trip was Canada where he helped found branches of the league in large cities such as Halifax, Charlottetown, Sydney, Saint Johns, Ottawa, Kingston, Quebec City, Winnipeg and Montreal. This high-profile British appointee attracted local Canadian politicians into the League to use it as a speaking platform, honorary positions were given to Mr. Borden and Mr. Préfontaine to only name a few. While the British envoy expressed his views of a united Imperial fleet, more Canadian focused members simply nodded along. As the founding of the Montreal branch coincided rather well with Préfontaine entrance as the Minister, he used one of the founding banquets to announce a surprising proclamation.
“I hope the time will come soon when Canada would organize at least the nucleus of a navy and I truly believe that if parliament took such a step, it would be met with the endorsation of all Canadians.”
Borden would later parrot something similar at an Ottawa league branch meeting, “The government of Canada should fully recognize the duty of it’s country to be in the position to bear it’s fair share of imperial defense. The difficulty lay in the question of control, we are ready to do everything that will assist in the forming of the nucleus of a navy in this country.”
These two proclamations by the Minister of Marine and Fisheries and the Minister of Militia and Defense respectively however, likely contributed more discussion towards a Canadian naval force than anything to come before. People realized that these politicians must have been authorized to say such things from their leader, Laurier, and therefore took it as Laurier himself endorsing the setup of a national navy. Strangely enough though, the statements had not attracted any measurable negative attention, not even from the anti-Imperialist Quebec politicians. The Navy League representative took these two endorsements as meaning generally, the navy spoken of would consist of armed steamers provided by Canada to train their own naval militia. Whether this was correct or not remained to be seen yet it painted perhaps a somewhat different picture within the minds of the British Navy League compared to their Canadian counterparts.
With such statements alongside military training being provided on a semi-regular basis to the Fishery Protection Service, this buzzing of seemingly naval activity finally caught the eye of the skeptical Quebec based politicians like Henri Bourassa. With his suspicious almost confirmed, he asked the House of Commons to provide copies of all correspondence exchanged between Canada and Britain regarding the organization of naval reserves, training ships or even educational organizations. Frustrated when nothing came of this, he doubled down and leveled a further house inquiry, which again, returned nothing. There was nothing to hide largely due to the fact that none of the recent origins for any talks existed on paper, only word of mouth between politicians. This entire debacle was not assisted by the newspaper Globe’s most recent article speculating about a Canadian scheme similar to Newfoundland for establishing a naval reserve, only this time with a total of three fully operational ‘third class cruisers’ provided by Great Britain for training purposes.
The Globe itself was widely seen as a Liberal party vessel for bringing leaked information to the public, leading Laurier himself to be pressed about the authenticity of the information in a session of the House. While Laurier labeled the article as “premature and unauthorized”, Préfontaine was put under scrutiny even harder than Laurier, eventually buckling and releasing a statement to the fellow house members.
“The matter of the naval reserve is under consideration. It is being studied, just as the question of the militia reserve is being studied. I do not think that anything practical will be done in reference to this matter before next year. The two projects require a good deal of study as to the cost involved and how the whole scheme is to be carried out. Se, we have not considered yet whether we should buy old vessels or construct new ones. That is a question upon which information must be gathered, that we may establish the military service upon the best and most advantageous conditions.”
The most telling thing to come from Préfontaine’s statement was the fact that not once did he deny the initial claims put forward by the Globe. If the details remained to be worked out, the issue itself must have been already advanced to a point in which they would be ready to do so. The following report was made to the British War Office by Lord Dundonald, the commanding officer of the Canadian Militia.
“The militia department cannot get even the money needed for bare military requirements, and there is no prospect of it being able to get any more for naval purposes. There is no means in the department for dealing adequately with the question. Minister Borden both and I felt strongly that the authority which controlled the estuary of the St Lawrence (the Department of Marine and Fisheries) should also control the whole floating defense. The Militia department has, therefore, given up the idea of attempting to organize any kind of naval force. The new Minister of the Marine and Fisheries, Mr. Préfontaine is a powerful man, who is naturally bent on increasing the activity and influence of his department. He announced immediately after his appointment, when he sketched his intended policy that he proposed to take up the question of naval development. A small appropriation has apparently already been made to his department for such a developmental purpose, something along the lines of 25,000 pounds. I understand from the Commander of the Fisheries Enforcement Squadron that the Marine Department expects the Admiralty to be willing, when asked, to present them with a suitable training ship as a gift. Should a naval school be started here, I believe it to be important that the Admiralty should have some voice in its control. Overall, I also recommend that the officer commanding a potential Canadian naval force shall be an imperial officer appointed by the governor-general with the advisory of the Admiralty. “
The ending of the Alaska dispute in October of 1903 helped push Laurier and his party on the right course of action as well. With any Canadian claims being shot down and the Americans being awarded full control of Alaska and its panhandle, the Prime Minister had finally realized that Canada was on its own. The only possible answer to the lack of British help was increased autonomy. Canada had to quickly tighten its grip over any area in which the Americans could threaten, especially areas where the British were not keen on helping due to conflicting interests or lack of incentive. One of the most important places to do such a thing was the Fisheries protection service. After an Arctic expedition by the North-West Mounted Police in order to help cement Canadian holdings there, Laurier had finally come to the point where new fisheries cruisers would be needed. The last batch of cruisers including Petrel had become rather anemic as of late with civilian vessels, poachers and smugglers easily being able to outrun the old vessels at this point. With the decision announced by the Minister, Petrel and Acadia would be replaced as soon as possible and at least one of these two ships would be procured domestically. With the purchase underway, these ships would serve as much a functional role as they would a political statement towards the United States. Named Canada and Vigilant, this pair of ships would form a vital contingent later used to directly form this seemingly mystical “nucleus” of the Canadian Navy.
CGS Neptune is shown in winter quarters, Cape Fullerton, Hudson Bay, 1903 to 1904.
Even with the obvious personal preferences put aside, the former Montreal mayor had quite the personality. He was known to be incredibly hard working, prideful and single minded when it came to his responsibilities, for the better of for the worse. A man of his caliber was needed in the wake of the cabinet shakeup, Canada was changing rapidly. The responsibilities of the Department would be stressed even more with the various tasks that needed seeing to, updates to the marine transport infrastructure, jump starting the non-existent civilian shipbuilding industry, development of various ports throughout Canada, new shipping channels, etc. During this overall shuffle, the Department of Marine and Fisheries essentially took over the majority of the responsibilities and jurisdiction of the Department of Public Works, to great applause from Préfontaine, who’s aggressive and seemingly boundless energy gobbled up additional responsibilities like a bottomless pit. Overall, the Marine and Fisheries took over roles regarding hydrographic work, construction projects within the St Lawrence channel, harbor repair, control over harbor commissioners and even supervision of new Marconi wireless stations on the East Coast. All of the related funding was also taken in by the Department which alongside the already bloated budget for the department, caused Ottawa based politicians to worry somewhat. Préfontaine was now in charge of the Department with the largest budget within the nation as a whole and his newly acquired power only pushed him to try and acquire more.
While Préfontaine was cementing his control over his newly expanded Department, the public awareness for naval ventures within Canada received another jump start. Following the 1902 Colonial Conference, the Navy League of Great Britain sent a representative across all of the colonies in order to help raise support for various naval initiatives. The first stop in this trip was Canada where he helped found branches of the league in large cities such as Halifax, Charlottetown, Sydney, Saint Johns, Ottawa, Kingston, Quebec City, Winnipeg and Montreal. This high-profile British appointee attracted local Canadian politicians into the League to use it as a speaking platform, honorary positions were given to Mr. Borden and Mr. Préfontaine to only name a few. While the British envoy expressed his views of a united Imperial fleet, more Canadian focused members simply nodded along. As the founding of the Montreal branch coincided rather well with Préfontaine entrance as the Minister, he used one of the founding banquets to announce a surprising proclamation.
“I hope the time will come soon when Canada would organize at least the nucleus of a navy and I truly believe that if parliament took such a step, it would be met with the endorsation of all Canadians.”
Borden would later parrot something similar at an Ottawa league branch meeting, “The government of Canada should fully recognize the duty of it’s country to be in the position to bear it’s fair share of imperial defense. The difficulty lay in the question of control, we are ready to do everything that will assist in the forming of the nucleus of a navy in this country.”
These two proclamations by the Minister of Marine and Fisheries and the Minister of Militia and Defense respectively however, likely contributed more discussion towards a Canadian naval force than anything to come before. People realized that these politicians must have been authorized to say such things from their leader, Laurier, and therefore took it as Laurier himself endorsing the setup of a national navy. Strangely enough though, the statements had not attracted any measurable negative attention, not even from the anti-Imperialist Quebec politicians. The Navy League representative took these two endorsements as meaning generally, the navy spoken of would consist of armed steamers provided by Canada to train their own naval militia. Whether this was correct or not remained to be seen yet it painted perhaps a somewhat different picture within the minds of the British Navy League compared to their Canadian counterparts.
With such statements alongside military training being provided on a semi-regular basis to the Fishery Protection Service, this buzzing of seemingly naval activity finally caught the eye of the skeptical Quebec based politicians like Henri Bourassa. With his suspicious almost confirmed, he asked the House of Commons to provide copies of all correspondence exchanged between Canada and Britain regarding the organization of naval reserves, training ships or even educational organizations. Frustrated when nothing came of this, he doubled down and leveled a further house inquiry, which again, returned nothing. There was nothing to hide largely due to the fact that none of the recent origins for any talks existed on paper, only word of mouth between politicians. This entire debacle was not assisted by the newspaper Globe’s most recent article speculating about a Canadian scheme similar to Newfoundland for establishing a naval reserve, only this time with a total of three fully operational ‘third class cruisers’ provided by Great Britain for training purposes.
The Globe itself was widely seen as a Liberal party vessel for bringing leaked information to the public, leading Laurier himself to be pressed about the authenticity of the information in a session of the House. While Laurier labeled the article as “premature and unauthorized”, Préfontaine was put under scrutiny even harder than Laurier, eventually buckling and releasing a statement to the fellow house members.
“The matter of the naval reserve is under consideration. It is being studied, just as the question of the militia reserve is being studied. I do not think that anything practical will be done in reference to this matter before next year. The two projects require a good deal of study as to the cost involved and how the whole scheme is to be carried out. Se, we have not considered yet whether we should buy old vessels or construct new ones. That is a question upon which information must be gathered, that we may establish the military service upon the best and most advantageous conditions.”
The most telling thing to come from Préfontaine’s statement was the fact that not once did he deny the initial claims put forward by the Globe. If the details remained to be worked out, the issue itself must have been already advanced to a point in which they would be ready to do so. The following report was made to the British War Office by Lord Dundonald, the commanding officer of the Canadian Militia.
“The militia department cannot get even the money needed for bare military requirements, and there is no prospect of it being able to get any more for naval purposes. There is no means in the department for dealing adequately with the question. Minister Borden both and I felt strongly that the authority which controlled the estuary of the St Lawrence (the Department of Marine and Fisheries) should also control the whole floating defense. The Militia department has, therefore, given up the idea of attempting to organize any kind of naval force. The new Minister of the Marine and Fisheries, Mr. Préfontaine is a powerful man, who is naturally bent on increasing the activity and influence of his department. He announced immediately after his appointment, when he sketched his intended policy that he proposed to take up the question of naval development. A small appropriation has apparently already been made to his department for such a developmental purpose, something along the lines of 25,000 pounds. I understand from the Commander of the Fisheries Enforcement Squadron that the Marine Department expects the Admiralty to be willing, when asked, to present them with a suitable training ship as a gift. Should a naval school be started here, I believe it to be important that the Admiralty should have some voice in its control. Overall, I also recommend that the officer commanding a potential Canadian naval force shall be an imperial officer appointed by the governor-general with the advisory of the Admiralty. “
The ending of the Alaska dispute in October of 1903 helped push Laurier and his party on the right course of action as well. With any Canadian claims being shot down and the Americans being awarded full control of Alaska and its panhandle, the Prime Minister had finally realized that Canada was on its own. The only possible answer to the lack of British help was increased autonomy. Canada had to quickly tighten its grip over any area in which the Americans could threaten, especially areas where the British were not keen on helping due to conflicting interests or lack of incentive. One of the most important places to do such a thing was the Fisheries protection service. After an Arctic expedition by the North-West Mounted Police in order to help cement Canadian holdings there, Laurier had finally come to the point where new fisheries cruisers would be needed. The last batch of cruisers including Petrel had become rather anemic as of late with civilian vessels, poachers and smugglers easily being able to outrun the old vessels at this point. With the decision announced by the Minister, Petrel and Acadia would be replaced as soon as possible and at least one of these two ships would be procured domestically. With the purchase underway, these ships would serve as much a functional role as they would a political statement towards the United States. Named Canada and Vigilant, this pair of ships would form a vital contingent later used to directly form this seemingly mystical “nucleus” of the Canadian Navy.
CGS Neptune is shown in winter quarters, Cape Fullerton, Hudson Bay, 1903 to 1904.
