Robert Laird Borden, Canadian lawyer and politician, 8th Prime Minister of Canada (d. 1937)
Sir Robert Laird Borden (June 26, 1854 – June 10, 1937) was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the eighth prime minister of Canada from 1911 to 1920. He is best known for his leadership of Canada during World War I.
Borden was born in Grand-Pré, Nova Scotia. He worked as a schoolteacher for a period and then served his articles of clerkship at a Halifax law firm. He was called to the bar in 1878, and soon became one of Nova Scotia's most prominent barristers. Borden was elected to the House of Commons in the 1896 federal election, representing the Conservative Party. He replaced Charles Tupper as party leader in 1901, but was defeated in two federal elections by Liberal Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier in 1904 and 1908. However, in the 1911 federal election, Borden led the Conservatives to a clear victory after he claimed that the Liberals' proposed trade reciprocity treaty with the United States would lead to the US influencing Canadian identity and weaken ties with Great Britain.
Halfway through Borden's first term, World War I broke out. To send soldiers overseas, he created the Canadian Expeditionary Force. He also became significantly interventionist by passing the War Measures Act which gave the government extraordinary powers. In order to increase government revenue to fund the war effort, Borden's government issued victory bonds, raised tariffs, and introduced new taxes including the income tax. In 1917, facing what he believed to be a shortage in Canadian soldiers, Borden introduced conscription, sparking a national divide known as the Conscription Crisis. Despite this, his Unionist Party composed of Conservatives and pro-conscription Liberals was re-elected with an overwhelming majority in the 1917 federal election. At the Paris Peace Conference, Borden sought to expand the autonomy of Canada and other dominions. On the home front, Borden's government dealt with the consequences of the Halifax Explosion, introduced women's suffrage for federal elections, nationalized railways by establishing the Canadian National Railway, and controversially used the North-West Mounted Police to break up the 1919 Winnipeg general strike.
Borden retired from politics in 1920. In his retirement, he served as Chancellor of Queen's University from 1924 to 1930 and served as president of two financial institutions, the Barclays Bank of Canada and the Crown Life Insurance Company from 1928 until his death in 1937. Borden is ranked above-average among historians and the public. Borden was the last prime minister born before Confederation and the last prime minister to be knighted – having accepted a knighthood in 1914.