Buying Votes But Burning Bridges
Prime Minister Borden wanted to introduce conscription
(forced enlistment in the war) but Canadians were divided on
the issue. To boost support for his point of view, he
introduced two laws that would help his party get votes in
the coming election.
The Military Voters Act was a law introduced in 1917 that
gave the vote to all Canadian soldiers. The Women’s Suffrage
Movement (voting rights) also benefited because the Act
awarded the vote to women serving in the armed forces as
well as the nurses who served in the war.
The Wartime Elections Act was also passed in 1917 and was
the first act giving women the right to vote in federal
elections.
The act gave the vote to the wives, widows, mothers, and
sisters of soldiers serving overseas. They were the first
women ever to be able to vote in Canadian federal elections,
and were also a group that was strongly in favour of
conscription.
While some people gained the right to vote, it was taken away
from others. The act also disenfranchaised "enemy-alien"
citizens. Enemy aliens were imigrants who arrived after
March 31, 1902. They were no longer allowed to vote, unless
they had relatives serving in the armed forces.
These two laws allowed the goernment to be re-elected in
the 1917 election, but French-Canadians and recent
immigrants were alienated. For decades, they would vote for
the Liberal party instead of the Conservatives. After the
war, the act was repealed and all women were given the vote.