World War I " entered as a colony and came out a nation..." quote from Canadian journalist Bruce Hutchison.

Canada was changed in many ways by World War I. With its long, drawn out battles from muddy, rat-infested trenches, it was perhaps the most miserable war ever fought by human beings, but Canada came out of it with more maturity, more pride as a country, and a more centralized government. When Britain declared war against , Canada was automatically at war too as part of the . Most were enthusiastic, though, and sure that this fight against evil would soon end in victory. No one objected when Prime Minister passed the War Measures Act which gave his government sweeping powers for the war effort.

Canada began to cheer its heroes in the air, daring young pilots guiding a new weapon of war - the airplane. Names like Billy Bishop, Raymond Collishaw, Wop May and Roy Brown are still remembered. But the battle that made Canada's name in World War I was Vimy Ridge. Canadian ingenuity succeeded in one morning where British and French had failed, losing 200,000 lives in their many attempts. Canada's self-confidence soared and so did its reputation in the world.

As the war progressed, Prime Minister Robert Borden, realizing that the volunteer system of raising troops had reached its limit, passed the Military Service Bill in 1917. This enforced into Britain's war enraged the and almost wrenched the country's two families apart. There were riots in the streets of and blood was shed. It didn't help that recruitment in Quebec was headed by the English elite or that had passed Regulation 17 or that the bitter memory of Riel's hanging still burned in the minds of French Canadians.

While Quebec was rising to the protection of provincial rights over conscription, was passing what would be one of the greatest centralizing measures - the Income Tax Act. This was meant to be only temporary, mind you, just a means of raising money to pay for the war effort. But this new "spending power" gave Ottawa the ability to finance bigger, national policies which the country demanded after the war.

SOURCE: http://www.canadahistoryproject.ca/1914/index.html

War Measures Act

The War Measures Act was passed unopposed in 1914. This allowed the federal government to suspend civil liberties and by-pass parliament to do things through order-in- council that it felt were necessary for the war. For instance, factories could be told to stop producing farm implements and start manufacturing arms and ammunition instead. Immigrants who had come from what were now enemy countries, like Germany, had their movements controlled and anyone thought to be an enemy sympathizer could be arrested and kept in internment camps without trial.

One of those arrested in Halifax was Leon Trotsky, an unknown Russian who was about to go down in history as one of the fathers of the of 1917. After his month in Nova Scotia, he returned to join with Lenin and lead the Communist overthrow of the old Russian regime.

The War Measures Act was used again during World War II. The only time it was enacted during peacetime was when Prime Minister used it to make searches and arrests during the FLQ crisis. The FLQ (Front de libération du Québec) was an extremist group of French separatists who were involved in kidnappings and a murder. Under the War Measures Act, many people were arrested and held without charges on suspicion of sympathizing with the terrorists.

Use your History of the Americas book to answer the following.

1. List examples of government invention as a result of the War Measures Act.

Centralizing Effects of WWI

Organizing a national response to the war had many centralizing effects on the .The BNA Act had given many areas of responsibility to the provinces, but thefederal government had all the leftover powers under a general category loosely defined as necessary for "peace, order and good government." This could cover a lot of territory, especially during wartime.

The federal government had to assume wider powers, because there were new needs arising which small provincial governments couldn't meet. Pensions were provided for wounded soldiers and widows. Those who returned had to be helped back into civilian life. The Soldier Settlement Scheme provided some veterans with land and the Dominion Employment Services helped others find jobs.

During the war, Ottawa's civil servants, faced with planning and executing more ambitious programmes, became better trained at administration. And politicians took over some areas that had previously been under private agencies.

Canada came out of the war with a large national debt. We had to borrow $2500 million to finance the war and between 1917 and 1922 we added another $700 million to that debt in order to take over some failing private railway lines and create the Canadian National Railway. It's no wonder that "temporary" income tax became a permanent feature.

Use your History of the Americas book to answer the following.

1. What other taxes did Canada impose on its citizens?

2. What negative effects occurred as a result of Canada’s increased spending? Vimy Ridge 1917

The Canadian assault on Vimy Ridge was planned by a former real estate agent from Victoria, B.C., General Arthur Currie, and a physicist from McGill University in Montreal, Colonel Andy McNaughton. They had a British commander, like all the Dominions, but this commander, Sir Julian Byng, (later a Governor General of Canada) had the good sense to let the Canadians run their own show.

Instead of sticking to the old British approach of frontal attacks on the enemy, the Canadians under Currie decided to analyse the situation first. They used trigonometry to figure out exactly where the enemy fire was coming from. And they used a new instrument, the oscilloscope, to measure the muzzle velocity of their heavy guns. With this information they could set all the sights of their guns to fire volleys that would land in a straight accurate line on the German trenches. Canadian troops could advance more quickly behind thisbarrage because the line of danger from falling explosive projectiles was narrow and predictable. The Germans, expecting a long delay between the end of the barrage and the arrival of troops, were surprised by the sudden appearance of Canadian soldiers on the brow of the trench.

In two hours the Canadians had taken Vimy Ridge. More than 3000 Canadian young men lost their lives at Vimy and another 7000 suffered injuries, but these horrible casualties were still far less than the British and French had sustained without success, and headlines around the world praised this incredible Canadian achievement.

1915 YPRES, FRANCE

Another famous Canadian battleground was near Ypres, in the Belgian province of West Flanders.

This painting by Mary Riter Hamilton was commissioned after the war to mark the battle. It was at Ypres that poison gas was first used successfully as a weapon of war. On April 22, 1915, the Germans attacked releasing over 160 tons of chlorine gas that wafted in a greenish-yellow cloud toward the allied lines. Chlorine gas turns into hypochlorous acid when it is combined with water, so damage to the eyes and lungs was severe. Many died within minutes from suffocation. Chlorine gas is denser than air, too, so it fell into the trenches, forcing the soldiers to climb out and put themselves into the line of fire.

The French and Algerians, taking the brunt of the attack, abandoned their positions creating a 6.4 km gap in the allied line to the left of the Canadians. In their first major battle of the war, Canadians stepped in and over the coming days managed to hold on, even though their Ross rifles jammed and the urine-soaked cloths they put to their faces provided small defence against the gas. The 2nd Canadian Brigade at Ypres was led by Arthur Currie who would also be instrumental in the Canadian attack on Vimy Ridge two years later. It was during this Battle of Ypres that the Canadian doctor and Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae wrote the famous poem "In Flanders Fields." New Post-War Demands 1918

After the war there were new demands for educational facilities, highways, housing and public utilities like hydro. Between 1920 and 1930 the number of motorized vehicles on Canadian roads tripled from 400,000 to 1.2 million. At first, most of our cars were manufactured and sold by many small Canadian companies. During the 20s, however, most of these companies sold out to the larger, more automated American car manufacturers.

Although new taxes were introduced - on gas, liquor, and cars - the poorer provinces couldn't afford to provide the new services that people wanted and they were willing to give up some of their powers in return for federal subsidies. What good was power without the money to exercise it, they thought. Stronger provinces, like Ontario and Quebec, didn't have as much need of federal money and were less happy about Ottawa's new central powers.