Prague Papers on International Relations

The King-Byng Affair and Transformation of the Role of Governor-General in Canada1 Martin Šubrt2 2 ŘÁDKY PŘES ABSTRACT The study focuses on an analysis of the King-Byng affair, Canadian constitutional crisis of 1926. Dur- ing the government crisis in Canada, the British Governor-General Lord Byng of Vimy denied the request of Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King to dissolve parliament and declare new elections. Lord Byng chose a different procedure instead, as a result of which he interfered significantly in internal Canadian politics. This incident contributed to a precise definition of the new office of Governor-General in dominions during the Imperial Conference in London in 1926. The Gov- ernor-General lost his office as representative of the British government and he became only the representative of the British monarch. The aim of this paper is to focus on what role the King-Byng affair plays in this transformation of the conception of Governor-General and in the process of es- tablishment of the independence of Canada from its mother country. KEYWORDS Canada, Great Britain, British-Canadian Relations, the King-Byng Affair, William Lyon Mackenzie King, Lord Byng of Vimy, Governor-General, Imperial Conference in 1926 Canada gained its independence from Great Britain gradually. The history of this process does not include any dramatic events, such as revolution or civil war. But we can find different incidents here, which pushed this development forwards. One of these was the constitutional crisis of 1926, which we can find in Canadian history under the name of the King-Byng Affair.3 This affair was named after the two main figures of this event, who were William Lyon Mackenzie King, the Canadian Prime Minister at the time and Julian Hedworth George Byng, the British Governor-General, subsequently 1st Viscount Byng of Vimy. During the government crisis in 1926 Lord Byng denied the Prime Minister’s request to dissolve parliament and declare a new election. He chose 1 This article was published with the financial support of a grant provided by GA UK No. 250718, with the title of “British-Canadian Relations 1921–1930“, provided by Faculty of Arts of Charles University. 2 Martin Šubrt, Institute of World History, Faculty of Arts, Charles University, Nám. Jana Palacha 2, 116 38, Praha 1, Czech Republic, [email protected] 3 Sometimes also referred to as the King-Byng dispute or Byng-King affair. martin šubrt 31 a different procedure instead, as a result of which he interfered significantly in internal Canadian politics. After this incident, the office of British Governor-General in Canada underwent transformation during the Imperial Conference in London in the same year. The aim of this paper is to focus on what role this affair plays in the transformation. However, the text will not only focus on the dispute and the function of the Governor-General but it will try to define the place that the affair occupies in the development of British-Canadian relations and on the way to Canadian independence from the mother country. We can also wonder if the affair helped Mackenzie King’s political goals. For the purpose of penetrating more deeply into the issue of the dispute between the Canadian Prime Minister and the British Governor-General, we must, first of all, introduce both key figures of this affair. MACKENZIE KING AND LORD BYNG The longest-serving Prime Minister of Canada was born on 17 December 1874 in On- tario in the town of Berlin, which was renamed Kitchener in 1916. We can describe him as a deeply religious, educated, well-read and lonely man.4 His grandfather on his mother’s side was William Lyon Mackenzie, the leader of the rebellion in Upper Canada in 1837, whose celebrity as a symbol of the fight against repression he did not hesitate to utilise subsequently for his own political career. In addition to his famous grandfather, his role model was also Wilfried Laurier the Canadian Prime Minister of Liberal Party from the beginning of the twentieth century.5 It was under this Prime Minister that young Mackenzie King began his political career. Lau- rier was a supporter of Canada’s limited participation in matters of the British Em- pire, but his opposition towards centralisation of the Empire during the conferences held in 1907 and 1921 can be considered rather passive or passive-aggressive.6 When Mackenzie King became Prime Minister of Canada it soon became apparent that his efforts to change Canada’s direction on the international stage and its independent foreign policy towards its mother country would be much more intensive. This ap- proach can also be considered an expression of the wave of isolationism that arrived in Canada from the United States of America.7 His vision clashed with the concept of a common imperial policy within the British Empire. Loring Christie, the advisor to previous Canadian Prime Ministers Robert Borden and Arthur Meighen, believed that if the common imperial policy took the interests of all the parts of the empire into consideration, Canada should play an active role in it. The position of the oldest 4 R. BOTHWELL — I. DRUMMOND — J. ENGLISH, Canada: 1900–1945, Toronto — Buffa- lo — London 1987, pp. 200–201. 5 J. E. ESBEREY, Personality and Politics: A New Look at the King-Byng Dispute, in: Canadian Journal of Political Science / Revue canadienne de science politique, Vol. 6, No. 1, Mar. 1973, p. 42. 6 J. T. THOMPSON, Canada and the Third British Empire, in: P. BUCKNER, (ed.), Canada and British Empire, New York 2008, p. 90. 7 H. D. HALL, Commonwealth: A History of the British Commonwealth of Nations, London 1971, p. 477. 32 PRAGUE PAPERS ON THE HISTORY OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 2/2019 British dominion in international relations would therefore change from submission to responsibility.8 In 1923 Mackenzie King chose a new key advisor for foreign affairs. He recruited professor of Queen’s University Oscar Douglas Skelton to be his special adviser for Imperial Conference that year and in 1925 appointed him the undersecre- tary in the Department of External Affairs. Skelton, just like the Prime Minister him- self, defended the need for an independent Canadian foreign policy and was deeply involved in its formation for nearly twenty years from that point on.9 Mackenzie King was very persistent in his efforts. During negotiations with the British he subscribed to the theory that Canada is an autonomous dominion in re- lation to imperial policy. According to his biographer Blair Neatby, Mackenzie King did not wish his attitude to cause fragmentation of the unity of the British Empire, but rather to promote the opportunity for Canada to make its own decisions in international matters, which is why he did not agree to bind the dominion under a common imperial policy, where Canada may have been too subordinate to the interests of Great Britain. However, he believed that if Canada had the opportunity to direct its own policy on the international field in the future, this would still fall within the broader context of the common imperial policy.10 The second party to the dispute in 1926 was Field Marshal Julian Hedworth George Byng, subsequently 1st Viscount Byng of Vimy, who was born on 11 September 1862 in Hertfordshire in Great Britain. During his military career he served in India and in the Boer Wars. He gained popularity in Canada during the First World War when he commanded Canadian forces on the Western Front from 1916. He led his troops into the famous battle of Vimy Ridge in 1917, during which the Canadians defeated the Germans and his soldiers proudly started to call themselves the Byng boys after their commander.11 After the war he was promoted for his services to General and was created Baron of Vimy. When Winston Churchill, Secretary of State for the Colonies, offered him the post of Governor-General of Canada in 1921, he was overjoyed, and his wife even mentioned that she had never seen him happier.12 He held this office during the period from 1921 to 1926. At that time the Gover- nor-General represented the British monarch and also the British government in the dominion. He also assured communication with the Colonial Office and subsequently with the newly created Dominions Office. For this reason, he played an important role on the stage of Canadian internal politics, but as the power of the government in Ottawa grew, his office appeared increasingly weaker and more formal. Due to in- creasing Canadian autonomy he was more and more often seen as an imperial official and his office waited for more precise definition until 1926.13 Lord Byng officially assumed his office in August 1921 and he was welcomed very enthusiastically in Canada. When meeting with Arthur Meighen, who was Prime 8 BOTHWELL, p. 232. 9 Ibidem, p. 236. 10 H. B. NEATBY, William Lyon Mackenzie King, 1924–1932: The Lonely Heights, London 1963, p. 32. 11 J. COWAN, Canada’s Governors-General 1867–1952, Toronto 1952, p. 112. 12 Ibidem. 13 R. MacGREGOR DAWSON, Constitutional Issues in Canada: 1900–1931, London 1933, p. 66. martin šubrt 33 Minister of Canada at the time, he reputedly apologised for his inexperience in a similar position and warned him that he would certainly make mistakes.14 When Meighen came to the end of his term in office as Prime Minister, Lord Byng said to him, “you are my constitutional advisor and I must act on your advice.”15 Not even the new Prime Minister Mackenzie King had any reason to believe that the Gover- nor-General, who he also considered his friend, would act in opposition to his advice.

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