Robert Borden

Canada's ninth Prime Minister was born in Nova Scotia.,the third and last Prime Minister to come from that province. He was a Conservative and served from 10 October 1911 to 10 July 1920. During World War I his government implemented divisive (i.e. Quebec/Rest of Canada) policies of conscription. To do this, in his second term, he formed a coalition party called the Unionist Party to convince Liberals to join the Conservative party's conscription drive.

Previous Prime Minister: Sir Wilfrid Laurier (1911)
Next Prime Minister: Arthur Meighen (1920)

Canadian politician, former Prime Minister.

The Right Honourable, leader of the Conservative Party of Canada.

Borden rebuilt a Tory party that had been rudderless since the death of Sir John A. Macdonald and that was shattered in the 1896 election. (Take heart, Joe Clark.)

World War I and the issue of conscription loomed over Borden's term in office. The Quebec wing of his party would not support it, and he won reelection without them, forming a "Union" government which included a number of disaffected Liberals who had split with their party over the conscription issue.

His government created the War Measures Act which would be used in peacetime by Pierre Elliot Trudeau in 1970 during the October Crisis. It also created the Income tax Act.

Borden was literally in office when the centre block of Parliament burned in February 1916. He barely escaped with his life.

He graces the Canadian $100 bill, which is a sullen brown colour.