The Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28, 1919. Canada only got a small portion of the money that was suppposed to be payed by Germany. Other than that, Canada didn't ask for, or get, anything else in the way of land or money from this treaty. Although Canada didn't gain anything in wealth from the treaty, it's national status grew. Before the treaty was signed Prime Minister Sir Robert Borden worked hard to get Canada a seperate signature on the Treaty. He ended up signing the treaty for the entire British Empire delegation which included: Canada, the Dominos, and India. Because of this Canada had finally been recognized. A benefit of this was during the time that the Leauge of Nations was around Canada was elected into the council in 1927.
Canada, since the 1800's has had an odd type of government. They are a Parliamentary democracy, a constitutional monarchy, and a federation. The head of Canada is the Prime Minister, who is elected by the citizens of Canada. Between 1921 and 1948 William Lloyd Mackenzie King was the off and on Prime Minister of Canada. He became Prime Minister on December 29, 1921.
Prior to World War 2 William Mackenzie King tried to get a conservative domestic policy. This would lower war-time taxes, and ethnic tensions during war-time. His greatest achievement during this time was his involvement in the planning of the capital city, Ottawa. He also strengthened the liberal policy and created a system of old-age benefits based on needs. In 1935 him and his party passed the Reciprocal Trade Agreement which was the turning point of Canadian and American trade and economic relations. It reversed the trade war that had taken place between 1930 and 1931. It lowered tarrifs, and increased trade. It also showed that Mackenzie King and Herbert Hoover could work well together. He also passed acts like the National Housing Act, and the National Employment Commision. Both were similar to the type of acts that the US had during the Great Depression.
Some of Mackenzie Kings main goals incude National unity, also he wanted to make Canada a better place. One of his famous quotes was: It is what we prevent, rather than what we do that counts most in Government." This makes sense to me. If you can do something to prevent something from happening, that's all the better.
Canada didn't really have much of a drive to have ties with the military. In the 1920's they rejected the offer to strengthen ties between the Royal Canadian Navy and the Royal Navy. The main thing that was thought of in any Canadian military planning was money. The government remained more concerned with domestic things rather than worrying about the dangerous foreign affairs that were brewing in Europe and Asia.
When Italy and Ethiopia started warring Canada was very important in cutting off Mussolini's supply of iron, oil, coal, and steel. Even with war quickly coming for many countries the Prime Minister, William Mackenzie King wasn't in too big of a hurry to start military preparations. Finally, in 1936 Major-General Andrew McNaughton started an expansion, and reorganization of the Canadian militia. The expansion was to include additional infantry as well as machine guns, tanks, and anti-aircraft/anti-tank units. None of this really happened.
When Great Britain declared war, the Prime Minister of Canada immediatly called an emergency session for the Canadian Parliament. On September 10, Canada also declared war. The main reason Canada even went into the war was because Britain was still the mother-country of most Canadians. They were mainly just prepared to help Britain. Prime Minister William Mackenzie King's main idea was to not fight very much war. In 1941 a small Canadian force was part of a Norweigan-British-Canadian plan to destroy mining activities, and communications on the island of Spitzbergen, property of Norweigia. Canadas air force was a part of the Battle of Britain, which was lost, but Canadians managed 31 "kills" in the air battle. The Canadian Navy played a big part in escorting ships, by 1944 they provided escorts for the entire Allied groups along the convoy routes to Britain. Canadian submarines also helped protect merchant ships.
During the war Allies of Canada were Great Britain, the US, and all the other Allied powers. The Second World War impacted Canada in a major way. In under 5 years they went from being a mainly agricultural nation to being completely industrialized. They built up their military from a small group of people, to very large, and rather powerful. By the end of the war Canada had the 3rd largest Navy and Air-force in the world. There were two main negative effects of the war. First, the loss of a generation of people, and secondly the cost of the war.
SOURCES!
http://www.lermuseum.org/ler/mh/wwii/italy.html
http://www.ushouldvisit.com/north-america/canada/What-Type-Of-Government-Does-Canada-Have.html
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_impact_did_World_War_2_have_on_Canada
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