Major Politics Of The 1920's

Canada’s Major Politics of the 1920’s

Many events have occurred in the 1920s examples include Manitoba’s general election, Arthur Meighan becoming Prime Minister,Federal election, the 1922 Chanak affair,the 1923 halibut treaty, 1923 chinese exclusion act, 1926 Balfour Report,1926 Byng Crisis etc.

The Manitoba’s general election,was not just an election it was one of the first to introduce different political parties, other than the liberals and Conservatives. Sir Arthur Meighan was a lawyer,businessman & the Prime Minister of Canada. Arthur Meighan was the leader of the conservative party. Meighan came after Borden as prime minister in 1920, due to Prime Minister Robert Borden being too exhausted from being in office, his doctor told him

On March 2nd 1923 the halibut treaty was signed, it was a Canadian-American agreement concerning fishing rights in North Pacific Ocean, and the first treaty to be independently negotiated and signed by the Canadian government. Although Canada’s right to negotiate treaties was well established, Britain wanted to sign the convention along with Canada, as they always did. Prime Minister Mackenzie King argued that the matter was only the concern of Canada and the U.S. The halibut example, confirmed by the Imperial Conference of 1923, was an important step towards Canada’s right to separate diplomatic action.

Another important event was the Balfour report. The Balfour report was declared that Britain and its Dominions were constitutionally equal to each other. It was a landmark for Canada as a fully independent nation, united with Britain and the other dominions through the common wealth.

Another important event that occurred in 1926 was the King-Byng Crisis. The King-Byng affair was a 1926 canadian constitutional crisis pitting powers of a prime minister against the powers of a governor general. It began when prime minister William Lyon Mackenzie King asked governor general Lord Julian Byng of Vimy to dissolve Parliament and call fresh elections.Julian Byng refused. It ended with William Mackenzie King winning an eventual election, and no governor general refused publicly ever again the advice of the Prime