office_contested canadian federal election
The 1917 Canadian federal election ( sometimes referred to as the khaki election ) was held on December 17 , 1917 , to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 13th Parliament of Canada . Described by historian Michael Bliss as the `` most bitter election in Canadian history '' , it was fought mainly over the issue of conscription ( see Conscription Crisis of 1917 ) . The election resulted in ___MASK27___ Sir Robert Borden ' s Unionist government elected with a strong majority , and the largest percent share of the popular vote for a single party in Canadian history . The previous election had been held in 1911 , and was won by Borden ' s Conservatives . Under the elections law , Canada should have had an election in 1916 . However citing the emergency of the First World War , the government postponed the election , largely in hope that a coalition government could be formed , as was the case in Britain . Sir Wilfrid Laurier , head of the Liberal Party of Canada , refused to join the coalition over the issue of conscription . Conscription was strongly opposed in the Liberal heartland of Quebec . Laurier worried that agreeing to Borden ' s coalition offer would cause that province to abandon the Liberals , and perhaps Canada as well . Borden proceeded to form a `` Unionist '' government , and the Liberal Party split over the issue . Many English Canadian Liberal MPs and provincial Liberal parties in English Canada supported the new Unionist government . To ensure victory for conscription , Borden introduced two laws to skew the voting towards the government . The first of these , the Wartime Elections Act , disenfranchised conscientious objectors and Canadian citizens who were born in enemy countries who had arrived after 1902 . The law also gave female relatives of servicemen the vote . Thus , the 1917 election was the first federal election in which some women were allowed to vote . The other new law was the Military Voters Act that allowed soldiers serving abroad to choose which riding their vote would be counted in , or to allow the party for which they voted to select the riding the vote would be counted in . This allowed government officials to guide the strongly pro - conscription soldiers into voting in those ridings where the government felt they would be most useful . Servicemen were given a ballot with the simple choice of `` Government '' or `` Opposition . '' Soon after these measures were passed , Borden convinced a faction of Liberals ( using the name Liberal - Unionists ) along with Gideon Decker Robertson who was described as a `` Labour '' Senator ( but was unaffiliated with any Labour Party ) to join with them , forming the Unionist government in October 1917 . He then dissolved parliament to seek a mandate in the election which pitted `` Government '' candidates , running as the Unionist Party , against the anti - Conscription faction of the Liberal Party which ran under the name Laurier Liberals . The divisive debate ended with the country divided on linguistic lines . The Liberals won 82 seats , 62 of which were in Quebec , with many other seats won in provinces like Manitoba , New Brunswick , and Ontario in ridings with significant francophone populations . The Unionists won 153 seats . The three Unionist won seats in Quebec were all in mainly anglophone ridings . This fact led to the Francœur Motion in January 1918 . John William Michael Bliss , ( born January 18 , 1941 ) is a Canadian historian and award - winning author . Though his early works focused on business and political history , he has written several important medical biographies , including of Sir William Osler . Bliss is also a frequent commentator on political events and issues . He is a ___MASK87___ of the Order of Canada . The ___MASK8___ is the primary minister of the Crown , chairman of the Cabinet , and thus head of government for Canada , charged with advising the Canadian monarch or federal viceroy on the exercise of the executive powers vested in them by the constitution . Not outlined in any constitutional document , the office exists only as per long - established convention ( originating in Canada ' s former colonial power , the United Kingdom ) that stipulates the monarch ' s representative , the governor general , must select as prime minister the person most likely to command the confidence of the elected House of Commons ; this individual is typically the leader of the political party that holds the largest number of seats in that chamber . Canadian prime ministers are styled as " The Right Honourable ", a privilege maintained for life . Sir Robert Laird Borden ( June 26 , 1854  June 10 , 1937 ) was a Canadian lawyer and politician . He served as the eighth ___MASK8___ from October 10 , 1911 , to July 10 , 1920 , and was the third Nova Scotian to hold this office . After retiring from public life , he served as the chancellor of Queen ' s University . His portrait appears on Canadian $ 100 notes produced since 1976 but in late 2016 the government announced Borden ' s image would be removed during the next redesign .