Nova Scotia and the reciprocity election of 1911

Abstract

After a campaign which was probably the most keenly fought of any since Confederation a ministry which for fifteen years had enjoyed the confidence of the Canadian public went down to humiliating defeat in the election of 1911. While the general outcome surprised many Liberals it was perhaps in Nova Scotia that the Laurier administration had least expected to sustain losses because of the appeal the election's chief issue was believed to have for that province.

Parliament had been dissolved and a general election had been called over the question of reciprocity in natural products with the United States. While most Canadian manufacturers were opposed to the proposed trade arrangement largely because they feared it would eventually lead to reduced tariff protection for their particular economic concerns, Nova Scotians were expected to welcome it because their province's economy was so heavily dependent on the fishing, farming, mining and forest industries.

This dissertation attempts to account in some measure for the failure of Nova Scotians to respond enthusiastically to the reciprocity arrangement negotiated for them by their own W. S. Fielding, Minister of Finance for Canada. As it is contended that the relative prosperity which prevailed in Nova Scotia during 1910 and 1911 was largely responsible for the apparent indifference of the province toward reciprocity much of this study is concerned with the state of the primary industries as the second decade of the twentieth century got under way.

Since the election of 1911 was one of the most colourful in Canadian history and as much of this colour was reflected in the Nova Scotia press the thesis also devotes considerable attention to an examination of this medium -- so influential during the years just prior to the advent of electronic broadcasting.