The Naval Aid Bill Reaches Closure in the House of Commons

Abstract

The Naval Aid Bill moved for discussion into a committee of the whole House of Commons and caused much anger and bitterness within the Canadian Parliament. Robert Borden and Wilfrid Laurier disagreed over what exactly should be discussed at this stage of the Bill, Borden felt the details of the clauses should only be dealt with. Issues of finance were scrutinized further and the majority of the debates were repetition of what had gone before, something that Borden was trying to avoid. Michael Clark, the Liberal party member of Red Deer, made thirteen arguments against the Bill on 4 March 1913. His anti-militarism took the approach of accusations against what might now be described as ‘masters of war’. It was his eighth reason for opposing the legislation that took up the line of argument:

Who are asking for the armaments in Germany, in Great Britain, in France? It is not the farmers, the scientists, the workmen, the religious leaders, the musicians or the business men. It is the men who live by fighting, who love the frills of the thing, the wearing of peacock feathers after they have grown to be men, and the people who make money by selling arms.²