• Federal election 1925• Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie

and his Liberal Government won fewer seats than the Conservative Party led by Arthur Meighen– But King wasn’t ready to go quite yet;

he felt that he still had the majority of support in the HOC than the Conservatives:

• King had the support of the Progressive Party, giving him the majority of support in the HOC– He kept in power based on a technicality…

The King-Byng Crisis, 1926

• According to British and Canadian concept of responsible government, King stayed in power

• Responsible Gov’t:– PM and Cabinet may stay in power as long as they hold

the majority of votes in the HOC– Liberal + Progressive votes = majority/more than

Conservatives• 101 Liberal seats + 28 Progressive• 116 Conservative seats

– This was only a short lived sense of victory…

King’s saving grace…

• 1926, with Progressive support lessening, King decided he had better call an election before he faced the possibility of suffering defeat in parliament.– King ask Governor General Lord Byng of Vimy

to dissolve parliament…this didn’t happen• Byng felt that King should have resigned

when he lost the election to the Conservatives the year previous; he wantedKing to suffer defeat. – Due to his unwillingness to dissolve

parliament and allowing for an election to be called, King resigned • Byng used his “reserve powers” in refusing King his request.

– Reserve power is a power that may be exercised by the head of state without the approval of another branch of the government.

King vs. Byng

• Prime Minister Meighen came to power on June 28, 1926, but lost support of the HOC by the 25th of September 1926…– Originally when he took over from King, he did so without total

support of his Conservative peers; he was the leader of the party so became PM by default.

• Meighen lost a vote of confidence, he was then forced to dissolve parliament and call an election.– Mackenzie King won the election of September

1926, he was back in charge• LEGACY OF KING-BYNG: First time in Canadian

history that a Gov General outright refused the request of a PM to dissolve parliament

King gone, but not for long…

• As mentioned during the war, the role of women changed during the first two decades of the 20th century

• This continued on into the 1920s:– Women controlled their own lives– Held jobs that had belonged to men– Got involved in sports that were previously only associated

with men, i.e. Boxing– Fewer clothing restrictions, i.e. “shocking” bathing suits, and

shorter skirts– The Charleston dance, amongst other “scandalous” activities

became the norm…

Next: Role of Women: Social Roles

• WCTU: Women’s Christian Temperance Union• They used their new found influence in the

United States to convince the government to ban all production, sale and consumption of alcohol– Known as prohibition

Role of Women II: WCTU & Prohibition

• Women in both the United States and Canada believed that alcohol was evil as it led to:– Wife abuse, child abuse, accidents, poverty, neglect of

family, diseases, wife desertion, and even death• In Canada prohibition occurred for:– 3 years in Quebec– 4 years in BC– 48 years in PEI

• Many of these perceived problems did disappear with prohibition, i.e. drop in crime and poverty rates

Prohibition

• United States saw the increase in gangsterism (organized crime) in an effort to supply alcohol to “thirsty Americans” – Al Capone & others supplied

“speakeasies” – secret places which sold alcohol

• Canadians contributed to “bootleg” operations; Prairies provinces would produce moonshine, and deliver it to American rum-runners

Problems with Prohibition

• Many of Atlantic Canada’s best fishing captains and crews delivered to the rum-runners, some even losing their lives in the process.– Main area for these deliveries to be picked up, French Island

off of NFLD.– Liquor produced in Montreal and Toronto

• Loopholes in Canadian prohibition laws:– Ontario, legal to drink wine (28% content)– Most Provincial doctors could prescribe alcohol to patients

• Due to difficulties in enforcing a complete ban on alcohol, the provinces began to sell liquor in government controlled liquor stores… prohibition in Canada was over

Canadians & Prohibition

• First Female Member of Parliament, 1921• Agnes Macphail won her riding in rural Ontario,

becoming Canada’s first female member of parliament.• Macphail’s contributions to Canadian politics included a

call for prison reforms, investigations were launched into conditions of Canada’s prisons in the mid-1930s.

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFAteXZGT_Y– Founded the Elizabeth Fry Society, an organization established

to help women who had been imprisoned• Appointed to Senate in 1954, passed away before the

appointment was fulfilled.

Back to Role of Women …

• 1918 all women had gained the right to vote federally, it was not until 1940 that women could vote in all provinces.

• Prior to 1940, the idea of emancipation (freedom) was far from reality…

• Despite contributions during WWI, women still found themselves in the role of the homemaker.

• A group of women did their best to change this…

The Famous Five and the Persons Case, 1929

• Key Players:– Five Alberta women, Emily Murphy,

Nellie McClung, Henrietta Muir Edwards, Louise McKinney & Irene Parlby

• The issue:– Asked the Supreme Court of Canada to consider

and rule on the following:• Does the word ‘person’ in Section 24 of the British

North American Act include female persons?

The Famous Five

• 1916, Emily Murphy was first women judge in British Empire; she was challenged on her right to preside in her own courtroom by male lawyers; claimed women were not “persons” as defined in BNA act

• 1927, Famous Five asked Supreme Court to rule on women’s definition as a person• 3 months later, Supreme Court ruled that Fathers of Confederation (Sir John A.

Macdonald et al) had not intended for women to be considered as “qualified persons”

• 1928, Famous Five with PM King appealed to the British Privy Council – at the time Canada’s highest court – to consider the persons case

• 1929, Privy Council responded by saying that the word “persons” does include both female and male; both being eligible to be members of Canadian Senate. – “to those who should ask why the word ‘person’ should not be include

females, the obvious answer is, why should it not?”

Persons Case: Key Elements

• Paved way for greater participation of women in public life.

• None of the Five gained the honour of serving in senate– Honour went to Cairine Wilson in 1930

Famous Five: Their Legacy