Transcript Canada Takes a Stand for Independence

Canada Takes a Stand for
Independence
Chanak Crisis
The Halibut Treaty
The Imperial Conference
The Balfour Report
The Statute of Westminster
Review WWI
The Chanak Crisis 1922
• Chanak was a Turkish
port controlled by Britain
- Condition of one of the treaties
from the Paris Peace
Conference
• 1922 British occupation
troops threatened by
Turkish Nationalists
- threat to the British Empire
The Chanak Crisis Significance
• Britain asked Prime
Minister King for help
****First time we refused
unconditional support for
the British Empire in war
The Halibut Treaty 1923
• Canada and the US
negotiated a treaty to
protect the Halibut stocks
in BC and Alaska
• Treaty established the
international Pacific
Halibut Commission
- Way to co-manage the Pacific
The Halibut Treaty Significance
• Canada negotiated the
treaty without involving
British officials
- British protested!
• Seen as a victory in
independent diplomacy
for Mackenzie King
- Key argument at the Imperial
Conference
The Imperial Conference of 1926
• Conference in which the
dominions of the British
Empire requested formal
recognition of their
autonomy
• Where Canada made its
greatest progress towards legal
independence
The Balfour Report 1926
• Reported the conclusions of the Imperial
Conference
• Acknowledged that Canada was an autonomous
community within the British Empire, and not
subordinate to Britain
• The Canadian Governor General was only a
representative of the British Monarch
Prime
Minister
Mackenzie
King
Leader of
the Liberal
Party
Governor
General Lord
Byng
Representative
of the British
Monarch in
Canada
Arthur
Meighen
Leader of the
Conservative
Party
The King Byng Crisis of 1926
• In 1926 the Governor General refused the Prime
Minister’s request to dissolve Parliament and call an
election
• Significance
- Mackenzie King publically challenged Britain
over the role of the Governor General and
Britain's influence on Canada’s internal politics
The King-Byng Crisis Story Time
• 1925 Election
Liberals win fewer seats than Conservatives
- King forms minority coalition government with
Progressive party, so King stays in power!
Conservatives Angry!
- Call for a vote of disapproval over King’s Liberal
Government
- Progressives avoid scandal and back out of coalition
The King-Byng Crisis 1926
• King asked Byng to now dissolve parliament call
an election
- Knows he will win!
Byng Refuses
- King Resigns
- Meighen asked to form a new government
The King-Byng Crisis 1926
• Meighen Government fails!
- Subject to a vote of non-confidence
• Byng forced to dissolve Parliament
- Election set for September 1926
Return of the King!
• 1926 Election
• King and his Liberals
win a majority
• All of that Drama for
the same ending
The Statute of Westminster 1931
• Legalized the Balfour Report
• Formally turned the British Empire into the
British Commonwealth
- Canada autonomous within the Commonwealth
The Dominion of Canada now independent from
British colonial powers
Restrictions on Canada’s Independence
1. The British North
American Act remained
Why?
- Canadian Federal and
Provincial governments could
not agree on Amending
Formula
2. Judicial Committee of
the Privy Council
remained the final court
of appeal for Canadians