Artifact #2:We Will Not Desert the Boys at the Front, Vote Union Government. 1914-1918.

Citation:

Unknown, We Will Not Desert the Boys at the Front, Vote Union Government. 1914-1918. Photograph. Library and Archives Canada, Item ID number: 3667252. https://recherche-collection-search.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/Home/Record?app=FonAndCol&idNumber=3667252&ecopy=e010697152-v8

Label:

The artifact above is a wartime propaganda poster designed to encourage Canadians to vote for the Union Government. The source states that the date of the artifact is between 1914 and 1918, but the Union Government did not exist until early 1917 when a coalition was formed between the conservatives and some of the liberal party members. One of the major aspects of the Union Government was their want to enforce conscription. The poster emphasizes that fact with its direct tone, and the party’s language on the poster suggests that voting for them is the best way to support the troops. It was, as voting for them ensured more soldiers would be sent to the front. Conscription became a major political issue with English Canadians seeing conscription as necessary to win the war, and French Canadians feeling they had no need to support Britain and the war it was trying to drag them into. This artifact underlines the political dynamics of the Union Government, and their use of conscription dividing Canadians at home.

Bibliography:

English, John. "Union Government" The Canadian Encyclopedia. Last modified June 19, 2015. https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/union-government