Mine is a hugely unpopular opinion, I know, but I believe the imposition of trade tariffs by the new government of the United States will be a good thing for Canada and for Canadians. Canada's history proves that. Canada needs a wake-up call. And here it is: free trade (or "reciprocal" trade), at least with the United States, has never worked for Canada.
I believe these new American tariffs will unify this nation, and will make Canadians aware that the US is 1) never to be trusted and 2) a very poor trade partner, as history has proved. [David Orchard (a fourth-generation prairie farm from Saskatchewan: The Fight for Canada: Four Centuries of Resistance to American Expansionism, 1993, revised 2nd edition 1990]
Tariffs were a major factor in the Canadian federal election of 1911 that toppled the government of Canadian Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier, and dealt a serious political loss to the US President William Howard Taft. Canadians in the early 20th century, in large numbers, were strongly opposed to the idea of annexation by the United States; a full century after the War of 1812. Remember, during that war there were three major invasions of Canada by the Americans. All of those invasions had the goal of annexation, and all of them were disastrous failures.
President Taft, a Republican, a "free-trader", supported a bill that was passed by the Republican-controlled House in April of 1911 and by the US Senate in June. The bill, which was called a trade "reciprocity" bill, was designed to eliminate all tariffs on trade with Canada. Essentially a fair trade "agreement", it was not a treaty; it was a measure that had to be signed into law in both the US and Canada to take effect.
In Canada's Parliament, a similar bill was introduced by the Liberal government of Sir Wilfrid Laurier. Conservative opponents of the bill spoke against it in the House of Commons, warning that its passage would inevitably lead to Canada’s annexation by the United States. The debate spun out of control, the discussion degenerating into "hysteria. Sir Wilfrid Laurier dissolved Parliament and called for a federal election to take place on September 21. Laurier felt certain that the Canadian public would vote to sustain his government, appreciating the economic advantages of free trade with the United States.
When the September 21 Canadian election was held, President Taft was on a two-week rail trip through the Western US, speaking in towns and cities. At a banquet in Kalamazoo, Michigan, he was handed a telegram that read: "Laurier government and reciprocity beaten by an overwhelming majority." Canadians had thrown the Liberal government out of office.
Sir Laurier was succeeded as Prime Minister by Conservative Sir Robert Borden, who led the country through the 1st World War.
The defeat of free trade "reciprocity" in Canada was a huge blow to US President Taft, and cost him a lot of support, particularly among farmers in those US states which bordered Canada (who saw the removal of protective tariffs as opening American markets to competition from Canadian agricultural and lumber imports).
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Charles
Not much was said on the Wikipedia page about the effect of tariffs on the 1911 election; I learned about it mostly by reading this book:
Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism (Pub. 2013)
By Doris Kearns Goodwin
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