William Mackenzie King's Contribution To Canadian History

William Mackenzie King was the longest Prime Minister of Canada, serving three terms in office;1921-1926, 1926-1930, 1935-1940. He served a total of 6 years in office during the time of 1929-1945, in which he contributed an abundant amount to Canada’s society, politics, and culture. Many of his contributions were at critical times in Canadian history, during the great depression and world war 2. His contributions started during the Great Depression. Although he was reluctant to acknowledge the depression at first, when he was re-elected in 1935, he stepped in where his predecessor, R.B.Bennet could not. When he returned to office he had made trade agreements with the UK, provided social assistance, created welfare or unemployment insurance,
In terms of positive contributions; King established before World war 2 had begun that any decisions about Canada’s participation in the war would be made by Canada’s parliament and not Britain. This was a large deal in Canada’s politics as they were even closer to being an individual nation. Another large decision he made was promising no conscription during the second World War. This was of large significance to Canadian society as it meant that men would no longer be forced to fight. It also had a positive impact on Canada’s culture as conscription during the first war had forced French Canadians to fight for Britain, which had caused much conflict in the French - British Canadian communities. In terms of negative impacts; he had negatively contributed to Canada’s culture and society in an unobvious way at the time, but in a way that would have significance for years to come. Although many argue that any other person would have made the same decisions at the time, his anti-semitic views and disregard to persecuted groups had a large effect on our country. Canada was still very racist and anti-semitic during this