1909 Naval supremacy!

[David_Hayward (RIP)]

The Toronto Daily Star of 7 April 1909 published replies to a letter published by the paper because of concerns at the supremacy of the Royal Navy at the time. They basically asked whether Canada should do anything for the Imperial Navy, when and what? Replies included building at least one Dreadnought battleship for Canada. However one reply stands out, from Robert Mclaughlin, the President of the McLaughlin Carriage Company of Oshawa...yes the firm that begat GM of Canada! He said that Canada should do 'her share in assisting the motherland' and that the Dominion Government should consider a general tax on Canada to pay for it. Jump to 1936 and GM of Canada, presided over by R.S. 'Sam' McLaughlin [son] offered all their resources to the PM of Canada in response to an open letter in an Ottawa newspaper. The rest is history!

[John McGillivray]

This dates to around of the time of the founding of the Royal Canadian Navy. It is covered in detail in Marc Milner’s book “Canada’s Navy The First Century”. The Liberal government of Sir Wilfrid Laurier wanted Canada to have its own Navy to patrol Canadian Waters and protect the fisheries from American poachers. However, the Conservatives led by Sir Robert Borden wanted to give the money to the British government to build ships for the Royal Navy, and than hope that the British would take care of Canada’s interest in any disputes with the US.