How did conscription affect Canada?

Answer 1

No, although some people have stated that they had, research showed that young men stood in line for hours to volunteer and sign up. Thank God that they did, so many of those men gave their lives to help liberate Europe especially in Holland where they are honoured every year. God bless every one of them!!

Answer 2

Canada was affected mostly on the English-canadians and french- Canadian relations. Because when king asked the people to vote on conscription all the English - canadians voted for it and french- canadians voted against it. After only about 13 000 were conscrit.

Canada wasn't affected much, because of Kings promise "Conscription if necessary, but not necessarily conscription" and his saying that it wasnt just planned to get the french canadians into the military the french-English relations werent affected very much, when compared to wwi. Also consciption was put into effect as soon as the war started, the promise made was that conscripts wouldn't be sent overseas.

I take very strong exception to the above answer that says that Canada wasn't affected very much by the conscrition controversy. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

The facts are these..........The Canadian Army had over one hundred thousand fully trained troops sitting in camps in Canada, drawing full pay, while the 1st Infantry Division was fighting in Italy, and suffering huge casualty loses, with many men being wounded and then rushed back to the front, due to chronic manpower shortages. Why?

Because the "Zombies" back home had been promised that they would only be subject to "home service" if they were conscripted, while the volunteers in Italy had signed to serve until the war was "Over". What do you think that felt like? After the June, 1944, D-Day landings, things got even worse, as the fighting took place in close quarters, in small towns and villages of France. The daily casualty rates went thru the roof and both infantry and armour units were at 50 percent of full strength, with some at only 30 percent of normal manning levels.

By the time they got to Holland, things were even more grim, with wholesale drafts of clerks, cooks, bakers, and anybody else who could be found in the rear, being sent up to fight as infantry, regardless of their lack of training. The facts are very clear, the Canadian Army was being bled to death, with a whole fresh division of fully trained troops sitting on their asses in Canada. The blame sits clearly on the shoulders of the P.M., and the people of Quebec who refused to get involved in the actual fighting, but were very happy to make the big money at home in a war plant, working overtime.

The result of this policy? The attitude of WW2 veterans is still against the Province of Quebec, and they will never change their minds on this topic. Also, the refusal of the Canadian Government to use ALL the troops they had, was a huge mistake, causing our death tolls to be way higher than they needed to be.

Actually only about 13,000 conscripts were sent overseas, and they went voluntarily. Most conscripts spent the war in Canada, as the government had promised they would. But they weren't alone. Only half of the Canadian Army made it overseas, and the majority of those who stayed home were volunteers. Similarly, two-thirds of the air force stayed in Canada also, though many were involved in the Commonweath air training plan. So while the Canadian army in Europe was in desperate straits for soldiers as the war drew to a close, it wasn't solely the fault of conscripts.

Also French Canada was not the only part of Canada to vote against conscription. It wasn't popular in Western Canada, and even Arthur Meighen, the pro-conscription former prime minister, was defeated in Toronto on the issue of conscription.

Answer 3

Canada instituted Conscsription during WWII because ther were so many casualties over seas that more soldiers were needed and conscription was the only way to get enough soldiers overseas so that Germany was defeated

Answer 4

I believe that conscription had a huge impact on Canada. It made Canada a middle power and without it Canadians and other people all around the world could be under shadow of German military today.