Borden, Robert Laird (1854-1937)

Canadian Conservative politician, prime minister 1911-20. Throughout World War I he represented Canada at meetings of the Imperial War Cabinet, and he was the chief Canadian delegate at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919. He played an important role in transforming Canada from a colony to a nation, notably by insisting on separate membership of the League of Nations in 1919.

Borden was born in Grand Pré, Nova Scotia. He practised law in Halifax, and was a member of the House of Commons 1896-1921, representing Halifax for most of that time. From 1910 he led the Conservative opposition. He succeeded Wilfred Laurier as prime minister after the latter's defeat on the Reciprocity Bill at the general election of 1911. After his retirement from politics he published two volumes of lectures, Canadian Constitutional Studies (1922) and Canada in the Commonwealth (1929). His Memoirs were published posthumously in 1938.