One King, One Flag, One Empire

During the Edwardian Era British and Canadian society and political circles fought a spirited battle about the nature of Canada's involvement and contributions to imperial defense. These debates were interconnected to other movements which were important during the late Victorian and Edwardian eras. The movements for imperial preference, tariff reform and imperial federation were the primary predecessors of the movement for greater defense unity in the period before World War I. Supporters of greater imperial defense cooperation in both Canada and in Great Britain used a language of "Britishness" to undergird their arguments. "Britishness" was used in various ways to develop an imperial identity that could be used to connect the far flung corners of the Empire. These included citizenship and Anglo-Saxon naval supremacy. Another major feature of this movement was its non-partisan and eclectic membership. One of the main ideologies developed by supporters of imperial defense cooperation was "National Efficiency." Efficiency was a new mode of organization for the British state that emphasized military preparedness as a reaction to British failures during the Second Boer War (1899-1902) These ideologies and languages of "Britishness" and "National Efficiency" did not go unchallenged. Henri Bourassa and the French Canadian Ligue Nationaliste Canadienne built their own ideology that opposed these imperialist impulses. French Canadian nationalist was primarily a rejection of centralization and of militarism based on the long history of British radical and liberal politics. Bourassa and the Ligue Nationaliste were squarely within the mainstream of British Liberal opinion in their opposition to the Second Boer War and of a naval buildup in the Edwardian Era.