In January 1917, he became Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada when his predecessor, Albert Sévigny, was appointed to the Canadian Cabinet.

Rhodes ran on a Maritime Rights platform, promising to curtail federal influence and stop the exodus of people from the province.

An important factor in their victory was the failure of the governing Liberals to resolve a long strike by the province's coal miners.

When Cape Breton coal miner William Davis was killed by company police in a confrontation on June 11, voters looked to the Tories for solutions.

[1] The Council had been normally sized at 21 members prior to confederation, and the British North America Act 1867 provided for the continuation of provincial constitutions.

[4] Partisan politics also played a role in this issue, with Liberals largely yielding to the Council's presence as it was able to help the party organization and Tories opposing it for that reason.

Murray's successor Armstrong reformed the Council by limiting future appointees to ten-year terms in 1925, but achieved little else.

Tory referred the matter to the federal Governor General in Council, who told him to limit the appointments to 21 total councillors pending further judicial review.

[8] After these setbacks, and considering taking the issue to a provincial referendum, the government ultimately appealed to the imperial Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, where it won a total victory; not only was the Sovereign, and by extension the Lieutenant Governor in Council, able to appoint as many Legislative Councillors as desired, but also that such councillors served at pleasure if appointed prior to the 1925 statute.

[10] The government appointed 14 new Tories, bringing the Council to 22 for the first time; in addition to the symbolism, this number allowed every county to take part of the abolition.

Bligh gave the farewell speech, ending it with "sic transitur gloria mundi", which was drowned out by the revelry.

From 1932 to 1935, he served as federal Finance Minister, and, despite the Great Depression, handed down austere budgets that increased taxes and reduced spending.