However, in the 1911 federal election, Borden led the Conservatives to victory after he claimed that the Liberals' proposed trade reciprocity treaty with the United States would lead to the US influencing Canadian identity and weaken ties with Great Britain.

In his retirement, he was Chancellor of Queen's University from 1924 to 1930 and was president of two financial institutions, the Barclays Bank of Canada and the Crown Life Insurance Company from 1928 until his death in 1937.

Perry had accompanied his father, Samuel Borden, the chief surveyor chosen by the government of Massachusetts to survey the former Acadian land and draw up new lots for the Planters in Nova Scotia.

His mother Eunice Jane Laird was more driven, possessing "very strong character, remarkable energy, high ambition and unusual ability".

In 1886, Borden broke with the Liberal Party after he disagreed with Premier William Stevens Fielding's campaign to withdraw Nova Scotia from Confederation.

Borden had several court cases in Ottawa, and while in that city he frequently met with Prime Minister John Sparrow David Thompson, a fellow Nova Scotian.

In 1896, Borden became president of the Nova Scotia Barristers' Society and took the initiative in organizing the founding meetings of the Canadian Bar Association in Montreal.

Tupper, who was about to succeed Mackenzie Bowell as prime minister, asked Borden to run for the federal electoral district of Halifax for the upcoming election.

This position did not resonate with voters in the 1904 federal election; the Liberals won a slightly stronger majority, while the Conservatives lost a few seats.

In the 1911 federal election, the Conservatives countered with a revised version of John A. Macdonald's National Policy, campaigned on fears of American influence on Canada and disloyalty to Britain, and ran on the slogan "Canadianism or Continentalism".

[2] Despite the threat of an economic collapse and the need for more revenue to fund the war effort, Borden's finance minister, William Thomas White, rejected calls for direct taxation on Canadian citizens in 1914, though this position would be shortly reversed.

When the war ended in 1918, $8 million in income tax revenue had been recorded, which was a small fraction of the national net debt of $1.6 billion.

In a bid to settle Quebec opposition towards the policy, Borden proposed forming a wartime coalition government composed of both Conservatives and Liberals.

[26] Months before the election was called, Borden's government introduced the Military Voters Act that allowed all 400,000 conscripted Canadian soldiers — including those who were underage and born in Britain, to vote.

Fearing the possible event of a Liberal victory, one of the Unionist pamphlets highlighted ethnic differences, stating, "the French Canadians who have shirked their duty in this war will be the dominating force in the government of this country.

[28] To suppress the anti-conscription "Easter Riots" that occurred in Quebec City between March 28 and April 1, Borden's government used the War Measures Act, invoked martial law, and deployed more than 6,000 troops.

The internees faced intense labour; they worked in the national parks of Western Canada, built roads, cleared bush, and cut trails.

"[31]On October 27, 1918, British Prime Minister David Lloyd George requested Borden to visit Britain for possible peace talks.

Borden replied stating, "the press and the people of this country take it for granted that Canada will be represented at the Peace Conference."

Lloyd George eventually relented, and convinced the reluctant Americans to accept the presence of separate Canadian, Indian, Australian, Newfoundland, New Zealand and South African delegations.

Also during the conference, Borden tried to act as an intermediary between the United States and other members of the British Empire delegation, particularly Australia and New Zealand over the issue of the League of Nations Mandate.

Borden departed Paris on May 11; his Cabinet ministers Charles Doherty and Arthur Sifton signed the Treaty of Versailles on his behalf.

[2] Eleven days before Canadians went to the polls in the 1917 election, Canada experienced the largest domestic disaster in its history: the Halifax Explosion that killed nearly 1,800 people.

[35] Borden helped set up the Halifax Relief Commission that spent $30 million on medical care, repairing infrastructure, and establishing pensions for injured survivors.

[38][39] Despite being knighted himself, Borden disapproved of the process by which Canadians were nominated for honours and in March 1917 drafted a policy stating that all names had to be vetted by the prime minister before the list was sent to Westminster.

In addition to the abolition of the Hereditary titles, it was later learned that with the exception of military distinctions, honours would not be granted to residents of Canada without the approval or the advice of the Canadian prime minister.

In a bid to address this problem, construction and metal trades workers in Winnipeg, Manitoba, sought better wages and better working conditions by negotiating with their managers.

On June 21, Borden's government deployed troops from the North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) to the strike scene to maintain public order.

Historian Robert Craig Brown wrote, "The political cost [of conscription] was enormous: the Conservative Party’s support in Quebec was destroyed and would not be recovered for decades to come.

[55] The Progressive Party was founded by Thomas Crerar, who was Borden's minister of agriculture until 1919, when he resigned over his opposition towards high tariffs and his belief that the government's budget did not pay enough attention to farmer's issues.