In the federal election of October 1925, King-Byng affair occurred between Governor General Julian Byng and Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King, when Liberals won 101 seats and Conservatives won 116 in the election. Therefore, King decided to call a re-election before he lost support of Progressives. However, when he asked Lord Byng to dissolve the Parliament, Byng refused; believing King should have resigned before (canadianautonomy.webnode.com, 2014). Subsequently, King and his government resigned leaving Canada without a Prime minister. “The Governor General proceeded as quickly as possible to ask Arthur Meighan, the leader of the Conservative party, and the party with majority of seats in the parliament, but the Meighans government lasted only three day before the non-confidence votes defeated it” (www.thewhig.com, 2014). After observing the situation and taking the advice of Meighan, Byng decided to dissolve parliament and call election, in which King had won. This event was significantly important to independence of Canada because it was one of the events which led to Canada’s autonomy. William Lyon Mackenzie King had stood up to British officials, stating that Byng didn’t act in Canada’s best interest, and a Canadian not a British official should represent Canada (http://prezi.com/, 2012). This was the last time in Canadian history that a Governor General disregarded the advice of a Prime Ministers. (ww.cbc.ca, 2014). This event led to the Balfour Declaration, which was also a step towards the independence of Canada.
Bibliography
canadianautonomy.webnode.com. (2014). Canadain Autonomy. Retrieved from The King/Byng crisis: http://canadianautonomy.webnode.com/the-king-byng-crisis/ http://prezi.com/. (2012). Prezi. Retrieved from History Timeline: http://prezi.com/9ns02gtzkj09/history-timeline/ ww.cbc.ca. (2014). CBC Player. Retrieved from CBC Television :