Frederick William Borden - Minister of Militia and Defence

Minister of Militia and Defence

He was Minister of militia and defence from 1896–1911, and was instrumental in raising the services from appendages of Britain to forces in their own right.

He reformed the Royal Military College of Canada, sending senior officers to Britain for advanced training. He increased pay and retirement benefits, equipped the militia with modern weapons, established rules regulating tenure of command, and decentralized command and administration. Miller (2010) presents evidence that that Borden saved himself from financial ruin by stationing three battalions of soldiers to Halifax in 1900 in order to make a profit for his faltering supply company.

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