Robert Laird Borden, Prime Minister of Canada 1911-1920, was born at Grand Pre,on 26 June 1854; he died at Ottawa on 10 June 1937. He was a leading figure in the achievement of Dominion Status, and in the transition from the British Empire to the British Commonwealth of Nations.
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Robert Borden's leadership was among the most significant by any of Canada's early leaders. It fell on his shoulders to lead Canada through the trials and tribulations of the First World War. A generation of young Canadians gave their lives in the mud and bloody despair of the European trenches between 1914 and 1918. In crafting the peace, however, Sir Robert did not break faith with them, insisting that at Versailles, Canada would sign the treaty that ended the war as a proud and independent nation. At Paris in 1919, with the eyes of the world's leaders upon him, Sir Robert Borden did just that, putting Canada firmly on the road to full nationhood. Some of his own supporters, in fact, feared Borden was advancing the cause of Canadian sovereignty and nationhood too far and too fast. The eighth prime minister would have none of it. That is perhaps his greatest accomplishment...
- Robert Borden, Canada’s forgotten giant - by Mike Duffy, in the National Post, 21 September 2011