Editing William Lyon Mackenzie King

{{Short description|Prime Minister of Canada (1921–1926, 1926–1930, 1935–1948)}}
{{Distinguish|text=[[William Lyon Mackenzie]], King's grandfather}}
{{Use Canadian English|date=September 2021}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2014}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix    = [[The Right Honourable]]
| honorific-suffix    = {{post-nominals|country=CAN|PC|OMt|CMG|size=100%}}
| image               = William Lyon Mackenzie King 1942 (cropped).jpg
| caption             = King in 1942
| alt                 = A photo of Prime Minister King towards the end of his tenure
| order1              = 10th
| office1             = Prime Minister of Canada
| term_start1         = October 23, 1935
| term_end1           = November 15, 1948
| monarch1            = {{Plainlist|
* [[George V]]
* [[Edward VIII]]
* [[George VI]]
}}
| governor_general1   = {{Plainlist|
* [[Vere Ponsonby, 9th Earl of Bessborough|The Earl of Bessborough]]
* [[John Buchan|The Lord Tweedsmuir]]
* [[Alexander Cambridge, 1st Earl of Athlone|The Earl of Athlone]]
* [[Harold Alexander, 1st Earl Alexander of Tunis|The Viscount Alexander]]}}
| predecessor1        = [[R.&nbsp;B. Bennett]]
| successor1          = [[Louis St. Laurent]]
| term_start2         = September 25, 1926
| term_end2           = August 7, 1930
| monarch2            = George V
| governor_general2   = {{Plainlist|
* [[Julian Byng, 1st Viscount Byng of Vimy|The Lord Byng of Vimy]]
* [[Freeman Freeman-Thomas, 1st Marquess of Willingdon|The Viscount Willingdon]]
}}
| predecessor2        = [[Arthur Meighen]]
| successor2          = R.&nbsp;B. Bennett
| term_start3         = December 29, 1921
| term_end3           = June 28, 1926
| monarch3            = George V
| governor_general3   = The Lord Byng of Vimy
| predecessor3        = Arthur Meighen
| successor3          = Arthur Meighen
{{collapsed infobox section begin
| cont             = yes
| Senior political offices
| titlestyle       = border:1px dashed lightgrey;
}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| embed            = yes
| office4          = [[Leader of the Official Opposition (Canada)|Leader of the Opposition]]
| term_start4      = August 7, 1930
| term_end4        = October 22, 1935
| predecessor4     = R. B. Bennett
| successor4       = R. B. Bennett
| term_start5      = June 29, 1926
| term_end5        = September 24, 1926
| predecessor5     = Arthur Meighen
| successor5       = Vacant
| term_start6      = August 7, 1919
| term_end6        = December 28, 1921
| predecessor6     = [[Daniel Duncan McKenzie]]
| successor6       = Arthur Meighen
| office7             = [[Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada|Leader of the Liberal Party]]
| term_start7         = August 7, 1919
| term_end7           = August 7, 1948
| predecessor7        = Daniel Duncan McKenzie (interim)
| successor7          = Louis St. Laurent {{Collapsed infobox section end}}
}}
{{Collapsed infobox section begin
| cont             = yes
| Ministerial offices
| titlestyle       = border:1px dashed lightgrey;
}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| embed            = yes
| office8             = [[Minister of Foreign Affairs (Canada)|Secretary of State for External Affairs]]
| term_start8         = October 23, 1935
| term_end8           = September 4, 1946
| primeminister8      = Himself
| predecessor8        = R. B. Bennett
| successor8          = Louis St. Laurent
| term_start9         = September 25, 1926
| term_end9           = August 7, 1930
| primeminister9      = Himself
| predecessor9        = Arthur Meighen
| successor9          = R. B. Bennett
| term_start10        = December 29, 1921
| term_end10          = June 28, 1926
| primeminister10     = Himself
| predecessor10       = Arthur Meighen
| successor10         = Arthur Meighen
| office11            = [[Minister of Labour (Canada)|Minister of Labour]]
| term_start11        = June 2, 1909
| term_end11          = October 6, 1911
| primeminister11     = [[Wilfrid Laurier]]
| predecessor11       = ''Position established''
| successor11         = [[Thomas Wilson Crothers]]{{Collapsed infobox section end}}
}}
{{collapsed infobox section begin
| cont                = yes
| last                = yes
| Parliamentary offices
| titlestyle          = border:1px dashed lightgrey;
}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| embed               = yes
| parliament          = Canada
| riding12            =  [[Glengarry (federal electoral district)|Glengarry]]
| parliament12        = Canadian
| predecessor12       = [[William MacDiarmid]]
| successor12         = [[William Major (Ontario politician)|William Major]]
| term_start12        = August 6, 1945
| term_end12          = June 26, 1949
| riding13            = [[Prince Albert (federal electoral district)|Prince Albert]]
| parliament13        = 
| predecessor13       = [[Charles McDonald (Canadian politician)|Charles McDonald]]
| successor13         = [[Edward LeRoy Bowerman]]
| term_start13        = February 15, 1926
| term_end13          = June 10, 1945
| riding14            = [[York North]]
| parliament14        = 
| predecessor14       = [[John Alexander Macdonald Armstrong|John Armstrong]]
| successor14         = [[Thomas Herbert Lennox]]
| term_start14        = December 6, 1921
| term_end14          = October 28, 1925
| riding15            = [[Prince (electoral district)|Prince]]
| parliament15        = 
| predecessor15       = [[Joseph Read (Canadian politician)|Joseph Read]]
| successor15         = [[Alfred Edgar MacLean]]
| term_start15        = October 20, 1919
| term_end15          = December 5, 1921
| riding16            = [[Waterloo North (federal electoral district)|Waterloo North]]
| parliament16        = 
| term_start16        = October 26, 1908
| term_end16          = September 21, 1911
| predecessor16       = [[Joseph E. Seagram]]
| successor16         = [[William George Weichel]]
{{Collapsed infobox section end}}}}
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1874|12|17}}
| birth_place         = [[Berlin, Ontario]], Canada
| death_date          = {{death date and age|1950|7|22|1874|12|17}}
| death_place         = [[Chelsea, Quebec]], Canada
| restingplace        = [[Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Toronto]],&nbsp;Ontario
| party               = [[Liberal Party of Canada|Liberal]]
| alma_mater          = {{Plainlist|
* [[University of Toronto]] {{avoid wrap|([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]], [[Master of Arts|MA]], [[Bachelor of Laws|LLB]])}}
* [[University of Chicago]] {{avoid wrap|(no degree)}}
* [[Harvard University]] ([[Master of Arts|MA]], [[Doctor of Philosophy|PhD]])
}}
| signature           = William Lyon Mackenzie King Signature.svg
| module              = {{Listen|embed=yes |filename = William Lyon Mackenzie King 1937.wav |title = William Lyon Mackenzie King's voice |type = speech |description = King speaking about his election campaign in 1937 }}
}}

'''William Lyon Mackenzie King''' {{post-nominals|country=CAN|PC|OMt|CMG}} (December 17, 1874 – July 22, 1950) was a [[Canadians|Canadian]] statesman and [[politician]] who was the tenth [[prime minister of Canada]] for three non-consecutive terms from 1921 to 1926, 1926 to 1930, and 1935 to 1948. A [[Liberal Party of Canada|Liberal]], he was the dominant politician in Canada from the early 1920s to the late 1940s.{{efn|King and the Liberals were briefly out of power from 1930 to 1935.}} King is best known for his leadership of Canada throughout the [[Great Depression]] and the [[Second World War]]. He played a major role in laying the foundations of the Canadian [[welfare state]] and establishing Canada's international position as a [[middle power]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/welfare-state |title=Welfare State |first=Allan |last=Moscovitch |encyclopedia=[[The Canadian Encyclopedia]] |date=February 7, 2006 |publisher=[[Historica Canada]] |edition=online |access-date=June 9, 2011 |archive-date=September 25, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170925035617/http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/en/article/welfare-state/ |url-status=live }}</ref> With a total of 21 years and 154 days in office, he remains the [[List of prime ministers of Canada by time in office|longest-serving prime minister in Canadian history]] and as well as the longest-serving Liberal leader, holding the position for exactly 29 years.

King studied law and political economy in the 1890s and later obtained a PhD, the first of only two Canadian prime ministers to have done so.{{efn|[[Mark Carney]] also has a PhD.}} In 1900, he became deputy minister of the Canadian government's new Department of Labour. He entered the [[House of Commons (Canada)|House of Commons]] in [[1908 Canadian federal election|1908]] before becoming the federal [[Minister of Labour (Canada)|minister of labour]] in 1909 under Prime Minister [[Wilfrid Laurier]]. After losing his seat in the [[1911 Canadian federal election|1911 federal election]], King worked for the [[Rockefeller Foundation]] before briefly working as an industrial consultant. Following the death of Laurier in 1919, King [[1919 Liberal Party of Canada leadership election|acceded]] to the leadership of the Liberal Party. Taking the helm of a party torn apart by the [[Conscription Crisis of 1917]], he unified both the pro-[[conscription]] and anti-conscription factions of the party, leading it to victory in the [[1921 Canadian federal election|1921 federal election]].

King established a post-war agenda that lowered wartime taxes and tariffs. He strengthened Canadian autonomy by refusing to support Britain in the [[Chanak Crisis]] without [[Parliament of Canada|Parliament]]'s consent and negotiating the [[Halibut Treaty]] with the United States without British interference. In the [[1925 Canadian federal election|1925 election]], the [[Conservative Party of Canada (historical)|Conservatives]] won a plurality of seats, but the Liberals negotiated support from the [[Progressive Party of Canada|Progressive Party]] and stayed in office as a [[minority government]]. In 1926, facing a Commons vote that could force his government to resign, King asked [[Governor General of Canada|Governor General]] [[Lord Byng]] to [[dissolve parliament]] and call an election. Byng refused and instead invited the Conservatives to form government, who briefly held office but lost a [[motion of no confidence]]. This sequence of events triggered a major [[constitutional crisis]], the [[King–Byng affair]]. King and the Liberals decisively won [[1926 Canadian federal election|the resulting election]]. After, King sought to make Canada's foreign policy more independent by expanding the [[Global Affairs Canada|Department of External Affairs]] while recruiting more Canadian diplomats. His government also introduced [[Old Age Security|old-age pensions]] based on need. King's slow reaction to the [[Great Depression in Canada|Great Depression]] led to [[1930 Canadian federal election|a defeat at the polls in 1930]].

The Conservative government's response to the depression was unpopular and King returned to power in a [[landslide victory]] in the [[1935 Canadian federal election|1935 election]]. Soon after, the economy was on an upswing. King negotiated the 1935 [[Reciprocity (Canadian politics)|Reciprocal]] Trade Agreement with the United States, passed the 1938 ''[[National Housing Act (Canada)|National Housing Act]]'' to improve housing affordability, introduced [[unemployment benefits|unemployment insurance]] in 1940, and in 1944, introduced [[Family Allowance Act|family allowances]] – Canada's first universal [[welfare program]]. The government also established [[Trans-Canada Air Lines]] (the precursor to [[Air Canada]]) and the [[National Film Board]]. King's government [[Canada in World War II|deployed]] Canadian troops days after the Second World War [[Invasion of Poland|broke out]]. The Liberals' overwhelming triumph in the [[1940 Canadian federal election|1940 election]] allowed King to continue leading Canada through the war. He mobilized Canadian money, supplies, and volunteers to support Britain while boosting the economy and maintaining morale on the home front. To satisfy [[French Canadians]], King delayed introducing overseas conscription until late 1944. In August 1944, he ordered the [[Internment of Japanese Canadians|displacement of Japanese Canadians]] out of the British Columbia Interior, mandating that they either resettle east of the Rocky Mountains or face deportation to Japan after the war. [[Allies of World War II|The Allies]]' [[End of World War II in Europe|victory in 1945]] allowed King to call [[1945 Canadian federal election|a post-war election]], in which the Liberals lost their [[majority government]]. In his final years in office, King and his government partnered Canada with other [[Western nations]] to take part in the deepening [[Cold War]], [[Canadian Citizenship Act 1946|introduced]] [[Canadian nationality law|Canadian citizenship]], and successfully negotiated [[Dominion of Newfoundland|Newfoundland]]'s [[1948 Newfoundland referendums|entry]] into [[Canadian Confederation|Confederation]].

After leading his party for 29 years, and leading the country for {{frac|21|1|2}} years, King retired from politics in late 1948. He died of pneumonia in July 1950. King's personality was complex; biographers agree on the personal characteristics that made him distinctive. He lacked the charisma of such contemporaries as [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]], [[Winston Churchill]], or [[Charles de Gaulle]]. Cold and tactless in human relations, he was said to have oratorical skill.<ref>{{cite book |editor-first=John |editor-last1=English |editor-first2=J.O. |editor-last2=Stubbs |title=Mackenzie King: Widening the Debate |date=1977 |publisher=Macmillan of Canada}}</ref> He kept secret his beliefs in [[Spiritualism (movement)|spiritualism]] and use of [[mediumship|mediums]] to stay in contact with departed associates and particularly with his mother, and allowed his intense spirituality to distort his understanding of [[Adolf Hitler]] throughout the late 1930s.<ref>{{cite book |first=J. L. |last=Granatstein |title=Mackenzie King: His life and world |url=https://archive.org/details/mackenziekinghis0000gran |url-access=registration |year=1977 |publisher=McGraw-Hill Ryerson|isbn=978-0-07-082304-4 }}</ref> Historian [[Jack Granatstein]] notes, "the scholars expressed little admiration for King the man but offered unbounded admiration for his political skills and attention to Canadian unity."<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |first=J.L. |last=Granatstein |date=2011 |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/index/34/101034325/ |title=King, (William Lyon) Mackenzie (1874–1950) |encyclopedia=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |url-access=subscription }}</ref> King is [[Historical rankings of prime ministers of Canada|ranked]] among the top three of Canadian prime ministers.

== Early life (1874–1891) ==
King was born in a frame house rented by his parents at 43 Benton Street in Berlin (now [[Kitchener, Ontario|Kitchener]]), Ontario to John King and Isabel Grace Mackenzie.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kitchener.ca/en/resourcesGeneral/Documents/DSD_ECDEV_self_guided_tour_brochure_Downtown_Heritage.pdf|title=Downtown Heritage Walking Tour|website=City of Kitchener|access-date=February 18, 2023}}</ref><ref name="Neatby">{{cite DCB |first=H. Blair |last=Neatby |title=King, William Lyon Mackenzie |volume=17 |url=http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/king_william_lyon_mackenzie_17E.html |access-date=July 20, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Bliss |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Bliss |title=Right Honourable Men: The Descent of Canadian Politics from MacDonald to Mulroney |url={{google books|tZZqy5yGyRUC|plainurl=yes|page=123}} |publisher=Harper Collins |year=1994 |pages=123–184 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |first=John C. |last=Courtney |title=Prime Ministerial Character: An Examination of Mackenzie King's Political Leadership |journal=Canadian Journal of Political Science |year=1976 |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=77–100  |doi=10.1017/S0008423900043195|s2cid=154305556 }}</ref> His maternal grandfather was [[William Lyon Mackenzie]], first mayor of [[Toronto]] and leader of the [[Upper Canada Rebellion]] in 1837. His father was a lawyer and later a lecturer at [[Osgoode Hall Law School]]. King had three siblings: older sister Isabel "Bella" Christina Grace (1873–1915), younger sister Janet "Jennie" Lindsey (1876–1962) and younger brother Dougall Macdougall "Max" (1878–1922).<ref>[http://www.pc.gc.ca/eng/lhn-nhs/on/woodside/natcul/natcul2/natcul2a.aspx The King Family], courtesy of [[Parks Canada]]</ref>  Within his family, he was known as Willie; during his university years, he adopted W. L. Mackenzie King as his signature and began using Mackenzie as his preferred name with those outside the family.

King's father was a lawyer with a struggling practice in a small city, and never enjoyed financial security. His parents lived a life of shabby gentility, employing servants and tutors they could scarcely afford, although their financial situation improved somewhat following a move to Toronto around 1890, where King lived with them for several years in a duplex on Beverley Street while studying at the University of Toronto.<ref>{{cite book |ref=Stacey1976 |last=Stacey|first=C. P.|author-link=Charles Perry Stacey|title=A Very Double Life: The Private World of Mackenzie King|year=1976|publisher=Macmillan |edition=1 |volume=46 |isbn=0-7705-1509-6}}, photo between pages 96–97</ref>

King became a lifelong practising [[Presbyterian Church in Canada|Presbyterian]] with a dedication to social reform based on his Christian duty.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Gordon|first=David L. A.|date=2002|title=William Lyon Mackenzie King, planning advocate|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/02665430110111838|journal=Planning Perspectives|volume=17|issue=2|pages=97–122|doi=10.1080/02665430110111838|bibcode=2002PlPer..17...97G |s2cid=145272228|via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref> He never favoured [[socialism]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Dawson |first=Robert Macgregor |year=1958 |title=William Lyon Mackenzie King: A Political Biography 1874–1923|url=https://archive.org/details/williamlyonmacken00daws |url-access=registration |publisher=University of Toronto Press|isbn=978-0-8020-1083-4}}, p. 85</ref>

== University (1891–1900) ==
[[File:King1899.jpg|thumb|upright|King in 1899]]
King enrolled at the [[University of Toronto]] in 1891.<ref name="Neatby" /> He obtained a [[Bachelor of Arts|BA]] degree in 1895, an [[Bachelor of Laws|LLB]] degree in 1896, and an [[Master of Arts|MA]] in 1897, all from the university.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.greatpast.utoronto.ca/GreatMinds/ShowBanner.asp?ID=69 |title=William Lyon Mackenzie King: Prime Minister and Graduate |publisher=University of Toronto |website=Great Past |access-date=December 7, 2011 |archive-date=December 2, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111202130909/http://www.greatpast.utoronto.ca/GreatMinds/ShowBanner.asp?ID=69 |url-status=dead }}</ref> While studying in Toronto he met a wide circle of friends, many of whom became prominent.{{sfn|Dawson|1958|pp=37–38}} He was an early member and officer of the [[Kappa Alpha Society]], which included a number of these individuals (two future Ontario Supreme Court Justices and the future chairman of the university itself). It encouraged debate on political ideas. He also was simultaneously a part of the Literary Society with [[Arthur Meighen]], a future political rival.<ref>{{Cite book |last=University of Toronto |url=http://archive.org/details/thevarsity13 |title=The Varsity, October 11, 1893 - March 21, 1894 |date=1893 |publisher=Toronto : The University |others=University of Toronto Archives & Records Management Services}}</ref>

King was especially concerned with issues of social welfare and was influenced by the [[Settlement movement|settlement house movement]] pioneered by [[Toynbee Hall]] in London, England. He played a central role in fomenting a students' strike at the university in 1895. He was in close touch, behind the scenes, with Vice-Chancellor [[William Mulock]], for whom the strike provided a chance to embarrass his rivals Chancellor [[Edward Blake]] and President [[James Loudon]]. King failed to gain his immediate objective, a teaching position at the university but earned political credit with Mulock, the man who would invite him to [[Ottawa]] and make him a [[deputy minister]] only five years later.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Blackburn |first=Robert H. |title=Mackenzie King, William Mulock, James Mavor, and the University of Toronto Students' Revolt of 1895 |journal=Canadian Historical Review |year=1988 |volume= 69 |issue=4 |pages= 490–503 |doi=10.3138/CHR-069-reviews }}</ref> While studying at the University of Toronto, King also contributed to the campus newspaper, ''[[The Varsity (newspaper)|The Varsity]],'' and served as president of the yearbook committee in 1896.<ref>{{Cite book |last=University of Toronto |url=http://archive.org/details/thevarsity58 |title=The Varsity, September 29, 1938 - March 17, 1939 |date=1938 |publisher=Toronto : The University |others=University of Toronto Archives & Records Management Services}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=University of Toronto |url=http://archive.org/details/thevarsity12 |title=The Varsity, October 12, 1892 - March 29, 1893 |date=1892 |publisher=Toronto : The University |others=University of Toronto Archives & Records Management Services}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=University of Toronto |url=http://archive.org/details/thevarsity14 |title=The Varsity, October 11, 1894 - March 3, 1895 |date=1894 |publisher=Toronto : The University |others=University of Toronto Archives & Records Management Services}}</ref> King subsequently wrote for ''[[The Globe (Toronto newspaper)|The Globe]]'', ''[[The Mail and Empire]]'', and the ''Toronto News''.<ref name="Hardy-1948">{{cite news|title=Mister Canada, Chapter V: Pen Is Mightier Than The Sword|last=Hardy|first=Reginald|date=July 8, 1948|newspaper=[[Lethbridge Herald]]|location=Lethbridge, Alberta|page=4|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/sports-clipping-jul-08-1948-3012161/}}{{free access}}</ref> Fellow journalist [[W. A. Hewitt]] recalled that, the city editor of the ''Toronto News'' left him in charge one afternoon with instructions to fire King if he showed up. When Hewitt sat at the editor's desk, King showed up a few minutes later and resigned before Hewitt could tell him he was fired.<ref name="Hardy-1948" />

After studying at the [[University of Chicago]] and working with [[Jane Addams]] at her settlement house, [[Hull House]], King proceeded to [[Harvard University]]. While at the University of Chicago, he participated on their track team as a half-mile runner.<ref>{{Cite book |last=University of Toronto |url=http://archive.org/details/thevarsity16 |title=The Varsity, October 14, 1896 - March 18, 1897 |date=1896 |publisher=Toronto : The University |others=University of Toronto Archives & Records Management Services}}</ref> He earned an MA in political economy from Harvard in 1898. In 1909, Harvard granted him a [[Doctor of Philosophy|PhD]] degree for a dissertation titled "Oriental Immigration to Canada."{{sfn|Dawson|1958|pp=198–199}} King and [[Mark Carney]] are the only Canadian Prime Ministers to have earned a PhD.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.parl.gc.ca/parlinfo/compilations/federalgovernment/primeministers/Biographical.aspx |title=PRIME MINISTERS OF CANADA Biographical Information |website=Parliament of Canada |access-date=June 8, 2011 |archive-date=April 15, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140415214234/http://www.parl.gc.ca/parlinfo/compilations/federalgovernment/primeministers/Biographical.aspx |url-status=dead }}</ref>

== Early career, civil servant (1900–1908) ==
[[File:KingUniform1910.jpg|thumbnail|upright|Wearing court uniform as minister of labour in 1910]]
In 1900, King became editor of the federal government-owned ''Labour Gazette'', a publication that explored complex labour issues.<ref>{{cite web |last1= |first1= |title=Mackenzie King's legacy |url=https://www.cbc.ca/archives/entry/mackenzie-kings-legacy |website=CBC |access-date=22 January 2022}}</ref> Later that year, he was appointed as deputy minister of the Canadian government's new Department of Labour, and became active in policy domains from Japanese immigration to railways, notably the ''Industrial Disputes Investigations Act'' (1907) which sought to avert labour strikes by prior conciliation.<ref name="thecanadianencyclopedia.com">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Neatby |first=H. Blair |title=William Lyon Mackenzie King |encyclopedia=The Canadian Encyclopedia |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/william-lyon-mackenzie-king |date=October 15, 2008 |publisher=Historica Canada |edition=online |access-date=July 21, 2015 |archive-date=June 7, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180607200724/http://thecanadianencyclopedia.com/en/article/william-lyon-mackenzie-king/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

{{Wikisource|The Secret of Heroism}}
In 1901, King's roommate and best friend, [[Henry Albert Harper]], died heroically during a skating party when a young woman fell through the ice of the partly frozen [[Ottawa River]]. Harper dove into the water to try to save her, and perished in the attempt. King led the effort to raise a memorial to Harper, which resulted in the erection of the [[Sir Galahad]] statue on [[Parliament Hill]] in 1905. In 1906, King published a memoir of Harper, entitled ''The Secret of Heroism''.{{sfn|Dawson|1958|pp=129-131}}

While deputy minister of labour, King was appointed to investigate the causes of and claims for compensation resulting from the 1907 [[1907 Vancouver anti-Asian riots|anti-Oriental riots]] in [[Chinatown, Vancouver|Vancouver's Chinatown]] and [[Japantown]]. One of the claims for damages came from Chinese [[opium]] dealers, which led King to investigate [[narcotics]] use in [[Vancouver]], British Columbia. Following the investigation King reported that white women were also opium users, not just Chinese men, and the federal government used the report to justify the first legislation outlawing narcotics in Canada.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Green |first=Melvyn |volume= 37 |issue=1 |date=Winter 1979 |title=A History of Narcotics Control: The Formative Years |journal=University of Toronto Law Review}}</ref>

== Early political career, minister of labour (1908–1911) ==
King was first elected to [[Parliament of Canada|Parliament]] as a [[Liberal Party of Canada|Liberal]] in the [[1908 Canadian federal election|1908 federal election]], representing [[Waterloo North]]. In 1909, King was appointed as the first-ever [[Minister of Labour (Canada)|minister of labour]] by Prime Minister [[Wilfrid Laurier]].<ref name="Neatby" />

King's term as minister of labour was marked by two significant achievements. He led the passage of the ''[[Industrial Disputes Investigation Act]]'' and the ''[[Combines Investigation Act]]'', which he had shaped during his civil and parliamentary service. The legislation significantly improved the financial situation for millions of Canadian workers.<ref>*{{cite book|ref=Hutchison|last=Hutchison|first=Bruce|author-link=Bruce Hutchison|title=The Incredible Canadian|url=https://archive.org/details/trent_0116301952242|url-access=registration|year=1952|publisher=Longmans, Green and Company|asin=B0007ISXVI}}, pp. 28–33</ref>  In 1910 Mackenzie King introduced a bill aimed at establishing an 8-hour day on public works but it was killed in the Senate.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://archive.macleans.ca/article/1950/9/1/mackenzie-king-as-i-knew-him |title=MACKENZIE KING As I Knew Him SEPTEMBER 1950 BLAIR FRASER |access-date=December 4, 2022 |archive-date=December 4, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221204131507/https://archive.macleans.ca/article/1950/9/1/mackenzie-king-as-i-knew-him |url-status=dead }}</ref> He lost his seat in the [[1911 Canadian federal election|1911 general election]], which saw the [[Conservative Party of Canada (historic)|Conservatives]] defeat the Liberals and form government.<ref name="Neatby" />

== Out of politics (1911–1919) ==
=== Industrial consultant ===
After his defeat, King went on the lecture circuit on behalf of the Liberal Party. In June 1914 [[John D. Rockefeller Jr.]] hired him at the [[Rockefeller Foundation]] in New York City, to head its new Department of Industrial Research. It paid $12,000 per year, compared to the meagre $2,500 per year the Liberal Party was paying.{{sfn|Dawson|1958|pp=227–231}} He worked for the Foundation until 1918, forming a close working association and friendship with Rockefeller, advising him through the turbulent period of the 1913–1914 Strike and [[Ludlow Massacre]]–in what is known as the [[Colorado Coalfield War]]–at a family-owned coal company in [[Colorado]], which subsequently set the stage for a new era in labour management in America.<ref>{{cite book |last=Chernow |first=Ron |date=1998 |title=Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller Sr. |publisher=Random House |isbn=0-679-43808-4 |pages=–571–586}}</ref> King became one of the earliest expert practitioners in the emerging field of [[industrial relations]].
[[File:KingLaurier1912.jpg|150px|thumb|King standing behind former Prime Minister [[Wilfrid Laurier]], 1912]]
[[File:KingWriting.jpg|left|thumb|King, while writing ''Industry and Humanity'', 1917]]
King was not a pacifist, but he showed little enthusiasm for the [[World War I|Great War]]; he faced criticism for not serving in Canada's military and instead working for the Rockefellers. However, he was nearly 40 years old when the war began, and was not in good physical condition. He never gave up his Ottawa home, and travelled to the United States on an as-needed basis, performing service to the war effort by helping to keep war-related industries running smoothly.{{sfn|Dawson|1958|loc=ch. 10}}

In 1918, King, assisted by his friend F. A. McGregor, published ''Industry and Humanity: A Study in the Principles Underlying Industrial Reconstruction'', a dense, abstract book he wrote in response to the [[Ludlow massacre]]. It went over the heads of most readers, but revealed the practical idealism behind King's political thinking. He argued that capital and labour were natural allies, not foes, and that the community at large (represented by the government) should be the third and decisive party in industrial disputes.{{sfn|Dawson|1958|pp=248–251}}<ref>{{cite journal |last=Cooper |first=Barry |title=On Reading Industry and Humanity: a Study in the Rhetoric Underlying Liberal Management |journal=Journal of Canadian Studies |year=1978–1979 |volume=13 |issue=4 |pages=28–39 |doi=10.3138/jcs.13.4.28 |s2cid=151462556 |issn= 0021-9495}}</ref> He expressed derision for syndicates and trades unions, chastising them for aiming at the "destruction by force of existing organization, and the transfer of industrial capital from the present possessors" to themselves.<ref name="Industry and Humanity">{{cite book |first=William Lyon Mackenzie |last=King |title=Industry and Humanity: A Study in The Principles Underlying Industrial Reconstruction |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.42178 |location=Boston |publisher=Houghton Mifflin |date=1918 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.42178/page/n520 494]–495}}</ref>

Quitting the Rockefeller Foundation in February 1918, King became an independent consultant on labour issues for the next two years, earning $1,000 per week from leading American corporations. Even so, he kept his official residence in Ottawa, hoping for a call to duty.{{sfn|Dawson|1958|pp=255–265}}

=== Wartime politics ===
In 1917, Canada was in crisis; King supported Liberal leader Wilfrid Laurier in his opposition to [[conscription]], which was violently opposed in the province of [[Quebec]]. The Liberal party became deeply split, with several [[Anglophone]]s joining the pro-conscription [[Unionist Party (Canada)|Union]] government, a coalition controlled by the Conservatives under Prime Minister [[Robert Borden]]. King returned to Canada to run in the [[1917 Canadian federal election|1917 election]], which focused almost entirely on the conscription issue. Unable to overcome a landslide against Laurier, King lost in the constituency of [[York North]], which his grandfather had once represented.<ref name="Neatby" />

== Opposition leader (1919–1921) ==
=== 1919 leadership election ===
The Liberal Party was deeply divided by Quebec's opposition to conscription and the agrarian revolt in Ontario and the Prairies. Levin argues that when King returned to politics in 1919, he was a rusty outsider with a weak base facing a nation bitterly split by language, regionalism and class. He outmaneuvered more senior competitors by embracing Laurier's legacy, championing labour interests, calling for welfare reform, and offering solid opposition to the Conservative rivals.<ref>{{cite book |last=Levine |first=Allan |date=2011 |title=King: William Lyon Mackenzie King, A Life Guided by the Hand of Destiny |url={{google books|EcrpcDlKTbEC|plainurl=yes}} |location=Vancouver |publisher=Douglas & MacIntyre |isbn=978-1-77100-068-0 |chapter=Ch. 4}}</ref> When Laurier died in 1919, King was elected leader in the first [[1919 Liberal Party of Canada leadership election|Liberal leadership convention]], defeating his three rivals on the fourth ballot. He won thanks to the support of the Quebec bloc, organized by [[Ernest Lapointe]] (1876–1941), later King's long-time lieutenant in Quebec. King could not speak French, but in election after election for the next 20 years (save for 1930), Lapointe produced the critical seats to give the Liberals control of the Commons. When campaigning in Quebec, King portrayed Lapointe as co-prime minister.<ref name=Betcherman>{{cite book |last=Betcherman |first=Lita-Rose |date=2002 |title=Ernest Lapointe: Mackenzie King's Great Quebec Lieutenant |publisher=University of Toronto Press |page=175 |isbn=978-0-8020-3575-2}}</ref>
[[File:King1919HeadShot.jpg|150px|thumb|King, 1919]]

=== Idealizes the Prairies ===
Once King became the Liberal leader in 1919 he paid closer attention to the [[Canadian Prairies|Prairies]], a fast-developing region. Viewing a sunrise in [[Alberta]] in 1920, he wrote in his diary, "I thought of the New Day, the New Social Order. It seems like Heaven's prophecy of the dawn of a new era, revealed to me."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/politics-government/prime-ministers/william-lyon-mackenzie-king/Pages/item.aspx?IdNumber=7452& |title=Diaries of William Lyon Mackenzie King; Item #7452 |date=October 12, 1920 |publisher=[[Library and Archives Canada]] |access-date=November 27, 2014 |last1=Canada |first1=Library Archives }}</ref> Pragmatism played a role as well, since his party depended for its survival on the votes of [[Progressive Party of Canada|Progressive Party]] Members of Parliament, many of whom who represented farmers in Ontario and the Prairies. He convinced many Progressives to return to the Liberal fold.<ref name="Robert A. Wardhaugh 2000">{{cite book |last=Wardhaugh |first=Robert A. |date=2000 |title=Mackenzie King and the Prairie West |publisher=University of Toronto Press |isbn=0-8020-4733-5}}</ref>

=== 1921 federal election ===
In the [[1921 Canadian federal election|1921 election]], King's Liberals defeated the [[Conservative Party of Canada (historical)|Conservatives]] led by Prime Minister [[Arthur Meighen]], winning a narrow majority of 118 out of 235 seats. The Conservatives won 50, the newly formed Progressive Party won 58 (but declined to form the official Opposition), and the remaining ten seats went to Labour MPs and Independents; most of these ten supported the Progressives. King became prime minister.<ref name="Neatby" />

== Prime Minister (1921–1926, 1926–1930) ==
As prime minister of Canada, King was appointed to the [[Privy Council of the United Kingdom]] on 20 June 1922<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=32721|page=4621|date=20 June 1922}}</ref> and was sworn at Buckingham Palace on October 11, 1923,<ref>{{London Gazette|nolink=y|issue=32870|page=6817|date=12 October 1923}}</ref> during the [[1923 Imperial Conference]].

=== Balancing act ===
During his first term of office, from 1921 to 1926, King sought to lower wartime taxes and, especially, wartime ethnic and labour tensions. "The War is over", he argued, "and for a long time to come it is going to take all that the energies of man can do to bridge the chasm and heal the wounds which the War has made in our social life."{{sfn|Dawson|1958|loc=p. 294; Letter of May 5, 1919}}

Despite prolonged negotiations, King was unable to attract the Progressives into his government, but once Parliament opened, he relied on their support to defeat [[non-confidence]] motions from the Conservatives. King was opposed in some policies by the Progressives, who opposed the high [[tariff]]s of the [[National Policy]]. King faced a delicate balancing act of reducing tariffs enough to please the Prairie-based Progressives, but not so much as to alienate his vital supporters in industrial Ontario and Quebec, who perceived tariffs were necessary to compete with American imports.{{sfn|Dawson|1958|loc=14, 15}}<ref name="Hutchison">[[#Hutchison|Hutchison (1952)]]</ref>

Over time, the Progressives gradually weakened. Their effective and passionate leader, [[Thomas Crerar]], resigned to return to his grain business, and was replaced by the more placid [[Robert Forke]], who joined King's cabinet in 1926 as Minister of Immigration and Colonization after becoming a [[Liberal-Progressive]]. Socialist reformer [[J.&nbsp;S. Woodsworth]] gradually gained influence and power, and King was able to reach an accommodation with him on policy matters.<ref>[[#Hutchison|Hutchison (1952)]], pp. 76–78.</ref> In any event, the Progressive caucus lacked the party discipline that was traditionally enforced by the Liberals and Conservatives. The Progressives had campaigned on a promise that their MP's would represent their constituents first. King used this to his advantage, as he could always count on at least a handful of Progressive MPs to shore up his near-majority position for any crucial vote.

=== Immigration ===
In 1923, King's government passed the ''[[Chinese Immigration Act, 1923]]'' banning most forms of [[Chinese people|Chinese]] immigration to Canada. Immigration from most countries was controlled or restricted in some way, but only the Chinese were completely prohibited from immigrating. This was after various members of the federal and some provincial governments (especially [[British Columbia]]) put pressure on the federal government to discourage Chinese immigration.<ref>{{cite web |last1= |first1= |title=Chinese Immigration Act, 1923 |url=https://pier21.ca/research/immigration-history/chinese-immigration-act-1923 |website=Pier 21 |access-date=22 January 2022}}</ref>

Also in 1923, the government modified the ''[[History of Canadian nationality law|Immigration Act]]'' to allow former subjects of [[Austria-Hungary]] to once again enter Canada. Ukrainian immigration resumed after restrictions were put in place during World War I.<ref>Swyripa, "Canada", p. 344.</ref>

=== City planning ===
King had a long-standing concern with city planning and the development of the national capital, since he had been trained in the settlement house movement and envisioned town planning and garden cities as a component of his broader program of social reform. He drew on four broad traditions in early North American planning: social planning, the Parks Movement, the City Scientific, and the [[City Beautiful movement|City Beautiful]]. King's greatest impact was as the political champion for the planning and development of Ottawa, Canada's national capital. His plans, much of which were completed in the two decades after his death, were part of a century of federal planning that repositioned Ottawa as a national space in the City Beautiful style. [[Confederation Square]],<ref>{{cite book|url=http://www.townandcrown.ca|title=Town and Crown p. 180-185 |last1=Gordon|first1=David L.A |date=December 2015|publisher=U of Ottawa Press}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |first1=David L.A. |last1=Gordon |first2=Brian S. |last2=Osborne |title=Constructing national identity in Canada's capital, 1900–2000: Confederation Square and the National War Memorial |journal=Journal of Historical Geography |volume=30 |issue=4 |date=October 2004 |pages=618–642 |doi=10.1016/S0305-7488(03)00041-0 }}</ref> for example, was initially planned to be a civic plaza to balance the nearby federal presence of Parliament Hill and was turned into a war memorial. The Great War monument was not installed until the 1939 royal visit, and King intended that the replanning of the capital would be the World War I memorial. However, the symbolic meaning of the World War I monument gradually expanded to become the place of remembrance for all Canadian war sacrifices and includes a war memorial.<ref>{{cite journal |first=David L.A. |last=Gordon |title=William Lyon Mackenzie King, planning advocate |journal=Planning Perspectives |date=2002 |volume=17 |issue=2 |doi=10.1080/02665430110111838 |pages=97–122|bibcode=2002PlPer..17...97G |s2cid=145272228 }}</ref>

=== Corruption scandals ===
King called an [[1925 Canadian federal election|election in 1925]], in which the [[Conservative Party of Canada (historical)|Conservatives]] won the most seats, but not a majority in the [[House of Commons of Canada|House of Commons]]. King held onto power with the support of the Progressives. A corruption scandal discovered late in his first term involved misdeeds around the expansion of the [[Beauharnois Canal]] in Quebec; this led to extensive inquiries and eventually a [[Royal Commission]], which exposed the [[Beauharnois Scandal]]. The resulting press coverage damaged King's party in the election. Early in his second term, another [[corruption]] scandal, this time in the Department of Customs, was revealed, which led to more support for the Conservatives and Progressives, and the possibility that King would be forced to resign, if he lost sufficient support in the Commons. King had no personal connection to this scandal, although one of his own appointees was at the heart of it. Opposition leader Meighen unleashed his fierce invective towards King, stating he was hanging onto power "like a lobster with lockjaw".<ref>[[#Hutchison|Hutchison (1952)]], p. 152</ref>`

=== King–Byng Affair ===
{{Main|King–Byng Affair}}
In June 1926, King, facing a House of Commons vote connected to the customs scandal that could force his government to resign, advised the [[Governor General of Canada|Governor General]], [[Julian H.G. Byng, Viscount Byng of Vimy|Lord Byng]], to dissolve Parliament and call another election. Byng, however, declined the Prime Minister's request – the first time in [[History of Canada|Canadian history]] that a request for dissolution was refused; and, to date, the only time the governor general of Canada has done so. Byng instead asked [[Leader of the Official Opposition (Canada)|Leader of the Opposition]], Arthur Meighen, to form government. Although the Conservatives held more seats in the House than any other party, they did not control a majority. They were soon themselves defeated on a [[motion of non-confidence]] on July 2. Meighen himself then requested a dissolution of Parliament, which Byng now granted.
[[File:KingCampaigning1926.jpg|250px|thumb|King making a speech during his 1926 election campaign]]
King ran the [[1926 Canadian federal election|1926 Liberal election campaign]] largely on the issue of the right of Canadians to govern themselves and against the interference of the Crown. The Liberal Party was returned to power with a [[minority government]], which bolstered King's position on the issue and the position of the Prime Minister generally. King later pushed for greater Canadian autonomy at the [[1926 Imperial Conference]] which elicited the [[Balfour Declaration of 1926|Balfour Declaration]] stating that upon the granting of [[dominion]] status, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, [[Newfoundland]], South Africa, and the [[Irish Free State]], while still autonomous communities within the [[British Empire]], ceased to be subordinate to the United Kingdom. Thus, the governor general ceased to represent the British government and was solely the personal representative of the sovereign while becoming a representative of [[The Crown]]. This ultimately was formalized in the [[Statute of Westminster 1931]].<ref>{{cite journal| last=Marshall| first=Peter| date=September 2001| title=The Balfour Formula and the Evolution of the Commonwealth| journal=[[The Round Table Journal|The Round Table]]| volume=90| issue=361| pages=541–53| doi=10.1080/00358530120082823| s2cid=143421201}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Thompson |first1=John Herd |last2=Seager |first2=Allan |date=1985 |title=Canada 1922–1939 |publisher=McClelland & Stewart |isbn=0-7710-8564-8 |volume=15 |series=[[The Canadian Centenary Series]]}}</ref> On September 14, King and his party won the election with a plurality of seats in the Commons: 116 seats to the Conservatives' 91 in a 245-member House.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.parl.gc.ca/parlinfo/compilations/electionsandridings/ResultsParty.aspx?Season=0&Parliament=208ab68e-34ac-423b-abb9-1723ff5a6a2c |title=Electoral Results by Party |website=Parliament of Canada |access-date=July 20, 2015 |archive-date=September 24, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924130444/http://www.parl.gc.ca/ParlInfo/Compilations/ElectionsandRidings/ResultsParty.aspx?Season=0&Parliament=208ab68e-34ac-423b-abb9-1723ff5a6a2c |url-status=dead }}</ref>

[[File:ImperialConference.jpg|thumb|Mackenzie King (seated right) at the [[1926 Imperial Conference]], which led to the [[Balfour Declaration of 1926|Balfour Declaration]]]]

=== Extending Canadian autonomy ===
[[File:KingMasseyErsme (cropped).jpg|175px|thumb|British diplomat [[Esme Howard]], King, and Canadian diplomat [[Vincent Massey]], first Canadian Envoy to the United States, at the Canadian Legation during a visit to Washington in 1927]]
During the [[Chanak Crisis]] of 1922, King refused to support the British without first consulting [[Parliament of Canada|Parliament]], while the Conservative leader, Arthur Meighen, supported Britain. King sought a Canadian voice independent of [[London]] in foreign affairs. In September 1922 the British Prime Minister, [[David Lloyd George]], appealed repeatedly to King for Canadian support in the crisis. King coldly replied that the Canadian Parliament would decide what policy to follow, making clear it would not be bound by London's suggestions.{{sfn|Dawson|1958|pp=401–422}} King wrote in his diary of the British appeal: "I confess it annoyed me. It is drafted designedly to play the imperial game, to test out centralization versus autonomy as regards European wars...No [Canadian] contingent will go without parliament being summoned in the first instance".{{sfn|Dawson|1958|p=409}} The British were disappointed with King's response but the crisis was soon resolved, as King had anticipated.<ref name="Hutchison" /> After Chanak, King was concerned about the possibility that Canada might go to war because of its connections with Britain, writing to [[Violet Markham]]:

<blockquote>Anything like centralization in London, to say nothing of a direct or indirect attempt on the part of those in office in Downing Street to tell the people of the Dominions what they should or should not do, and to dictate their duty in matters of foreign policy, is certain to prove just as injurious to the so-called 'imperial solidarity' as any attempt at interference in questions of purely domestic concern. If membership within the British Commonwealth means participation by the Dominions in any and every war in which Great Britain becomes involved, without consultation, conference, or agreement of any kind in advance, I can see no hope for an enduring relationship.{{sfn|Dawson|1958|p=419}}</blockquote>

For years, [[halibut]] stocks were depleting in Canadian and American fishing areas in the North [[Pacific Ocean]]. In 1923, King's government negotiated the [[Halibut Treaty]] with the United States. The treaty annually prohibited commercial fishing from November 16 to February 15; violation would result in seizure. The agreement was notable in that Canada negotiated it without a British delegate at the table and without ratification from the [[British Parliament]]; though not official, [[Constitutional convention (political custom)|convention]] stated that the United Kingdom would have a seat at the table or be a signatory to any agreement Canada was part of. King argued the situation only concerned Canada and the United States. After, the British accepted King's intentions to send a separate Canadian diplomat to [[Washington D.C.]] (to represent Canada's interests) rather than a British one. At the [[1923 Imperial Conference]], Britain accepted the Halibut Treaty, arguing it set a new precedent for the role of [[British Dominion]]s.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hillmer |first1=Norman |last2=Scott |first2=Jeff |title=Halibut Treaty |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/halibut-treaty |website=Canadian Encyclopedia |access-date=3 May 2022 |date=7 February 2006}}</ref>{{sfn|Granatstein|Hillmer|1999|pp=87, 95}}

King expanded the [[Department of External Affairs (Canada)|Department of External Affairs]], founded in 1909, to further promote Canadian autonomy from Britain. The new department took some time to develop, but over time it significantly increased the reach and projection of Canadian diplomacy.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hilliker |first=John |date=1990 |title=Canada's Department of External Affairs. The Early Years: 1909–1946 |url=https://archive.org/details/canadasdepartmen0002hill |url-access=registration |publisher=McGill-Queen's Press |isbn=0-7735-0751-5}}</ref> Prior to this, Canada had relied on British diplomats who owed their first loyalty to London. After the King–Byng episode, King recruited many high-calibre people for the new venture, including future prime minister [[Lester Pearson]] and influential career administrators [[Norman Robertson]] and [[Hume Wrong]]. This project was a key element of his overall strategy, setting Canada on a course independent of Britain, of former colonizer [[France]], as well as of the neighbouring powerful United States.<ref name="Hutchison" /><ref>{{cite book |last=English |first=John |date=1989 |title=Shadow of Heaven: The Life of Lester Pearson |volume=1 |publisher=Lester & Orpen Dennys |isbn=0-88619-169-6}}</ref>

Throughout his tenure, King led Canada from a dominion with responsible government to an autonomous nation within the [[British Commonwealth]]. King asserted Canadian autonomy against the British government's attempts to turn the Commonwealth into an alliance. His biographer asserts that "in this struggle Mackenzie King was the constant aggressor".<ref>[[#Neatby1963|Neatby (1963)]], Vol. 2, p. 32.</ref> The Canadian High Commissioner to Britain, [[Vincent Massey]], claimed that an "anti-British bias" was "one of the most powerful factors in his make-up".<ref>Vincent Massey, ''What's Past is Prologue'' (London: Macmillan, 1963), p. 242.</ref>

=== Other reforms ===
[[File:KingPensions1928.jpg|thumb|left|Signing of the Dominion–Provincial Agreement on [[old age security|old age pensions]] in 1928. (Seated, L–R): [[Peter Heenan]], Thomas Donnelly, [[John Millar (Canadian politician)|John Millar]], [[William Richard Motherwell|W. R. Motherwell]], William Lyon Mackenzie King, [[Charles Avery Dunning|C. A. Dunning]]. (Standing, L–R): [[John Frederick Johnston|Fred Johnson]], [[John Vallance (politician)|John Vallance]], [[Edward James Young|Ed Young]], [[Cameron Ross McIntosh|C. R. McIntosh]], [[Robert McKenzie (Canadian politician)|Robert McKenzie]], [[J. Gordon Ross|Gordon Ross]], [[Albert Frederick Totzke|A. F. Totzke]], [[George Washington McPhee|George McPhee]], [[Malcolm McLean (politician)|Malcolm McLean]], [[William George Bock|William Bock]].]]

In domestic affairs, King strengthened the Liberal policy of increasing the powers of the provincial governments by transferring to the governments of [[Manitoba]], [[Alberta]], and [[Saskatchewan]] the ownership of the crown lands within those provinces, as well as the subsoil rights; these in particular would become increasingly important, as petroleum and other natural resources proved very abundant. In collaboration with the provincial governments, he inaugurated a system of [[Old Age Security|old-age pensions]] based on need.<ref>{{cite book |ref=Neatby1963 |last=Neatby |first=H. Blair |title=William Lyon Mackenzie King, 1924–1932: The Lonely Heights |publisher=Methuen & Co |year=1963 |volume=2 |asin=B000LRH2N0}}</ref> In February 1930, he appointed [[Cairine Wilson]] as the first female [[Senate of Canada|senator]] in Canadian history.

[[File:King60th.jpg|thumb|upright|King, in [[Court uniform and dress in the United Kingdom|court dress]], speaking on Parliament Hill during a ceremony celebrating the Diamond Jubilee of Confederation in 1927]]

Reductions in taxation were carried out such as exemptions under the sales tax on commodities and enlarged exemptions of income tax, while in 1929 taxes on cables, telegrams, and railway and steamship tickets were removed.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Murray |first1=W.W. |title=The Session in Review |url=https://archive.macleans.ca/article/1929/7/1/the-session-in-review |website=Maclean's |access-date=22 January 2022 |date=1 July 1929 |archive-date=January 22, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220122200054/https://archive.macleans.ca/article/1929/7/1/the-session-in-review |url-status=dead }}</ref> In 1924, a Civil Service Superannuation Act was passed with the aim of providing public servants with a suitable income upon retirement from the public service.<ref>[https://www.canada.ca/en/treasury-board-secretariat/services/pension-plan/plan-information/public-service-pension-plan-history.html Public Service Pension Plan History]</ref> Under c.39 of 1922, civil servants who were unfit for further duty “may be retired even if they are under 65 years of age.” Under c.42 of 1922, various social provisions were introduced for returned soldiers and dependents.<ref>[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b3257204&seq=1034 Canada year book 1922-23 P.992]</ref>  An Act of 1923 improved pension eligibility for returned soldiers.<ref>[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b3257204&seq=1036 Canada year book 1922-23 P.994]</ref> Entitlement to military pensions was also extended.<ref>[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b3257209&seq=1067 Canada year book 1929 P.1025]</ref><ref>[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b3257211&seq=1090 Canada year book 1930 P.1048]</ref> In 1929, a previous Insurance Act was amended to enable fraternal societies to issue endowment policies for a period of twenty years or longer, and to increase their maximum policies to $10,000 under certain conditions.<ref>[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b3257211&seq=1090 Canada year book 1930 P.1048]</ref>  

Measures were also carried out to support farmers. In 1922, for instance, a measure was introduced and passed "restoring the Crow's Nest Pass railways rates on grain and flour moving eastwards from the prairie provinces." A Farm Loan Board was set up to provide rural credit; advancing funds to farmers "at rates of interest and under terms not obtainable from the usual sources," while other measures were carried out such as preventative measures against foot and mouth disease and the establishment of grading standards "to assist in the marketing of agricultural products" both at home and overseas. In addition, the ''Combines Investigation Act of 1923'' was aimed at safeguarding consumers and producers from exploitation.<ref>Mackenzie King, by Norman McLeod Rogers; a revised and extended edition of a biographical sketch by John Lewis, 1925</ref> 

Several measures affecting labour were also carried out.<ref>[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b2993395&seq=5 Labour Legislation in Canada 1928, P.1-P.94]</ref><ref>[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b2993396&seq=9 Labour Legislation in Canada 1929-32, P.1-3]</ref> In July 1922, an Order in Council was adopted to secure a more effective observance of a fair wages policy.<ref>[https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Sessional_Papers/16g140EPWw8C?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Canada+sessional+paper+Order+in+council++which+was+adopted+on+June+7,+1922,+to+secure+fair+wages+policy&pg=RA8-PA41&printsec=frontcover Sessional Papers Volume 60, Issue 5 By Canada. Parliament, 1924 P.41]</ref> From 1924 onwards, the employment of young persons at sea was regulated in accordance with various international labour conventions.<ref>[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=coo.31924014545606&seq=393 Labour legislation. A study prepared for the Royal commission on dominion-provincial relations / by A.E. Grauer, 1939, P.183]</ref> In 1927, the Government Employees' Compensation Act was amended by the Dominion Parliament to provide (as noted by one study) “that all employees of the Dominion government in Prince Edward Island should be eligible for compensation in the same manner and at the same rate as similar workers in New Brunswick.”<ref>[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=coo.31924014545606&seq=321 Labour legislation. A study prepared for the Royal commission on dominion-provincial relations / by A.E. Grauer, 1939, P.147]</ref> An order of March 1930 entitled employees of the Dominion Government who worked more than 8 hours daily to an 8-hour workday with a half-holiday on Saturdays.<ref>[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=coo.31924014545606&seq=65 Labour legislation. A study prepared for the Royal commission on dominion-provincial relations / by A.E. Grauer, 1939, P.20]</ref> That same year, a Fair Wages and Eight Hours Day Act was introduced.<ref>Labour Legislation in Canada A Historical Outline of the Principal Dominion and Provincial Labour Laws, August, 1945 By Canada. Department of Labour. Legislation Branch, 1945</ref>

=== Defeat in 1930 ===
King's government was in power at the beginning of the [[Great Depression in Canada|Great Depression]], but was slow to respond to the mounting crisis. He felt that the crisis was a temporary swing of the business cycle and that the economy would soon recover without government intervention.<ref>[[#Neatby1963|Neatby (1963)]], Vol. 2, p. 312</ref> Critics said he was out of touch. Just prior to the election, King carelessly remarked that he "would not give a five-cent piece" to Tory provincial governments for unemployment relief.<ref name="Betcherman" /> The opposition made this remark a catch-phrase; the main issue was the deterioration in the economy and whether the prime minister was out of touch with the hardships of ordinary people.<ref>{{cite book |last=Berton |first=Pierre |date=1990 |title=The Great Depression, 1929–1939 |url=https://archive.org/details/greatdepression100bert |url-access=registration |publisher=McClelland & Stewart |isbn=0-7710-1270-5 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/greatdepression100bert/page/54 54], 70}}</ref> The Liberals lost the [[1930 Canadian federal election|election of 1930]] to the Conservative Party, led by [[Richard Bedford Bennett]]. The popular vote was very close between the two parties, with the Liberals actually earning more votes than in 1926, but the Conservatives had a geographical advantage that turned into enough seats to give a majority.<ref>[[#Neatby1963|Neatby (1963)]], Vol. 2, Ch. 15, quote p. 318</ref>

== Opposition leader (1930–1935) ==
After his 1930 election loss, King stayed on as Liberal leader, becoming the [[Leader of the Official Opposition (Canada)|leader of the Opposition]] for the second time. He began his years as Opposition leader convinced that his government did not deserve defeat and that its financial caution had helped the economy prosper. He blamed the financial crisis on the speculative excesses of businessmen and on the weather cycle. King argued that the worst mistake Canada could make in reacting to the Depression was to raise tariffs and restrict international trade. He believed that over time, voters would learn that Bennett had deceived them and they would come to appreciate the King government's policy of frugality and [[free trade]].<ref name="Neatby" />
[[File:BennettandWLMKing.jpg|225px|thumb|Opposition leader King (right) and Prime Minister [[R.B. Bennett]] (left), 1934]]
King's policy was to refrain from offering advice or alternative policies to the Conservative government. Indeed, his policy preferences were not much different from Bennett's, and he let the government have its way. Though he gave the impression of sympathy with progressive and liberal causes, he had no enthusiasm for the [[New Deal]] of U.S. President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] (which Bennett eventually tried to emulate, after floundering without solutions for several years), and he never advocated massive government action to alleviate the Depression in Canada.<ref>{{cite book|ref=Neatby1976|last=Neatby|first=H. Blair|title=William Lyon Mackenzie King, 1932–1939: The Prism of Unity|publisher=University of Toronto Press|year=1976|volume=3|asin=B000GPCV06}}, Ch. 2</ref>

As Opposition leader, King denounced the Bennett government's [[Deficit spending|budget deficits]] as irresponsible, though he did not suggest his own idea of how budgets could be [[Government budget balance|balanced]]. King also denounced the "blank cheques" that Parliament was asked to approve for relief and delayed the passage of these bills despite the objections of some Liberals, who feared the public might conclude that the party had no sympathy for those struggling. Each year, after the throne speech and the budget, King introduced amendments that blamed the Depression on Bennett's policy of high tariffs.<ref name="Neatby" />

By the time the [[1935 Canadian federal election|1935 election]] arrived, the Bennett government was heavily unpopular due to its handling of the Depression. Using the slogan "King or Chaos",<ref>{{cite web |last1= |first1= |title="It's King or chaos" |url=https://parli.ca/its-king-or-chaos/ |website=Parli.ca |date= July 7, 2015|access-date=16 January 2022}}</ref> the Liberals won a [[landslide victory]], winning 173 out of the Commons' 245 seats and reducing the Conservatives to a [[Rump party|rump]] of 40; this was the largest [[majority government]] at the time.<ref name="Neatby" />

== Prime Minister (1935–1948) ==
For the first time in his political career, King led an undisputed Liberal majority government. Upon his return to office in October 1935, he demonstrated a commitment (like his American counterpart Roosevelt) to the underprivileged, speaking of a new era where "poverty and adversity, want and misery are the enemies which liberalism will seek to banish from the land".<ref>{{cite book|author=Raymond B. Blake|title=From Rights to Needs: A History of Family Allowances in Canada, 1929–92|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VqUdNj7pCTkC&pg=PA33|year=2009|publisher=UBC Press|page=33|isbn=978-0-7748-5868-7}}</ref> Once again, King appointed himself as [[Minister of Foreign Affairs (Canada)|secretary of state for external affairs]]; he held this post until 1946.<ref name="Neatby" />

=== Economic reforms ===
==== Free trade ====
Promising a much-desired trade treaty with the U.S., the King government passed the 1935 [[Reciprocity (Canadian politics)|Reciprocal]] Trade Agreement. It marked a turning point in Canadian-American economic relations, reversing the disastrous trade war of 1930–31, lowering tariffs, and yielding a dramatic increase in trade. More subtly, it revealed to the prime minister and President Roosevelt that they could work well together.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Boucher |first=Marc T. |title=The Politics of Economic Depression: Canadian-American Relations in the Mid-1930s |journal=International Journal |year=1985–1986 |volume=41 |issue=1 |pages=3–36 |jstor=40202349 |doi=10.2307/40202349}}</ref><ref>[[#Neatby1976|Neatby (1976)]], pp. 143–48.</ref>

==== Social programs ====
King's government introduced the National Employment Commission in 1936. As for the unemployed, King was hostile to federal relief.<ref name="auto">{{cite book |last=Neatby |first=H. Blair |date=1972 |title=The Politics of Chaos: Canada in the Thirties |publisher=Gage |isbn=0-7715-5661-6 |pages=84–86}}</ref> However, the first compulsory national [[Unemployment benefits|unemployment insurance]] program was instituted in August 1940 under the King government after a constitutional amendment was agreed to by all of the Canadian provinces, to concede to the federal government legislative power over unemployment insurance. New Brunswick, Alberta and Quebec had held out against the federal government's desire to amend the constitution but ultimately acceded to its request, Alberta being the last to do so. The ''[[Constitution Act, 1867|British North America Act]]'' Section 91 was amended by adding in a heading designated Number 2A simply in the words "Unemployment Insurance".<ref>[http://www.solon.org/Constitutions/Canada/English/ca_1867.html CA, 1867:] [[Constitution Act, 1867]], 30 & 31 Victoria, c. 3. Consolidated with amendments</ref> As far back as February 1933, the Liberals had committed themselves to introducing unemployment insurance; with a declaration by Mackenzie King that was endorsed by all members of the parliamentary party and the National Liberal Federation in which he called for such a system to be put in place.<ref>[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015059503055&seq=157&q1=as+well+as+that+of+all+the+members+of+the+parliamentary+party Mackenzie King, by Norman McLeod Rogers; a revised and extended edition of a biographical sketch by John Lewis, A Revised and Extended Edition of a Biographical Sketch by John Lewis, 1935, P.129]</ref>

Over the next thirteen years, a wide range of reforms were realized during King's last period in office as prime minister. In 1937, the age for blind persons to qualify for old-age pensions was reduced to 40 in 1937, and later to 21 in 1947.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PM9RMKQqaiUC&q=canada+widows+pensions+1927&pg=PA79|title=Old Age Pensions and Policy-Making in Canada|isbn=978-0-7735-6066-6|last1=Bryden|first1=K.|date=May 1974|publisher=McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP }}</ref> In 1939, compulsory contributions for pensions for low-income widows and orphans were introduced (although these only covered the regularly employed) while depressed farmers were subsidized from that same year onwards. In 1944, family allowances were introduced. King had various arguments in favour of family allowances, one of which, as noted by one study, was that family allowances "would mean better food, clothing and medical and dental care for children in low-income families."<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=x9yukSm32YQC&dq=Family+allowances+would+mean+better+food,+clothing+and+medical+and+dental+care+for+children+in+low-income+families&pg=PA2704  Hearings Volume 3 By United States. Congress Senate, 1966, P.2704]</ref> These were approved after divisions in cabinet.<ref>[https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/FAMILY_ALLOWANCES_IN_CANADA/veQUAgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=With+Cabinet+tsill+divided+over+family+allowances,+Clifford+Clark&pg=PA101&printsec=frontcover Family Allowances in Canada The Origins and Implementation By Mark Palmer, 2013, P.101]</ref> From 1948 the federal government subsidized medical services in the provinces;<ref>''Foundations of the Welfare State'', 2nd Edition by [[Pat Thane]], published 1996</ref> a policy which led to developments in services such as dental care.<ref>[https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Politics_of_Dental_Care_in_Canada/BgI8EAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Canada+1948+grants+dental+care+for+crippled+children.&pg=PA52&printsec=frontcover The Politics of Dental Care in Canada By Carlos Quiñonez, 2021, P.52]</ref> 

==== Spending management ====
The provincial governments faced declining revenues and higher welfare costs. They needed federal grants and loans to reduce their deficits. In a December 1935 conference with the premiers, King announced that the federal grants would be increased until the spring of 1936. At this stage, King's main goal was to have a federal system in which each level of government would pay for its programs out of its own tax sources.<ref name="Neatby" />

King only reluctantly accepted a [[Keynesian economics|Keynesian]] solution that involved federal [[deficit spending]], tax cuts, and subsidies to the housing market.<ref name="auto" /> King and his [[Minister of Finance (Canada)|finance minister]], [[Charles Avery Dunning]], had planned to [[balanced budget|balance the budget]] for 1938. However, some colleagues, to King's surprise, opposed that idea and instead favoured job creation to stimulate the economy, citing British economist [[John Maynard Keynes]]'s theory that governments could increase employment by spending during times of low private investment. In a politically motivated move, King accepted their arguments and hence ran deficits in both 1938 and 1939.<ref name="Neatby" />

==== Workers ====
Various reforms affecting working people were also introduced.<ref>[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b2993398&seq=7 Labour Legislation in Canada 1937, P.1-57]</ref><ref>[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b2993399&seq=7 Labour Legislation in Canada 1938-40, P.1-7]</ref><ref>[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b2993401&seq=9 Labour Legislation in Canada 1941-44, P.1-7]</ref><ref>[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b2993400&seq=9 Labour Legislation in Canada 1945-46, P.1-24]</ref> The various provinces were assisted by the ''Federal Unemployment and Agricultural Assistance Act of 1938'' and the ''Youth Training Act of 1939'' to create training programs for young persons,<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9AdhuHFvqjwC&q=Canada+Unemployment+and+Agricultural+Assistance+Act+1939&pg=PA130|title=Introduction to Recreation and Leisure|isbn=978-1-4504-2417-2|last1=Kinetics|first1=Human|year=2013|publisher=Human Kinetics }}</ref> while an amendment to the ''[[Criminal Code (Canada)|Criminal Code]]'' in May 1939 provided against refusal to hire, or dismissal, "solely because of a person's membership in a lawful trade-union or association".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HH983HtDMRQC&q=Canada+AN+AMENDMENT+to+the+Canadian+Criminal+Code,+which+received+Royal+assent+on+May+19,+1939,+provides+against+refusal+to+hire,+or+dismissal,+solely+because+of+membership+in+a+lawful+trade-union+or+association |title=MONTHLY LABOR REVIEW VOLUME 49: JULY TO DECEMBER 1939|year=1939}}</ref>

The ''Vocational Training Co-ordination Act'' of 1942 provided an impetus to the provinces to set up facilities for postsecondary vocational training.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rtRFyFO4hpEC&q=Canadian+Vocational+training+1942&pg=PA196|title=Encyclopedia of the Great Plains|isbn=0-8032-4787-7|last1=Wishart|first1=David J.|date=January 2004|publisher=U of Nebraska Press }}</ref> Further, in 1948, the ''Industrial Relations and Disputes Investigation Act'' was passed; this act safeguarded the rights of workers to join unions while requiring employers to recognize unions chosen by their employees.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.acep-cape.ca/en/collective-bargaining/mobilization-and-communication/mobilization-bulletin-volume-1-no-4-may-15-2015/the-labour-movement-and-the-fight-for-a-fairer-canada-an-historical-perspective/|title=MOB! CAPE's mobilization bulletin|access-date=October 12, 2015|archive-date=March 4, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304073311/http://www.acep-cape.ca/en/collective-bargaining/mobilization-and-communication/mobilization-bulletin-volume-1-no-4-may-15-2015/the-labour-movement-and-the-fight-for-a-fairer-canada-an-historical-perspective/|url-status=dead}}</ref> A Fisheries Price Support Act was also introduced with the aim of providing fishermen with similar safeguards to industrial workers covered by minimum wage legislation.<ref>[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.$b139158&seq=14 Liberal action for a greater Canada: speaker's handbook, federal general election, 1957, P.109]</ref>

==== Housing ====
The Federal Home Improvement Plan of 1937 provided subsidized rates of interest on rehabilitation loans to 66,900 homes, while the ''[[National Housing Act (Canada)|National Housing Act]]'' of 1938 made provision for the building of low-rent housing.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/housing-and-housing-policy/|title=Housing and Housing Policy|author=Ann McAfee|encyclopedia=The Canadian Encyclopedia}}</ref> Another Housing Act was later passed in 1944 with the intention of providing federally guaranteed loans or mortgages to individuals who wished to repair or construct dwellings through their own initiative.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-mArVVlO02MC&q=canada+housing+act+1944&pg=PA122|title=Anabaptist/Mennonite Faith and Economics|year=1994|isbn=978-0-8191-9350-6|last1=Redekop |first1=Calvin Wall |last2=Krahn |first2=Victor A. |last3=Steiner |first3=Samuel J. |publisher=University Press of America }}</ref>

==== Agriculture ====
While King opposed Bennett's [[Canadian Wheat Board]] in 1935, he accepted its operation. However, by 1938, the board had sold its holdings and King proposed returning to the open market. This angered [[Western Canadian]] farmers, who favoured a board that would give them a guaranteed minimum price, with the federal government covering any losses. Facing a public campaign to keep the board, King and his [[Minister of Agriculture (Canada)|minister of agriculture]], [[James Garfield Gardiner]], reluctantly extended the board's life and offered a minimum price that would protect the farmers from further declines.<ref name="Neatby" /> Also, from 1935 onwards, measures were carried out to promote prairie farm rehabilitation.<ref>[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.$b139158&seq=14 Liberal action for a greater Canada: speaker's handbook, federal general election, 1957, P.128]</ref> Also, in 1945 a Farm Improvement Loans Act was introduced that provided for bank loans for purposes such as land improvement and the repair and construction of farm buildings.<ref>[https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Foreign_Crops_and_Markets/PQJBLKRtK5AC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Farm+Improvement+Loans+Act+1945+Canada&pg=RA1-PA156&printsec=frontcover Foreign Crops and Markets Volume 50 1945, P.156]</ref>

==== Crown corporations ====
In 1937, King's government established the [[Trans-Canada Air Lines]] (the precursor to [[Air Canada]]), as a subsidiary of the [[Crown corporations of Canada|crown corporation]], [[Canadian National Railways]]. It was created to provide air service to all regions of Canada.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Marsh |first1=James |title=Trans-Canada Airlines |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/trans-canada-airlines#:~:text=Trans-Canada%20Airlines-,Trans-Canada%20Airlines%20was%20created%2010%20April%201937%20by%20Act,used%20to%20survey%20new%20routes. |website=Canadian Encyclopedia |access-date=10 April 2022 |date=7 February 2006}}</ref>

In 1938, King's government [[nationalize]]d the [[Bank of Canada]] into a crown corporation.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bankofcanada.ca/about/history/ |title=The Bank's History |website=Bank of Canada |access-date=June 9, 2011}}</ref>

=== Media reforms ===
In 1936, the [[Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission]] (CRBC) became the [[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation]] (CBC), a [[crown corporation]]. The CBC had a better organizational structure, more secure funding through the use of a licence fee on receiving sets (initially set at $2.50), and less vulnerability to political pressure.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Eaman |first1=Ross |title=CBC/Radio-Canada |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/canadian-broadcasting-corporation |website=Canadian Encyclopedia |access-date=10 April 2022 |date=9 April 2012}}</ref> When Bennett's Conservatives were governing and the Liberals were in Opposition, the Liberals accused the network of being biased towards the Conservatives. During the 1935 election campaign, the CRBC broadcast a series of 15 minutes soap operas called ''Mr. Sage'' which were critical of King and the Liberal Party. Decried as political propaganda, the incident was one factor in King's decision to replace the CRBC.<ref>"[http://www.broadcasting-history.ca/networks/networks_CRBC.html The Birth and Death of The Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission (1932–1936)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061010110936/http://www.broadcasting-history.ca/networks/networks_CRBC.html |date=2006-10-10 }}," Canadian Communications Foundation, accessed April 11, 2022</ref>

In 1938, King's government invited British documentary maker [[John Grierson]] to study the situation of the government's film production (which at that time was the responsibility of the [[Canadian Government Motion Picture Bureau]]). King believed that [[Cinema of Canada|Canadian cinema]] deserved an increased presence in Canadian theatres.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Matlin|first=Julie|date=2009-08-12|title=The Founding of the NFB|url=https://blog.nfb.ca/blog/2009/08/12/the-founding-of-the-nfb/|url-status=live|access-date=2022-04-11|website=NFB Blog|language=en-CA|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140715095241/http://blog.nfb.ca/blog/2009/08/12/the-founding-of-the-nfb/ |archive-date=2014-07-15 }}</ref> This report prompted the ''National Film Act'', which created the [[National Film Board of Canada]] in 1939. It was created to produce and distribute films serving the national interest and was intended specifically to make Canada better known both domestically and internationally.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Ménard |first1=Denise |last2=Thomas |first2=Suzanne |last3=Moore |first3=Christopher |title=Music at the National Film Board of Canada |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/national-film-board-of-canadaoffice-national-du-film-du-canada-emc |website=Canadian Encyclopedia |access-date=10 April 2022 |date=7 February 2006}}</ref> Gierson was appointed the first film commissioner in October 1939.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Morris |first1=Peter |last2=Wise |first2=Wyndham |title=National Film Board of Canada |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/national-film-board-of-canada |website=Canadian Encyclopedia |access-date=10 April 2022 |date=3 November 2011}}</ref>

=== Relationship with provinces ===
After 1936, the prime minister lost patience when [[Western Canada|Western Canadians]] preferred radical alternatives such as the CCF ([[Co-operative Commonwealth Federation]]) and [[Social Credit]] to his middle-of-the-road liberalism. Indeed, he came close to writing off the region with his comment that the prairie dust bowl was "part of the U.S. desert area. I doubt if it will be of any real use again."<ref name="Robert A. Wardhaugh 2000" /> Instead he paid more attention to the industrial regions and the needs of Ontario and Quebec, particularly with respect to the proposed [[St. Lawrence Seaway]] project with the United States.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Pennanen |first=Gary |title=Battle of the Titans: Mitchell Hepburn, Mackenzie King, Franklin Roosevelt, and the St. Lawrence Seaway |journal=Ontario History |date=March 1997 |volume=89 |issue=1|pages=1–21|issn=0030-2953}}</ref>

In 1937, [[Maurice Duplessis]], the [[Conservatism in Canada|conservative]] [[Union Nationale (Quebec)|Union Nationale]] [[premier of Quebec]], passed the [[Padlock Law]] (the ''Act to Protect the Province Against Communistic Propaganda''),<ref>{{cite book|last1=Black|first1=Conrad|title=Duplessis|url=https://archive.org/details/duplessis0000blac_e9g5|url-access=registration|date=1977|publisher=McClelland & Stewart|location=Toronto|pages=[https://archive.org/details/duplessis0000blac_e9g5/page/162 162]|isbn=978-0-7710-1530-4}}</ref> which intimidated labour leaders by threatening to lock up their offices for any alleged communist activities. King's government, which had already repealed the section of the ''Criminal Code'' banning unlawful associations, considered disallowing this bill. However, King's cabinet minister, [[Ernest Lapointe]], believed this would harm the Liberal Party's electoral chances in Quebec. King and his English-Canadian ministers accepted Lapointe's view; as King wrote in his diary in July 1938, "we were prepared to accept what really should not, in the name of liberalism, be tolerated for one moment."<ref name="Neatby" />

=== Germany and Hitler ===

In March 1936, in response to the German [[remilitarization of the Rhineland]], King had the [[High Commission of Canada in the United Kingdom]] inform the British government that if Britain went to war with Germany over the [[Rhineland]] issue, Canada would remain neutral.<ref>{{cite book |last=Emmerson |first=James Thomas |title=The Rhineland Crisis, March 7, 1936: A Study in Multilateral Diplomacy |url=https://archive.org/details/rhinelandcrisis70000emme |url-access=registration |date=1977 |publisher=Iowa State University Press |page=144 |isbn=0-8138-1865-6}}</ref> In June 1937, during an [[Imperial Conference]] in London of the prime ministers of every dominion, King informed Britain's Prime Minister [[Neville Chamberlain]] that Canada would only go to war if Britain were directly attacked, and that if the British were to become involved in a continental war then Chamberlain was not to expect Canadian support.<ref>{{cite book |last=Middlemas |first=Keith |author-link=Keith Middlemas |date=1972 |title=Diplomacy of Illusion: The British Government and Germany, 1937–1939 |publisher=Weidenfeld and Nicolson |location=London |isbn=0-297-99390-9 |pages=21–23}}</ref>
[[File:Mackenzie King in Nazi Germany.jpg|200px|thumb|King (far left) at a ceremony in [[Berlin]], [[Nazi Germany]], 1937]]
In 1937, King visited [[Nazi Germany]] and met with [[Adolf Hitler]].<ref name="king in berlin">{{cite web |url=http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/king/023011-1070.05-e.html |title=Mackenzie King in Berlin |website=A Real Companion and Friend: The diary of William Lyon Mackenzie King |publisher=Library and Archives Canada |access-date=November 24, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091031132442/http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/king/023011-1070.05-e.html |archive-date=October 31, 2009 |df=mdy-all }}</ref>  Possessing a religious yearning for direct insight into the hidden mysteries of life and the universe, and strongly influenced by the operas of [[Richard Wagner]] (who was also Hitler's favourite composer), King decided Hitler was akin to mythical [[Wagnerian]] heroes within whom good and evil were struggling. He thought that good would eventually triumph and Hitler would redeem his people and lead them to a harmonious, uplifting future. These spiritual attitudes not only guided Canada's relations with Hitler but gave the prime minister the comforting sense of a higher mission, that of helping to lead Hitler to peace. King commented in his journal that "he is really one who truly loves his fellow-men, and his country, and would make any sacrifice for their good".<ref>{{cite journal |first=Robert H. |last=Keyserlingk |title=Mackenzie King's Spiritualism and His View of Hitler in 1939 |journal=Journal of Canadian Studies |year=1985–1986 |volume=20 |issue=4 |pages=26–44 |doi=10.3138/jcs.20.4.26 |s2cid=152129614 |issn=0021-9495 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |first=C. P. |last=Stacey |title=The Divine Mission: Mackenzie King and Hitler |journal=Canadian Historical Review |year=1980 |volume=61 |issue=4 |pages=502–512 |doi=10.3138/chr-061-04-03}}</ref> King forecast that: {{blockquote|The world will yet come to see a very great man–mystic in Hitler&nbsp;... I cannot abide in Nazism&nbsp;– the regimentation&nbsp;– cruelty&nbsp;– oppression of Jews&nbsp;– attitude towards religion, etc., but Hitler&nbsp;... will rank some day with Joan of Arc among the deliverers of his people.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Alan Davies|author2=Marilyn F. Nefsky|title=How Silent Were the Churches?: Canadian Protestantism and the Jewish Plight during the Nazi Era|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2c3fAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA77|year=2010|publisher=Wilfrid Laurier UP|pages=76–77|isbn=978-1-55458-666-0}}</ref>}}

In late 1938, during the great crisis in Europe over [[Czechoslovakia]] that culminated in the [[Munich Agreement]], Canadians were divided. Francophones insisted on neutrality, as did some top advisers like [[Oscar D. Skelton]]. Anglophones stood behind Britain and were willing to fight Germany. King, who served as his own secretary of state for external affairs (foreign minister), said privately that if he had to choose he would not be neutral, but he made no public statement. All of Canada was relieved that the Munich Agreement, while sacrificing the sovereignty of Czechoslovakia, seemed to bring peace.<ref>[[#Neatby1976|Neatby (1976)]], pp. 287–293</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Fry |first=Michael Graham |date=1999 |chapter=The British Dominions and the Munich Crisis |pages=[https://archive.org/details/munichcrisis193800igor/page/320 320–325] |title=The Munich Crisis, 1938 |editor-first1=Erik |editor-last1=Goldstein |editor-first2=Igor |editor-last2=Lukes |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=0-7146-4995-3 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/munichcrisis193800igor/page/320 }}</ref>

Under King's administration, the Canadian government, responding to strong public opinion, especially in Quebec, refused to expand immigration opportunities for [[Jewish]] [[refugee]]s from Europe.<ref>{{cite book |first=Gerald J. J. |last=Tulchinsky |title=Branching Out: The Transformation of the Canadian Jewish Community |publisher=Stoddart |date=1998 |pages=200–201 |isbn=0-7737-3084-2}}</ref> In June 1939 Canada, along with [[Cuba]] and the United States, refused to allow entry for the 900 Jewish refugees aboard the passenger ship {{MS|St. Louis}}.<ref>{{cite book |last=Knowles |first=Valerie |title=Strangers at Our Gates: Canadian Immigration and Immigration Policy, 1540–1997 |url={{google books|WvDpSSSZ8CoC|plainurl=yes|page=144}} |location=Toronto |publisher=Dundurn |date=2007|page=144 |isbn=978-1-4597-1237-9}}</ref> King's government was widely criticized for its antisemitic policies and refusal to admit Jewish refugees. Most famously, when [[Frederick Blair]], an immigration official in King's party, was asked how many Jewish refugees Canada would admit after [[World War II]], he replied "None is too many". This policy was wholly supported by King and his political allies.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Abella |first1=Irving |title=None Is Too Many: Canada and the Jews of Europe 1933–1948 |last2=Troper |publisher=Lester & Orpen Dennys |year=1983 |isbn=978-0-919630-31-4 |location=Canada}}</ref>

=== Second World War ===
[[File:GeorgeVIBanffSprings.jpg|thumb|(From right to left) [[George VI|King George VI]], [[Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother|Queen Elizabeth]], and Prime Minister Mackenzie King in [[Banff, Alberta]], 1939]] King accompanied the Royal Couple—King [[George VI]] and Queen Elizabeth—throughout their 1939 cross-Canada tour, as well as on their American visit, a few months before the start of World War II.<ref>''Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother: The Official Biography'', by [[William Shawcross]], 2009</ref>
[[File:The Quebec Conference, Canada, August 1943 TR1347.jpg|thumb|King (back left) with (counterclockwise from King) [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]], Governor General [[Alexander Cambridge, 1st Earl of Athlone|the Earl of Athlone]] and [[Winston Churchill]] during the [[Quebec Conference, 1943|Quebec Conference in 1943]]]]
[[File:Octagon2.jpg|thumb|King (far right) together with (from left to right) Governor General [[Alexander Cambridge, 1st Earl of Athlone|the Earl of Athlone]], [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] and [[Winston Churchill]] at the [[Second Quebec Conference|Octagon Conference]], Quebec City, September 1944]]
[[File:William Lyon Mackenzie King and Norman Robertson attending the Commonwealth Prime Ministers’ Conference - William Lyon Mackenzie King et Norman Robertson assistant à la conférence des premiers ministres du Commonwealth (25134542897).jpg|thumb|Canadian diplomat [[Norman Robertson]] and Mackenzie King, 1944]]
[[File:CommonwealthPrimeMinisters1944.jpg|thumb|King, sitting left, at the [[1944 Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference]] ]]

==== Declaration of war ====
According to historian [[Norman Hillmer]], as British Prime Minister [[Neville Chamberlain]] "negotiated in Munich with Adolf Hitler in September 1938, Mackenzie King, Canada's Prime Minister, grew agitated."<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hillmer |first1=Norman |title=Mackenzie King and the Munich Agreement, 1938: An Insider's View |url=https://champlainsociety.utpjournals.press/findings-trouvailles/2019/06/mackenzie-king-munich-agreement-1938?mobileUi=0 |website=The Champlain Society |access-date=5 April 2020 |date=2019}}</ref> King realized the likelihood of [[World War II]] and began mobilizing on August 25, 1939, with full mobilization on September 1, 1939, the day Germany invaded Poland. In 1914, at the beginning of World War I, Canada had been at war by virtue of King [[George V]]'s declaration, issued solely on the advice of the British government. In 1939, King asserted Canada's autonomy and convened the House of Commons on September 7, nearly a month ahead of schedule, to discuss the government's intention to enter the war. King affirmed Canadian autonomy by saying that the Canadian Parliament would make the final decision on the issue of going to war. He reassured the pro-British Canadians that Parliament would surely decide that Canada would be at Britain's side if Great Britain was drawn into a major war. At the same time, he reassured those who were suspicious of British influence in Canada by promising that Canada would not participate in British colonial wars. His [[Quebec lieutenant]], [[Ernest Lapointe]], promised French Canadians that the government would not introduce conscription for overseas service; individual participation would be voluntary. These promises made it possible for Parliament to agree almost unanimously to [[Canadian declaration of war on Germany|declare war]] on September 9. On September 10, King, through his high commissioner in London, issued a request to King George VI, asking him, in his capacity as King of Canada, to [[Canadian declaration of war on Germany|declare Canada at war against Germany]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Buckner |first=Phillip Alfred |title=Canada and the British Empire |url={{google books|KmXnLGX7FvEC|plainurl=yes|page=105}} |year=2008 |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=105–106 |isbn=978-0-19-927164-1}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1= |first1= |title=J. S. Woodsworth, no to war with Germany, Sept., 1939 |url=https://greatcanadianspeeches.ca/2019/09/02/j-s-woodsworth-no-to-war-with-germany-sept-1939/ |website=Great Canadian Speeches |date= September 2, 2019|access-date=20 January 2022 |quote=...only Woodsworth and two MPs from Quebec opposed participation in the war.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Neatby |first1=H. Blair |title=Ernest Lapointe |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/ernest-lapointe |website=Canadian Encyclopedia |access-date=20 January 2022 |date=13 February 2008}}</ref>

==== Foreign policy ====

To re-arm Canada, King built the [[Royal Canadian Air Force]] as a viable military power, while at the same time keeping it separate from Britain's [[Royal Air Force]]. He was instrumental in obtaining the [[British Commonwealth Air Training Plan]] Agreement, which was signed in Ottawa in December 1939, binding Canada, Britain, New Zealand and Australia to a program that eventually trained half the airmen from those four nations in the Second World War.<ref name="P. Stacey, 1970" />

King linked Canada more and more closely to the United States, signing [[Ogdensburg Agreement|an agreement]] with Roosevelt at [[Ogdensburg, New York]], in August 1940 that provided for the close cooperation of Canadian and American forces, despite the fact that the U.S. remained officially neutral until the bombing of [[Pearl Harbor]] on December 7, 1941. During the war the Americans took virtual control of the [[Yukon]] in building the [[Alaska Highway]], and major airbases in [[Dominion of Newfoundland|Newfoundland]], at that time under British governance.<ref>{{cite book |last=Perras |first=Galen Roger |date=1998 |title=Franklin Roosevelt and the Origins of the Canadian-American Security Alliance, 1933–1945: Necessary, but Not Necessary Enough |publisher=Praeger |isbn=0-275-95500-1}}</ref>

King—and Canada—were largely ignored by [[British Prime Minister]] [[Winston Churchill]], despite Canada's major role in supplying food,<ref>{{cite web |last1= |first1= |title=Food on the Home Front during the Second World War |url=https://wartimecanada.ca/essay/eating/food-home-front-during-second-world-war |website=Wartime Canada |access-date=21 January 2022 |quote=Particularly after the fall of France in June 1940, Canadian food exports provided an essential lifeline to Britain.}}</ref> raw materials, munitions,<ref>{{cite web |last1= |first1= |title=Canada Goes to War |url=https://www.cbc.ca/history/EPISCONTENTSE1EP13CH4PA3LE.html |website=CBC |access-date=21 January 2022}}</ref> and money<ref>{{cite web |last1= |first1= |title=Canada and the Cost of World War II |url=https://www.mqup.ca/canada-and-the-cost-of-world-war-ii-products-9780773529380.php |website=McGill-Queens University Press |access-date=22 January 2022}}</ref> to the hard-pressed British economy, [[British Commonwealth Air Training Plan#Canada|training airmen for the Commonwealth]], guarding the western half of the [[North Atlantic Ocean]] against German [[U-boat]]s,<ref>{{cite web |last1=Dubreuil |first1=Brian |last2=Douglas |first2=W.A.B. |title=Battle of the Atlantic |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/battle-of-the-atlantic |website=Canadian Encyclopedia |access-date=22 January 2022 |date=25 April 2010}}</ref> and providing combat troops for the invasions of Italy, France and Germany in 1943–45. King proved highly successful in mobilizing the economy for war, with impressive results in industrial and agricultural output. The depression ended, prosperity returned, and Canada's economy expanded significantly.<ref>{{cite web |last1=von Moos |first1=Kristy |title=The Canadian economy and the Second World War |url=https://ingeniumcanada.org/channel/articles/the-canadian-economy-and-the-second-world-war |website=Ingenium |access-date=22 January 2022 |date=8 November 2018}}</ref>

During the war, Canada rapidly expanded its diplomatic missions abroad. While Canada hosted two major Allied conferences in Quebec in 1943 and 1944, neither King nor his senior generals and admirals were invited to take part in any of the discussions.<ref>J. L. Granatstein, "Happily on the Margins: Mackenzie King and Canada at the Quebec Conferences," in David B. Woolner, ed., ''The Second Quebec Conference Revisited: Waging War, Formulating Peace: Canada, Great Britain, and the United States in 1944–1945'' (1998) pp 49-64.</ref>

==== Political affairs ====

King's government made an unprecedented intervention in the [[1939 Quebec general election]] to defeat anti-war Premier Maurice Duplessis's Union Nationale and ensure victory for the pro-war [[Quebec Liberal Party|Quebec Liberals]] under [[Adélard Godbout]]. Three of King's Cabinet ministers from Quebec (Ernest Lapointe, [[Arthur Cardin]], and [[Charles Gavan Power]]) threatened to resign if Duplessis won re-election, claiming that no one would be left to stand up for Quebec in the Cabinet if conscription become an issue again.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Granatstein |first1=Jack |last2=Morton |first2=Desmond |date=2003 |title=Canada and the Two World Wars |location=Toronto |publisher=KeyPorter |page=179}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Sarra-Bournet |first1=Michel |title=DUPLESSIS, MAURICE LE NOBLET |url=http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/duplessis_maurice_le_noblet_18E.html |website=Dictionary of Canadian Biography |access-date=4 August 2022}}</ref> In his diary, King called Duplessis "diabolic" and a "little Hitler", believing Duplessis's aim was to provoke such a crisis between [[French Canada]] and [[English Canada]] that Quebec would leave Confederation.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Granatstein |first1=Jack |last2=Morton |first2=Desmond |date=2003 |title=Canada and the Two World Wars |location=Toronto |publisher=KeyPorter |page=178}}</ref> King used the powers of censorship under the ''[[War Measures Act]]'' to keep Duplessis from speaking on the radio. The Quebec Liberals won a landslide victory.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Paulin |first1=Marguerite |title=Maurice Duplessis |date=2005 |publisher=Dundurn Press |location=Toronto |page=116}}</ref>

King rejected any notion of a [[national unity government|government of national unity]] like the Unionist Government during World War&nbsp;I.<ref name="P. Stacey, 1970">{{cite book |last=Stacey |first=C. P. |date=1970 |title=Arms, Men and Governments: The War Policies of Canada, 1939–1945 |publisher=Queen's Printer }}</ref> When the [[Legislative Assembly of Ontario]] passed a resolution criticizing King's government for not fighting the war "in the vigorous manner the people of Canada desire to see", King dissolved [[18th Canadian Parliament|the federal parliament]], triggering [[1940 Canadian federal election|a federal election for March 26, 1940]]. He held it despite the ongoing war, unlike Britain, which formed a government of national unity and did not hold a wartime election. King won a second consecutive landslide victory, winning 179 seats{{snd}} 6 more than in 1935. This was the Liberals' most successful result {{as of|2023|lc=on}} (in terms of proportion of seats). The [[Official Opposition (Canada)|Official Opposition]] party, the Conservatives, won the same number of seats as R.&nbsp;B. Bennett did in the 1935 election. King's relationship with [[Ontario Liberal Party|Liberal]] Ontario Premier [[Mitchell Hepburn]] was damaged due to Hepburn spearheading the resolution criticizing the war effort.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Glassford |first1=Larry |title=Hepburn, Mitchell Frederick |url=http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/hepburn_mitchell_frederick_18E.html |website=Dictionary of Canadian Biography |access-date=2 August 2022}}</ref>

King promoted engineer and businessman [[C.&nbsp;D. Howe]] to senior cabinet positions during the war. King also suffered two cabinet setbacks; his [[Minister of National Defence (Canada)|defence minister]], [[Norman McLeod Rogers]], died in 1940 and his Quebec lieutenant and [[Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada|minister of justice and attorney general]], Ernest Lapointe, died in 1941. King successfully sought out the reluctant [[Louis St. Laurent]], a leading Quebec lawyer, to enter the House of Commons and to take over Lapointe's role. St. Laurent became King's right-hand man.<ref name="Hutchison" /><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.pc.gc.ca/en/lhn-nhs/qc/stlaurent/culture/histoire-history/personnages-people/natcul1d |title=Louis S. St-Laurent National Historic Site |website=Government of Canada |access-date=23 January 2022 |quote=During this period, the Minister of Justice was the right hand man of the Prime Minister}}</ref>

==== Wartime expenditure ====

On June 24, 1940, King's government presented the first $1 billion budget in Canadian history. It included $700 million in war expenses compared to $126 million in the 1939–1940 fiscal year; however, due to the war, the overall economy was the strongest in Canadian history.<ref>{{cite journal | jstor=20029058 | title=Canada's New Defense Program | author=Dean, Edgard Packard | journal=Foreign Affairs |date=October 1940 | volume=19 | issue=1 | pages=222–236 | doi=10.2307/20029058}}</ref>

==== Internment of Japanese-Canadians ====
Following the [[attack on Pearl Harbor]] in December 1941, Japanese Canadians were categorized by Canada as enemy aliens under the ''[[War Measures Act]]'', which began to remove their personal rights.<ref>Fujiwara, Aya. "Japanese-Canadian Internally Displaced Persons:Labour Relations and Ethno-Religious Identity in Southern Alberta, 1942–1953. Page 65</ref> Starting on December 8, 1941, 1,200 Japanese-Canadian-owned fishing vessels were impounded as a "defence measure."<ref>Sunahara (1981), 28.</ref> On January 14, 1942, the federal government passed an order calling for the removal of male Japanese nationals between 18 and 45 years of age from a designated protected area of 100 miles inland from the British Columbia coast, enacted a ban against Japanese-Canadian fishing during the war, banned shortwave radios and controlled the sale of gasoline and dynamite to Japanese Canadians.<ref>Sunahara (1981), 37.</ref> Japanese nationals removed from the coast after the January 14 order were sent to road camps around [[Jasper, Alberta]].
Three weeks later, on February 19, 1942, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed [[Executive Order 9066]], which called for the removal of [[Internment of Japanese Americans|110,000 people of Japanese ancestry]] from the American coastline. A historian of internment, Ann Sunahara, argues that "the American action sealed the fate of Japanese Canadians."<ref>Sunahara (1981), 46.</ref>

On February 24, the federal government passed order-in-council PC 1468 which allowed for the [[Japanese-Canadian internment|removal of "all persons of Japanese origin"]]<ref>Sugiman, Pamela. "Life is Sweet: Vulnerability and Composure in the Wartime Narratives of Japanese Canadians". Journals of Canadian Studies. Winter 2009: 186-218, 262.</ref> This order-in-council allowed the [[Minister of Justice (Canada)|Minister of Justice]] the broad powers of removing people from any protected area in Canada, but was meant for Japanese Canadians on the Pacific coast in particular. On February 25, the federal government announced that Japanese Canadians were being moved for reasons of national security.<ref>Sunahara, Ann. "The Politics of Racism: The Uprooting of Japanese Canadians During the Second World War." Toronto: J, Larimer, 1981. Pg 47-48.</ref> In all, some 27,000 people were detained without charge or trial, and their property confiscated. Others were deported to Japan.<ref name="Kobayashi">Kobayashi, Audrey. "The Japanese-Canadian redress settlement and its implications for ‘race relations’" Canadian Ethnic Studies. Vol. 24, Issue 1.</ref>
King and his Cabinet received conflicting intelligence reports about the potential threat from the Japanese. Major General [[Kenneth Stuart|Ken Stuart]] told Ottawa, "I cannot see that the Japanese Canadians constitute the slightest menace to national security."<ref>{{cite book |last=Sunahara |first=Ann Gomer |date=1981 |url=http://www.japanesecanadianhistory.ca/Politics_of_Racism.pdf |title=The Politics of Racism: The Uprooting of Japanese Canadians During the Second World War |publisher=James Lorimer |location=Ottawa |isbn=0-88862-413-1 |page=23 |access-date=December 6, 2014 |archive-date=November 1, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141101095313/http://japanesecanadianhistory.ca/Politics_of_Racism.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> In contrast, BC's attorney general, [[Gordon Sylvester Wismer]] reported that, while he had "the greatest respect for" and "hesitated to disagree with" the RCMP, "every law enforcement agency in this province, including ... the military officials charged with local internal security, are unanimous that a grave menace exists."<ref>{{cite book |title=Mutual Hostages: Canadians and Japanese during the Second World War |year=1990 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |location=Toronto |isbn=0-8020-5774-8 |page=51}}</ref>

==== Expansion of scientific research ====
King's government greatly expanded the role of the [[National Research Council of Canada]] during the war, moving into full-scale research in nuclear physics and commercial use of [[nuclear power]] in the following years. King, with [[C. D. Howe]] acting as point man, moved the nuclear group from [[Montreal]] to [[Chalk River, Ontario]] in 1944, with the establishment of [[Chalk River Nuclear Laboratories]] and the residential town of [[Deep River, Ontario]]. Canada became a world leader in this field, with the [[NRX]] reactor becoming operational in 1947; at the time, NRX was the only operational nuclear reactor outside the United States.<ref>{{cite book |author-link=Robert Bothwell |last=Bothwell |first=Robert |date=1988 |title=Nucleus: The History of Atomic Energy of Canada Limited |publisher=University of Toronto Press |isbn=0-8020-2670-2}}</ref>

==== Conscription ====
{{See also|Conscription Crisis of 1944}}
King's promise not to impose conscription contributed to the defeat of [[Maurice Duplessis]]'s [[Union Nationale (Quebec)|Union Nationale]] Quebec provincial government in 1939 and the Liberals' re-election in the 1940 election. But after the fall of France in 1940, Canada introduced conscription for home service (conscription meant for the defence of Canada only). Only volunteers were to be sent overseas. King wanted to avoid a repeat of the [[Conscription Crisis of 1917]]. By 1942, the military was pressing King hard to send conscripts to Europe. In 1942, King held [[1942 Canadian conscription plebiscite|a national plebiscite]] on the issue, asking the nation to relieve him of the commitment he had made during the election campaign. In the House of Commons on June 10, 1942, he said that his policy was "not necessarily conscription but conscription if necessary".<ref>Hansard, House of Commons, June 10, 1942</ref>
[[File:KingVEDay.jpg|190px|thumb|King making his address to Canada on [[VE-Day]]]]
French Canadians voted against conscription, with over 70 percent opposed, but an overwhelming majority – over 80 percent – of English Canadians supported it. French and English conscripts were sent to fight in the [[Aleutian Islands]] in 1943 – technically North American soil and therefore not "overseas" – but the mix of Canadian volunteers and draftees found that the Japanese troops had fled before their arrival. Otherwise, King continued with a campaign to recruit volunteers, hoping to address the problem with the shortage of troops caused by heavy losses in the [[Dieppe Raid]] in 1942, in Italy in 1943, and after the [[Invasion of Normandy|Battle of Normandy]] in 1944. In November 1944, the government decided it was necessary to send conscripts for the war. This led to a brief political crisis (see [[Conscription Crisis of 1944]]) and [[Terrace Mutiny|a mutiny]] by conscripts posted in British Columbia, but the war ended a few months later. In all, 12,908 conscripts were sent to fight abroad, though only 2,463 saw combat.<ref>{{cite web |last1=McIntosh |first1=Andrew |last2=Granatstein |first2=J.I. |last3=Jones |first3=Richard |title=Conscription in Canada |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/conscription |website=Canadian Encyclopedia |access-date=22 January 2022 |date=6 February 2006}}</ref>

=== Post-war Canada ===
==== 1945 election ====
With the war winding down, King called [[1945 Canadian federal election|a federal election for June 11, 1945]]. The Liberals' election campaign was centered on a broad program of [[social security]]. Although King was hesitant for his government to expand its role in the economy and run [[deficit spending|deficits]], he accepted it as these measures aligned with his concern for people struggling financially. There were political motives too; the Liberals needed to compete with the rising [[socialist]] [[Co-operative Commonwealth Federation]] (CCF) for votes.<ref name="Neatby" /> In addition, King promised to commit one division of volunteers to [[Operation Downfall]], the planned invasion of Japan scheduled for late 1945-early 1946, whereas [[Progressive Conservative Party of Canada|Progressive Conservative]] leader [[John Bracken]] promised conscription. Bracken's promise was unpopular and it thus benefited the Liberals.<ref>Morton, Desmond A Military History of Canada, Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1999 page 223-224.</ref>

The Liberals were knocked down from a massive [[majority government]] to a [[minority government]]. However, they were able to govern with a working majority with the support of eight "Independent Liberal" MPs (most of whom did not run as official Liberals because of their opposition to conscription). The Liberals' decline in support was partly attributed to the introduction of conscription, which was unpopular in many parts of Canada. As King was defeated in his own riding of [[Prince Albert (federal electoral district)|Prince Albert]], fellow Liberal [[William MacDiarmid]], who was re-elected in the [[safe seat]] of [[Glengarry (federal electoral district)|Glengarry]], resigned so that an August 6 by-election could be held, which was subsequently won by King.<ref name="Neatby" />

==== Foreign affairs, Cold War ====
King helped found the [[United Nations]] (UN) in 1945 and attended the opening meetings in San Francisco.<ref>{{cite web |last1= |first1= |title=Visits By Foreign Leaders in 1945 |url=https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/visits/1945 |website=Office of the Historian |access-date=22 January 2022}}</ref> Though he conceded that [[Great power|major powers]] such as the United States and the United Kingdom would dominate the organization, King argued that [[middle power]]s such as Canada should be given an influence on the UN based on their contributions to the settlement of disputes.<ref name="Neatby" />

King moved Canada into the deepening [[Cold War]] in alliance with the U.S. and Britain. He dealt with the espionage revelations of Soviet cipher clerk [[Igor Gouzenko]], who defected in Ottawa in September 1945, by quickly appointing a [[Kellock-Taschereau Commission|Royal Commission]] to investigate Gouzenko's allegations of a [[Canadians|Canadian]] Communist spy-ring transmitting top-secret documents to Moscow. [[Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada|Justice Minister]] [[Louis St. Laurent]] dealt decisively with this crisis, the first of its type in Canada's history.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hutchison |first=Bruce |date=1964 |title=Mr. Prime Minister 1867–1964 |url=https://archive.org/details/mrprimeministe100hutc |url-access=registration |location=Toronto |publisher=Longmans Canada }}</ref> St. Laurent succeeded King as external affairs minister in September 1946.<ref name="Neatby" />

==== Domestic achievements ====
After the war, King quickly dismantled wartime controls. Unlike World War I, press censorship ended with the hostilities.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Purcell |first1=Gillis |title=Wartime Press Censorship in Canada |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40194144 |journal=International Journal |year=1947 |volume=2 |issue=3 |pages=250–261 |doi=10.2307/40194144 |jstor=40194144 |access-date=22 January 2022}}</ref>
[[File:Serment de citoyenneté Citizenship Oath Mackenzie King.jpg|thumb|King (far-left) becomes the first person to take the [[Oath of Citizenship (Canada)|Oath of Citizenship]], from [[Chief Justice of Canada|Chief Justice]] [[Thibaudeau Rinfret]], in the [[Supreme Court of Canada|Supreme Court]], January 3, 1947]]
King's government introduced the ''[[Canadian Citizenship Act 1946|Canadian Citizenship Act]]'' in 1946, which officially created the notion of "[[Canadian nationality law|Canadian citizens]]". Prior to this, Canadians were considered [[British subject]]s living in Canada. On January 3, 1947, King received Canadian citizenship certificate number 0001.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cbc.ca/archives/entry/1947-the-first-officially-canadian-citizens |title=The first officially Canadian citizens |website=CBC Archives |publisher=[[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation]] |date=March 22, 2010 |access-date=June 10, 2015}}</ref>

King also laid the groundwork for the [[Dominion of Newfoundland]]'s later entry into [[Canadian Confederation]], stating, "Newfoundlanders are no strangers to Canada, nor are Canadians strangers to Newfoundland." Pro-Confederation Newfoundlanders [[Frederick Gordon Bradley]] and [[Joey Smallwood]] argued that joining Canada would raise the [[standard of living]] for Newfoundlanders; Britain also favoured Confederation. [[1948 Newfoundland referendums#The second referendum|A runoff vote]] was held on July 22, 1948, and 52.3 percent of voters decided that Newfoundland should enter Canada. After, Smallwood negotiated the terms of entry with King. Newfoundland entered Confederation on March 31, 1949, becoming Canada's tenth province.<ref>{{cite web |last1= |first1= |title=PM Mackenzie King considers Confederation for Newfoundland |url=https://www.cbc.ca/archives/entry/pm-king-considers-confederation |website=CBC |access-date=22 January 2022 |archive-date=January 22, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220122190804/https://www.cbc.ca/archives/entry/pm-king-considers-confederation |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Tattrie |first1=Jon |last2=McIntosh |first2=Andrew |title=Newfoundland and Labrador and Confederation |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/newfoundland-and-labrador-and-confederation |access-date=19 April 2022 |date=5 January 2015}}</ref>

=== Retirement ===
[[File:StLaurentKing1948.jpg|thumb|Outgoing Prime Minister King with incoming Prime Minister [[Louis St. Laurent]], August&nbsp;7, 1948]] With his health declining, King declared in May 1948 that he would not be Liberal leader going in the next election.<ref name="Neatby" /> The [[1948 Liberal Party of Canada leadership election|August 1948 convention]] (held exactly 29 years after King became Liberal leader) picked St. Laurent, King's personal choice, as the new leader of the Liberal Party.<ref>{{cite web |title=Louis St. Laurent biography |url=http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/st_laurent_louis_stephen_20F.html |website=Dictionary of Canadian Biography |access-date=19 April 2022}}</ref> Three months later, on November 15, King retired after {{frac|21|1|2}} years as prime minister. King was the longest-serving prime minister in Canadian history; he also served in the most parliaments (six, in three non-consecutive periods) as prime minister.<ref name="Neatby" />

== Retirement and death (1948–1950) ==
[[File:Grave of William Lyon Mackenzie King.jpg|thumb|King's grave and memorial plaque]]
King had plans to write his memoirs. However, he did not enjoy a lengthy retirement and died on July 22, 1950, at [[The Farm (Canada)|his country estate in Kingsmere]]<ref name="Neatby" /> from pneumonia.<ref>{{cite web |last1= |first1= |title=The Right Hon. William Lyon Mackenzie King, P.C., O.M., C.M.G., M.P. |url=https://lop.parl.ca/sites/ParlInfo/default/en_CA/People/Profile?personId=10888 |website=Parliament |access-date=18 April 2022}}</ref> He is buried in [[Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Toronto]].<ref name=Parks_Grave>{{cite web |url=http://www.pc.gc.ca/eng/clmhc-hsmbc/sep-gra/pms/king.aspx |website=Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada – Former Prime Ministers and Their Grave Sites |title=The Right Honourable William Lyon Mackenzie King |date=February 24, 2011 |publisher=Parks Canada |access-date=June 10, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141102003220/http://www.pc.gc.ca/eng/clmhc-hsmbc/sep-gra/pms/king.aspx |archive-date=November 2, 2014 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}</ref>

== Personal style and character ==
King lacked a commanding presence or oratorical skills; he did not shine on the radio or in newsreels. There was scant charisma.<ref>{{cite book|author=Terry Reardon|title=Winston Churchill and Mackenzie King: So Similar, So Different|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CL_x4bfEaIYC&pg=PA381|year=2012|publisher=Dundurn|page=381|isbn=978-1-4597-0590-6}}</ref> Cold and tactless in human relations, he had allies but very few close personal friends. His allies were annoyed by his constant intrigues.<ref name="English">{{cite book |editor-first=John |editor-last1=English |editor-first2=J.O. |editor-last2=Stubbs |title=Mackenzie King: Widening the Debate |date=1977 |publisher=Macmillan of Canada |isbn=0-7705-1529-0}}</ref>

Scholars attribute King's long tenure as party leader to his wide range of skills that were appropriate to Canada's needs.<ref name=autogenerated1>{{cite book|author-link1=H. Blair Neatby |first=H. Blair |last=Neatby |chapter=King and the Historians |editor-last1=English |editor-first=John |editor-last2=Stubbs |editor-first2=J.O. |title=Mackenzie King: Widening the Debate |publisher=Macmillan of Canada  |year=1977}}</ref>
King kept a very candid diary from 1893, when he was still an undergraduate, until a few days before his death in 1950; the volumes, stacked in a row, span a length of over seven metres and comprise over 50,000 manuscript pages of typed transcribed text.<ref name="LAC">{{cite web|title=Diaries of William Lyon Mackenzie King|url=https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/politics-government/prime-ministers/william-lyon-mackenzie-king/Pages/diaries-william-lyon-mackenzie-king.aspx|website=Library and Archives Canada|date=February 28, 2013|access-date=17 April 2018}}</ref> One biographer called these diaries "the most important single political document in twentieth-century Canadian history,"<ref>{{cite book|ref=Stacey1985|last=Stacey|first=C.P.|author-link=Charles Perry Stacey|title=A Very Double Life: The Private World of Mackenzie King|year=1985|publisher=Formac Publishing|edition=reprint|isbn=0-88780-136-6}}, p. 9</ref> for they explain motivations of the [[Military history of Canada during the Second World War|Canadian war efforts]] and describe other events in detail.

[[File:KingDandurand.jpg|thumb|King and Senator [[Raoul Dandurand]] in state clothing, 1939.]]
[[File:William Lyon Mackenzie King with two dogs - William Mackenzie King avec deux chiens (39107229965).jpg|175px|thumb|left|King with his two dogs, 1938]]
King's [[occult]] interests were kept secret during his years in office,<ref name="mallinos">{{cite journal|last1=Mallinos|first1=Chris|title=For King – and Laurier – and country|journal=Canada's History|date=2018|volume=97|issue=6|pages=70–71|language=en|issn=1920-9894}}</ref> and only became publicized after his death when his diaries were opened. Readers were amazed and for some, King was saddled with the moniker "Weird Willie."<ref>{{cite web|url= https://parli.ca/weird-willie/ |title= Weird Willie|work= The Dictionary of Canadian Politics|publisher= Parli|year= 2021|access-date= 2 April 2021}}</ref> King communed with spirits, using seances with paid mediums. Thereby, he claimed to have communicated with [[Leonardo da Vinci]], [[Wilfrid Laurier]], his dead mother, his grandfather, and several of his dead dogs, as well as the spirit of the late [[Franklin Delano Roosevelt|President Franklin D. Roosevelt]]. Some historians argue that he sought personal reassurance from the spirit world, more than political advice. After his death, one of his mediums said that she had not realized that he was a politician. King did inquire whether his party would win the 1935 election, one of the few times politics came up during his seances. However, Allan Levine argues that sometimes he did pay attention to the political implications of his seances: "All of his spiritualist experiences, his other superstitions and his multi-paranoid reactions imprinted on his consciousness, shaping his thoughts and feelings in a thousand different ways."<ref>{{cite book |first=Allan |last=Levine |title=King: William Lyon Mackenzie King: a Life Guided by the Hand of Destiny |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=co6pBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA14 |year=2011 |publisher=Douglas & McIntyre |location=Vancouver, British Columbia |pages=2–14 |isbn=978-1-55365-560-2}}</ref>

Historians have seen in his [[Spiritualism (movement)|spiritualism]] and occult activities a penchant for forging unities from antitheses, thus having latent political import. Historian [[Charles Perry Stacey|C.P. Stacey]], in his 1976 book ''A Very Double Life'' examined King's secret life in detail, argued that King did not allow his beliefs to influence his decisions on political matters. Stacey wrote that King entirely gave up his interests in the occult and spiritualism during World War II.<ref name="Stacey 1976">[[#Stacey1976|Stacey (1976)]]</ref> In his two-volume biography ''The Spiritualist Prime Minister: Mackenzie King and the New Revelation'' and ''The Spiritualist Prime Minister: Mackenzie King and His Mediums'', Anton Wagner documents that King maintained his spiritualist beliefs and occult practices until his death in 1950. Wagner maintains that King’s spiritualism contributed to his political achievements as Canada’s longest serving Prime Minister.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wagner |first=Anton |title=The Spiritualist Prime Minister: Vol. 1, Mackenzie King and the New Revelation; Vol. 2; Mackenzie King and His Mediums |publisher=White Crow Books in association with the Survival Research Institute of Canada |year=2024 |isbn= |location=Guildford, Surrey, UK}}</ref>

King never married,<ref name="mallinos" /> but had several close female friends, including Joan Patteson, a married woman with whom he spent some of his leisure time; sometimes she served as hostess at his dinner parties.<ref>{{cite book |first=Allan |last=Levine |title=Scrum Wars: The Prime Ministers and the Media |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0yz-rrDVKkYC&pg=PA134 |year=1996 |publisher=Dundurn |location=Toronto, Ontario |page=134 |isbn=978-1-55488-289-2 |access-date=July 20, 2015}}</ref> He did not have a wife who could be the hostess all the time and handle the many social obligations that he tried to downplay. Editor Charles Bowman reports that, "He felt the lack of a wife, particularly when social duties called for a hostess."<ref>{{cite book |first=Charles A. |last=Bowman|title=Ottawa Editor: The Memoirs of Charles A. Bowman |url=https://archive.org/details/ottawaeditormemo0000bowm |url-access=registration |year=1966 |publisher=Gray's Pub.}}</ref>

Some historians have interpreted passages in his diaries as suggesting that King regularly had sexual relations with prostitutes.<ref>[[#Stacey1985|Stacey (1985)]]</ref> Others, also basing their claims on passages of his diaries, have suggested that King was in love with [[Lord Tweedsmuir]], whom he had chosen for appointment as [[Governor General]] in 1935.<ref>{{cite video |last1=Jarvis |first1=Ian  |last2=Collins |first2=David |date=1992 |title=Willie: Canada's Bachelor Prime Minister |publisher=Butterfly Productions |location=Toronto, Ontario }}</ref>

== Legacy ==
Historian [[George Stanley]] argues that King's wartime policies, "may not have been exciting or satisfying, but they were effective and successful. That is why, practically alone among wartime governments, his continued to enjoy public support after as well as during the Second World War."<ref>George F. G. Stanley, "Canada's War," ''American Historical Review'' (1976) 81#3: 699.</ref> Historian [[Jack Granatstein]] evaluates the King government's economic performance. He reports, "Canada's economic management was generally judged the most successful of all the countries engaged in the war."<ref>J.L. Granatstein, "Thirty Years of War," ''Canada's History'' (Oct/Nov 2014) 94#5:20-29.</ref>

Historian [[Christopher Moore (Canadian historian)|Christopher Moore]] says, "King had made 'Parliament will decide' his maxim, and he trotted it out whenever he wished to avoid a decision."<ref>{{cite book|author=Christopher Moore|title=1867: How the Fathers Made a Deal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gmgBsaRJbTQC&pg=PA222|year=2011|publisher=McClelland & Stewart|page=222|isbn=978-1-55199-483-3}}</ref> King was keenly sensitive to the nuances of public policy; he was a workaholic with a shrewd and penetrating intelligence and a profound understanding of the complexities of Canadian society.<ref>{{cite book|author=Allan Levine|title=King: William Lyon Mackenzie King : a Life Guided by the Hand of Destiny|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=co6pBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA50|year=2011|publisher=Douglas & McIntyre |isbn=978-1-55365-560-2}}</ref> His strength was apparent when he synthesized, built support for, and passed measures that had reached a level of broad national support. Advances in the welfare state were an example. His successors, especially Diefenbaker, Pearson, and Trudeau built the welfare state which he had advanced during the Second World War into the modern cradle-to-grave system.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Peter Neary|author2=J. L. Granatstein|title=The Veterans Charter and Post-World War II Canada|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JcB7_y-VbvkC&pg=PA294|year=1999|publisher=MQUP|page=294|isbn=978-0-7735-1697-7}}</ref>

Historian [[H. Blair Neatby]] wrote, "Mackenzie King has continued to intrigue Canadians. Critics argue that his political longevity was achieved by evasions and indecision, and that he failed to provide creative leadership. His defenders argue that he gradually changed Canada, a difficult country to govern, while keeping the nation united."<ref name="thecanadianencyclopedia.com" />

King was ranked as the greatest Canadian Prime Minister by a survey of Canadian historians.{{sfn|Granatstein|Hillmer|1999}} King was named a [[Persons of National Historic Significance|Person of National Historic Significance]] in 1968.<ref>{{DFHD|1539|King, William Lyon MacKenzie National Historic Person|access-date=September 21, 2015}}</ref>

== Memorials ==
{{more citations needed section|date=December 2017}}
King's likeness is used on the [[Canadian fifty-dollar note]] since 1975.

King left no published political memoirs, although his private diaries were extensively detailed. His main published work remains his 1918 book ''Industry and Humanity''.<ref name="Industry and Humanity" />

Following the publication of King's diaries in the 1970s, several fictional works about him were published by Canadian writers. These included Elizabeth Gourlay's novel ''Isabel'', [[Allan Stratton]]'s play ''Rexy'' and Heather Robertson's trilogy ''Willie: A Romance'' (1983), ''Lily: A Rhapsody in Red'' (1986), and ''Igor: A Novel of Intrigue'' (1989).<ref name="Diary">{{cite web|title=Behind the Diary: The Private Becomes Public: The Impact of the Diary|url=http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/king/023011-1030.02-e.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090704120348/http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/king/023011-1030.02-e.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=4 July 2009|website=A Real Companion and Friend: The Diary of William Lyon Mackenzie King|publisher=Library and Archives Canada|access-date=17 April 2018}}</ref>

In 1998, there was controversy over King's exclusion from a memorial to the [[Quebec Conference, 1943|Quebec Conference]], which was attended by King, Roosevelt, and Churchill. The monument was commissioned by the [[Quebec separatist|sovereigntist]] [[Parti Québécois]] government of Quebec, which justified the decision on their interpretation that King was acting merely as a host for the meeting between Roosevelt and Churchill. Canadian federalists, however, accused the government of Quebec of trying to advance their own political agenda.

[[OC Transpo]] has a [[Ottawa Rapid Transit|Transitway]] station named Mackenzie King due to its location on the [[Mackenzie King Bridge]]. It is adjacent to the [[Rideau Centre]] in downtown Ottawa, Ontario.

The bridge across the [[Rideau Canal]] in downtown Ottawa, built following World War II, is named in his honour to recognize his contributions to the land planning of the city of Ottawa.<ref name="Stacey 1976" />

King bequeathed his private country retreat in [[Kingsmere, Quebec]], near Ottawa, to the Government of Canada and most of the estate was incorporated into the federally managed [[Gatineau Park]]. King's summer home at Kingsmere, called "The Farm", now serves as the [[official residence]] of the [[Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada]]. The Farm and its grounds are located within Gatineau Park but are not open to the public.

[[File:Home of Mackenzie King in Gatineau.jpg|thumb|Home of William Lyon Mackenzie King in [[Kingsmere, Quebec]]]]

The [[Woodside National Historic Site]] in [[Kitchener, Ontario]] was King's boyhood home. The estate has over 4.65 hectares of garden and parkland for exploring and relaxing, and the house has been restored to reflect life during King's era. There is a MacKenzie King Public School in the Heritage Park neighbourhood in Kitchener. Kitchener was known as Berlin until 1916.

King was mentioned in the book ''[[Alligator Pie]]'' by [[Dennis Lee (author)|Dennis Lee]], appearing as the subject of a [[Literary nonsense|nonsensical]] children's poem,<ref name="Diary" /> which reads "William Lyon Mackenzie King / He sat in the middle and played with string / He loved his mother like anything / William Lyon Mackenzie King."

King is a prominent character in [[Donald Jack]]'s novel ''Me Too'', set in Ottawa in the 1920s.

A character who appeared twice in the popular 1990s Canadian television series ''[[Due South]]'' was named "Mackenzie King" in obvious reference.

King is portrayed by [[Sean McCann (actor)|Sean McCann]] in [[Donald Brittain]]'s 1988 television miniseries ''[[The King Chronicle]]'',<ref>Ted Shaw, "Actor brings sympathy to King role". ''[[Windsor Star]]'', March 25, 1988.</ref> and by [[Dan Beirne]] in [[Matthew Rankin]]'s 2019 film ''[[The Twentieth Century (film)|The Twentieth Century]]''.<ref>[http://playbackonline.ca/2019/08/02/oscilloscope-heads-to-the-twentieth-century/ "Oscilloscope heads to The Twentieth Century"]. ''[[Playback (magazine)|Playback]]'', August 2, 2019.</ref>

== Honours ==
{{center|
[[File:Galó de l'Orde del Mèrit (UK).svg|100px]]
<br />
[[File:UK Order St-Michael St-George ribbon.svg|110px]][[File:King George V Silver Jubilee Medal ribbon.svg|100px]][[File:GeorgeVICoronationRibbon.png|100px]]
<br />
[[File:Legion Honneur GC ribbon.svg|100px]][[File:LUX Order of the Oak Crown - Grand Cross BAR.png|100px]][[File:Grand Crest Ordre de Leopold.png|100px]]
}}

{| class="wikitable"
|- style="background:silver;" align="center"
!Ribbon !! Description !! Notes
|-
|[[File:Galó de l'Orde del Mèrit (UK).svg|80px]] || [[Order of Merit]] (OM) ||
* <ref name="books.google.ca">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yj69BgAAQBAJ&pg=PT980|title=The Canadian Honours System|isbn=978-1-4597-2417-4|last1=McCreery|first1=Christopher|date=November 28, 2015|publisher=Dundurn }}</ref>
* <ref>Martin, Stanley: THE ORDER OF MERIT: One Hundred Years of Matchless Honour</ref>
* 17 November 1947.
|-
|[[File:UK Order St-Michael St-George ribbon.svg|80px]] || Companion of the [[Order of St Michael and St George]] (CMG) ||

|-
|[[File:King George V Silver Jubilee Medal ribbon.svg|80px]] || [[King George V Silver Jubilee Medal]] ||
* 1936
* As the [[Prime Minister of Canada]] and an elected Member of the [[House of Commons of Canada]], The Right Honourable William Lyon Mackenzie King, P.C., C.M.G., would be awarded the medal as a member of the [[Canadian order of precedence]].<ref name="dominionofcanada.com">{{Cite web|url=http://dominionofcanada.com/commemorative_medals/index.html|title=Dominionofcanada.com|website=Dominionofcanada.com|access-date=July 8, 2022|archive-date=February 7, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150207135820/http://dominionofcanada.com/commemorative_medals/index.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

|-
|[[File:GeorgeVICoronationRibbon.png|80px]] || [[King George VI Coronation Medal]] ||
* 1937
* As the [[Prime Minister of Canada]] and an elected Member of the [[House of Commons of Canada]], the Right Honourable William Lyon Mackenzie King, P.C., C.M.G., would be awarded the medal as a member of the [[Canadian order of precedence]].<ref name="dominionofcanada.com" />
|-
|[[File:Legion Honneur GC ribbon.svg|80px]] || Grand Croix de l'[[Legion of Honour|Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur]] ||
* <ref name="books.google.ca" />
|-
|[[File:LUX Order of the Oak Crown - Grand Cross BAR.png|80px]] || Grand croix de l'[[Order of the Oak Crown|Ordre de la couronne de Chêne]] ||
*  <ref name="books.google.ca" />
|-
|[[File:Grand Crest Ordre de Leopold.png|80px]]|| Grand cordon de l'[[Order of Leopold (Belgium)|Ordre de Léopold]]||
* <ref name="books.google.ca" />
|}

== Honorary degrees ==
{| class="wikitable" style="width:100%;"
|+ Honorary degrees
|-
! style="width:20%;"| Location
! style="width:20%;"| Date
! style="width:40%;"| School
! style="width:20%;"| Degree
|-
| {{Flagu|Ontario}} || '''1919''' || [[Queen's University at Kingston|Queen's University]] || [[Doctor of Laws]] (LL.D)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.queensu.ca/registrar/graduation/history|title=The History of Queen's Graduation &#124; Registrar & Financial Aid Services|website=Queensu.ca|access-date=July 8, 2022}}</ref>
|-
| {{Flagu|Ontario}} || '''1923''' || [[University of Toronto]] || Doctor of Laws (LL.D)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.governingcouncil.utoronto.ca/Assets/Governing+Council+Digital+Assets/Boards+and+Committees/Committee+for+Honorary+Degrees/degreerecipients1850tillnow.pdf|title=University of Toronto Honorary Degree Recipients : 1850–2016 : Sorted by Date of Degree Conferral|website=Governingcouncil.utoronto.ca|access-date=July 8, 2022}}</ref>
|-
| {{Flagu|Connecticut}} || '''1924''' || [[Yale University]] || Doctor of Laws (LL.D)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://secretary.yale.edu/programs-services/honorary-degrees/since-1702?field_degrees_value=All&field_year_value=All&keys=King|title=Honorary Degrees Since 1702 &#124; Office of the Secretary and Vice President for University Life|website=Secretary.yale.edu|access-date=July 8, 2022}}</ref>
|-
| {{Flagu|Virginia}} || '''1948''' || [[College of William and Mary]] || Doctor of Laws (LL.D)<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://scdbwiki.swem.wm.edu/wiki/index.php?title=Honorary_degree_recipients#1925|title = Honorary degree recipients – Special Collections Research Center Wiki|website=Scdbwiki.swem.wm.edu}}</ref>
|-
| {{Flagu|Ontario}} || '''3 June 1950''' || [[University of Western Ontario]] || Doctor of Laws (LL.D)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.uwo.ca/univsec/pdf/senate/honorary/honorary_degrees_by_year.pdf|title=HONORARY DEGREES AWARDED 1881 – PRESENT|website=Uwo.ca|access-date=July 8, 2022}}</ref>
|}
{{Incomplete list|date=June 2018}}

== Supreme Court appointments ==
King chose the following jurists to be appointed as justices of the [[Supreme Court of Canada]]:

* [[Arthur Cyrille Albert Malouin]] (January 30, 1924 – October 1, 1924)
* [[Francis Alexander Anglin]] (as Chief Justice, September 16, 1924 – February 28, 1933; appointed a [[Puisne Justice]] under Prime Minister [[Wilfrid Laurier|Laurier]], February 23, 1909)
* [[Edmund Leslie Newcombe]] (September 16, 1924 – December 9, 1931)
* [[Thibaudeau Rinfret]] (October 1, 1924 – June 22, 1954; appointed as Chief Justice January 8, 1944)
* [[John Henderson Lamont]] (April 2, 1927 – March 10, 1936)
* [[Robert Smith (Canadian politician, Stormont)|Robert Smith]] (May 18, 1927 – December 7, 1933)
* [[Lawrence Arthur Dumoulin Cannon]] (January 14, 1930 – December 25, 1939)
* [[Albert Blellock Hudson]] (March 24, 1936 – January 6, 1947)
* [[Robert Taschereau]] (February 9, 1940 – September 1, 1967)
* [[Ivan Rand]] (April 22, 1943 – April 27, 1959)
* [[Roy Lindsay Kellock]] (October 3, 1944 – January 15, 1958)
* [[James Wilfred Estey]] (October 6, 1944 – January 22, 1956)
* [[Charles Holland Locke]] (June 3, 1947 – September 16, 1962)

== Electoral record ==
{{Main|Electoral history of William Lyon Mackenzie King}}

== References ==

=== Notes ===
{{Notelist}}

=== Citations ===
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
=== Biographical ===
* {{cite book |last=Bliss |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Bliss |title=Right Honourable Men: The Descent of Canadian Politics from MacDonald to Mulroney |url={{google books|tZZqy5yGyRUC|plainurl=yes|page=123}} |date=1994 |pages=123–184 |publisher=Harper Collins |isbn=978-1-4434-0342-9}}
* {{cite journal |last=Courtney |first=John C. |title=Prime Ministerial Character: An Examination of Mackenzie King's Political Leadership |journal=[[Canadian Journal of Political Science]] |volume=9 |issue=1 |date=March 1976 |pages=77–100 |jstor=3230872 |doi=10.1017/s0008423900043195|s2cid=154305556 }}
* Dawson, Robert, and H. Blair Neatby (1958). ''William Lyon Mackenzie King: vol. 1, 1874–1923''. [https://archive.org/details/williamlyonmacken00daws Online free to borrow]
* {{cite book |editor-last1=English |editor-first1=John |editor-first2=J.O. |editor-last2=Stubbs |title=Mackenzie King: Widening the Debate |publisher=Macmillan of Canada |date=1977 |isbn=0-7705-1529-0}} 11 essays by scholars.
* {{cite book |last=Esberey |first=Joy E. |title=Knight of the Holy Spirit: A Study of William Lyon Mackenzie King |url=https://archive.org/details/knightofholyspir0000esbe |url-access=registration |date=1980 |publisher=[[University of Toronto Press]] |isbn=0-8020-5502-8}}; a psychobiography stressing his spirituality.
* {{cite book |last1=Ferns |first1=Henry |first2=Bernard |last2=Ostry |title=The Age of Mackenzie King |url={{google books|K947cJZ9JFIC|plainurl=yes}} |date=1976 |publisher=James Lorimer & Company |location=Toronto, Ontario |isbn=0-88862-115-9}}; a scholarly biography to 1919.
* {{cite book|author=Henderson, George F.|title=W.L. Mackenzie King: A Bibliography and Research Guide|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6uqMBgAAQBAJ|year=2015|publisher=[[University of Toronto Press]]|isbn=978-1-4426-5560-7}}
* Hutchison, Bruce (1953). ''The Incredible Canadian: A Candid Portrait of Mackenzie King: His Works, His Times, and His Nation''. 480pp [https://archive.org/details/incrediblecanadi00hutc Online free to borrow]
* {{cite book |last=McGregor |first=Fred A. |title=The Fall & Rise of Mackenzie King, 1911–1919 |publisher=Macmillan of Canada |location=Toronto |date=1962 |url=https://www.questia.com/read/77548146?title=The%20Fall%20%26%20Rise%20of%20Mackenzie%20King%2c%201911-1919 |access-date=September 18, 2017 |archive-date=June 5, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110605090240/http://www.questia.com/read/77548146?title=The%20Fall%20&%20Rise%20of%20Mackenzie%20King,%201911-1919 |url-status=dead }}
* {{cite journal |last=Wardhaugh |first=Robert A. |title=A Marriage of Convenience? Mackenzie King and Prince Albert Constituency |journal=Prairie Forum |date=1996 |volume=21 |issue=2 |pages=177–199}}; He represented the safe Saskatchewan district 1926–45; his goal was to disarm the Progressives.
* {{cite journal |last=Whitaker |first=Reginald |title=Political Thought and Political Action in Mackenzie King |journal=[[Journal of Canadian Studies]] |date=1978–1979 |volume=13 |issue=4 |pages=40–60|doi=10.3138/jcs.13.4.40 |s2cid=152214059 }}

=== Scholarly studies ===
* {{cite book |last=Allen |first=Ralph |title=Ordeal by Fire: Canada, 1910–1945 |date=1961 |publisher=Doubleday Canada |location=Toronto, Ontario |volume=5 |series=Canadian History Series}}
* Cook, Tim. ''Warlords: Borden, Mackenzie King and Canada's World Wars'' (2012) 472pp [https://www.amazon.com/Warlords-Borden-Mackenzie-Canadas-Hardcover/dp/0670065218/  excerpt and text search]
*  Cuff, R.D. and Granatstein, J.L. ''Canadian-American Relations in Wartime: From the Great War to the Cold War.'' (1975). 205 pp.
* Donaghy, Greg, ed. ''Canada and the Early Cold War, 1943–1957'' (1998) [http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/department/history/coldwar-en.asp online edition] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080531143132/http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/department/history/coldwar-en.asp |date=May 31, 2008 }}.
* Dziuban, Stanley W. ''Military Relations between the United States and Canada, 1939–1945'' (1959)
* Eayrs, James. ''In Defence of Canada''. 5 vols. 1964–1983. the standard history of defense policy.
* Esberey, J.B. "Personality and Politics: A New Look at the King-Byng Dispute," ''Canadian Journal of Political Science'' vol 6 no. 1 (March 1973), 37–55.
* [[Jack Granatstein|Granatstein, J. L.]] ''Canada's War: The politics of the Mackenzie King government, 1939–1945'' (1975)
* Granatstein, J.L. ''Conscription in the Second World War, 1939–1945;: A study in political management'' (1969).
* {{cite book | last1=Granatstein | first1=J. L. |last2=Hillmer |first2=Norman | title=Prime ministers : ranking Canada's leaders |url=https://archive.org/details/primeministersra0000gran |url-access=registration | publisher=HarperCollins | year=1999 | isbn=0-00-200027-X | oclc=41432030 |pages=83–101}}
* Macfarlane, John. "Double Vision: Ernest Lapointe, Mackenzie King and the Quebec Voice in Canadian Foreign Policy, 1935–1939," ''Journal of Canadian Studies'' 1999 34(1): 93–111; argues Lapointe guided the more imperialist Mackenzie King through three explosive situations: the Ethiopian crisis of 1935, the Munich crisis of 1938, and the formulation of Ottawa's 'no-neutrality-no-conscription' pact in 1939.
* Neatby, Blair. "Mackenzie King and the National Identity," ''Manitoba Historical Society Transactions,'' Series 3, Number 24, 1967–68 [http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/transactions/3/nationalidentity.shtml online]
* [[C. P. Stacey|Stacey, C. P.]] ''Canada and the Age of Conflict: Volume 2: 1921–1948; the Mackenzie King Era'' (U of Toronto Press 1981), {{ISBN|0-80-202397-5}}.
* Wagner, Anton. ''The Spiritualist Prime Minister: Mackenzie King and the New Revelation''. Guildford, Surrey: White Crow Books in association with the Survival Research Institute of Canada, 2024. {{ISBN|978-1-78677-264-0}}
* Wagner, Anton. ''The Spiritualist Prime Minister: Mackenzie King and His Mediums''. Guildford, Surrey: White Crow Books in association with the Survival Research Institute of Canada, 2024. {{ISBN|978-1-78677-266-4}}
* Whitaker, Reginald. ''The Government Party: Organizing and Financing the Liberal Party of Canada, 1930–1958'' (1977).

=== Primary sources ===
* ''The Canadian Annual Review of Public Affairs'' (annual, 1901–1938), [https://books.google.com/books?id=OzMhdbbnG2wC&q=intitle:The+intitle:Canadian+intitle:Annual+intitle:Review full text for 1920 online and downloadable].
* Mackenzie King, W. L. ''Industry and Humanity: A Study in the Principles Under-Lying Industrial Reconstruction'' (1918) [https://www.questia.com/read/3886991?title=Industry%20and%20Humanity%3a%20A%20Study%20in%20the%20Principles%20Under-Lying%20Industrial%20Reconstruction online edition] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110605090428/http://www.questia.com/read/3886991?title=Industry%20and%20Humanity:%20A%20Study%20in%20the%20Principles%20Under-Lying%20Industrial%20Reconstruction |date=June 5, 2011 }}; also [https://archive.org/details/industryandhuma00kinggoog <!-- quote=inauthor:mackenzie inauthor:king. --> full text online and downloadable].
* [http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/king/index-e.html/ ''The diaries of William Lyon Mackenzie King''], 50,000 pages, typescript; fully searchable.
* Pickersgill, J.W., and Donald F. Forster, ''The Mackenzie King Record''. 4 vols. Vol. 1: 1939–1944 and Vol. 2: 1944–1945 (University of Toronto Press, 1960); and [https://web.archive.org/web/20071209003442/http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=1008334 Vol. 3: 1945–1946 online] and [https://web.archive.org/web/20100408092632/http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=65373881 Vol. 4: 1946–1947 online] (University of Toronto Press, 1970). Edited from King's private diary.
* [[Canadian Department of External Affairs]], ''Documents on Canadian External Relations'' (Ottawa: Queen's Printer, 1967–). These cover the period 1909–1960. (Often referred to as ''DCER''.)
* Henderson, George F. ed ''W.L. Mackenzie King: a bibliography and research guide'' (2nd ed. University of Toronto Press, 2015); 392pp [https://books.google.com/books?id=6uqMBgAAQBAJ excerpt and text search]
* Hou, Charles, and Cynthia Hou, eds. ''Great Canadian Political Cartoons, 1915 to 1945.'' (2002). 244pp.
* [http://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.redirect?app=fonandcol&id=98362&lang=eng William Lyon Mackenzie King fonds] at [[Library and Archives Canada]].

=== Television series ===
* [[Donald Brittain|Brittain, Donald]]. ''[[The King Chronicle]]'', National Film Board, 1988.

== External links ==
* {{sister-inline|project=commons|links=[[:commons:William Lyon Mackenzie King visual chronology|William Lyon Mackenzie King visual chronology]] at Wikimedia Commons|short=yes}}
* {{Canadian Parliament links|ID=10888}}
* [[H. Blair Neatby]], "[https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/william-lyon-mackenzie-king William Lyon Mackenzie King]", ''[[The Canadian Encyclopedia]]''.
* H. Blair Neatby, "[http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/king_william_lyon_mackenzie_17F.html William Lyon Mackenzie King]", ''[[Dictionary of Canadian Biography]]'', University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2005.
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060928081323/http://www.pc.gc.ca/lhn-nhs/on/woodside/index_e.asp Woodside National Historic Site page from Parks Canada website]
*[http://www.canadascapital.gc.ca/bins/ncc_web_content_page.asp?cid=16297-16299-10170-49685-49721-49723&lang=1 William Lyon Mackenzie King Estate Visitor's Information] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080710213048/http://www.canadascapital.gc.ca/bins/ncc_web_content_page.asp?cid=16297-16299-10170-49685-49721-49723&lang=1 |date=July 10, 2008 }}
* William Lyon Mackenzie King, ''[[iarchive:secretofheroismm00kinguoft|The secret of heroism : a memoir of Henry Albert Harper]]''. Available on Internet Archive.
* {{Gutenberg author |id=50756 |name=William Lyon Mackenzie King}}
* {{FadedPage|id=King, William Lyon Mackenzie|name=William Lyon Mackenzie King|author=yes}}
*[http://www.warmuseum.ca/cwm/exhibitions/newspapers/intro_e.shtml Canadian Newspapers and the Second World War]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20050415143325/http://www.broadcasting-history.ca/news/ramfiles_Early_37-52/Pm-mk.rm Mackenzie King declares war against Nazi Germany (.rm file)] 1939 speech
*[http://www.cbc.ca/archives/topic/mackenzie-king-public-life-private-man/topic---mackenzie-king-public-life-private-man.html CBC Digital Archives – Mackenzie King: Public Life, Private Man]
* {{PM20|FID=pe/011821}}

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