The Military Service Act only requires that those among us who can
best be released from the occupations in which they are now engaged
shall serve in the field under conditions as honorable as surround
their fellow Canadians in uniform and under regulations no more
onerous or exacting. The Militia Act as amended in 1906 provided that
the Government could place the militia “on active service anywhere
in Canada and also beyond Canada for the defence thereof at any time
when it appears advisable so to do by reason of emergency.” Enough has
been said to reveal an emergency in which nothing less fundamental is
at stake than the existence of Canada as a free country. If Germany
should triumph we would not have a choice between Independence and
British Connection. We would pass under German sovereignty. There would
be no protection under the Monroe Doctrine. If Germany should not be
conquered the United States, in arms against the Germanic alliance,
would be involved in the common defeat of the Allies. Washington
would be as powerless as London or Ottawa to determine the future
political status of the Canadian people. Recalling the desperate valor
of Canadian soldiers in many battles with the best troops of Germany,
is it likely that Ontario or Quebec or any other Canadian province
would escape the hard fate of Alsace and Lorraine or receive a greater
portion of mercy than the harassed Polish subjects of the Kaiser?
Clearly, therefore, the Canadian regiments are as surely defending
Canada in France and Flanders as though they were actually resisting
invasion along the St. Lawrence.