THE GENERAL ELECTION was called for December 6, 1921. It
was not entirely unexpected; for the Meighen Government was badly
in need of some popular pronouncement which would determine its
right to govern. The problems of peace and reconstruction, the crumb-
ling of the coalition element in the Cabinet, the unpopularity of the
Government itself, the portentous agricultural revolt, and the choice
of a new Prime Minister were all reasons for seeking a fresh mandate.
By-elections, moreover, had been generally unfavourable, and the Gov-
ernment had found it safer to allow five vacancies to remain unfilled.
The parliamentary session of 1921 had seen relatively little accom-
plished, but although the Government majorities were small (15 to
25), they were nevertheless adequate to carry the session to comple-
tion. The three major tendencies which had appeared in the previous
year continued unchecked: the contraction in the Government's ma-
jority, the spread of the Progressive disaffection, and the healing of the
divisions among the Liberals. What an election would produce
through the regrouping of party forces was hidden in uncertainty, with
the probabilities favouring the return of Liberals, Progressives, and
Conservatives in that order, but no majority for any one of them.

The outlook for the Government was dark. Many of the recent
Ministers had retired or were seeking retirement, and Meighen's at-
tempt to rebuild and strengthen his Cabinet for the election merely
showed in clearer outline the difficulty of his position. He was forced
to take in no less than twelve new Ministers, a number of whom were
of limited capacity, and the four French Canadians in the Cabinet
lacked even a seat in Parliament. The administration had inherited the
accumulated antagonisms towards the Conservative and Union
Governments, to which it had added one or two towards itself, so that

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