Mackenzie King adapted to the times, while his Conservative opponent did not

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History teaches lessons — but often the messages arrive in code, and the trick is knowing how to decipher them.

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Perhaps the Conservative Party of Canada should try a little code-breaking as it ponders the kind of leadership it needs in 2025.

A new book by historian Barbara Messamore retells the drama of Canada’s 1921 election. Times of Transformation: The 1921 Canadian General Election is a fascinating deep-dive into an older Canada. It also ought to be mandatory reading at Conservative Party headquarters.

At first glance, 1921 feels like another era entirely. It was the first election in which all adult women could vote. The Bolshevik Revolution was still sending out ideological shockwaves. The 1919 Winnipeg General Strike was fresh in public memory. A world that had just survived a mechanized bloodbath was confronting socialism, inflation, labour unrest, and the unraveling of political loyalties.

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