Canada has rarely captured the attention of American newspaper editors and writers. But that changed in 1911 with the calling of the famed Reciprocity election of that year. The administrations of President William Howard Taft and Canada’s Sir Wilfrid Laurier had negotiated a free trade agreement and Canadians would have the chance to render their verdict on this vital question on election day that September.
On this date in 1911 the Washington Post opined on the Canadian campaign. Their editorial ran with the headline “Exciting Times in Canada.” Post readers were told that if the Canadian Liberals were victorious the reciprocity deal would pass, while a Tory victory meant the opportunity would forever fall to the wayside.
As we all know, Canadians opted for Robert Borden and shelved the idea of free trade with America until Brian Mulroney and his Tories achieved this long-time Canadian goal in the 1980s. 
Arthur Milnes is an accomplished public historian and award-winning journalist. He was research assistant on The Rt. Hon. Brian Mulroney’s best-selling Memoirs and also served as a speechwriter to then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper and as a Fellow of the Queen’s Centre for the Study of Democracy under the leadership of Tom Axworthy. A resident of Kingston, Ontario, Milnes serves as the in-house historian at the 175 year-old Frontenac Club Hotel.