War Measures Act

The War Measures Act (5 George V, Chap. 2) was a statute of the Parliament of Canada that provided for the declaration of war, invasion, or insurrection, and the types of emergency measures that could thereby be taken.

The act was brought into force three times in Canadian history:

  • the First World War,
  • the Second World War, and
  • the 1970 October Crisis.

Read more about War Measures Act:  First World War, Second World War, The October Crisis, Civil Liberties, Replacement

Famous quotes containing the words war, measures and/or act:

    There’s no telling what might have happened to our defense budget if Saddam Hussein hadn’t invaded Kuwait that August and set everyone gearing up for World War II½. Can we count on Saddam Hussein to come along every year and resolve our defense-policy debates? Given the history of the Middle East, it’s possible.
    —P.J. (Patrick Jake)

    They who have been bred in the school of politics fail now and always to face the facts. Their measures are half measures and makeshifts merely. They put off the day of settlement, and meanwhile the debt accumulates.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    Dangerous conceits are in their natures poisons,
    Which at the first are scarce found to distaste,
    But with a little act upon the blood
    Burn like the mines of sulphur.
    William Shakespeare (1564–1616)