The Naval Aid Bill was a bill introduced in the House of Commons of Canada, by Conservative Prime Minister Sir Robert Borden on December 5, 1912. The bill proposed that the Canadian government spend $35,000,000 to build battleships or armoured cruisers, which Canada would make available to the British Royal Navy if needed for defence of the British Empire. Although the bill passed the Canadian House of Commons, where Borden had a majority government, it was defeated in the Senate, which had a Liberal majority. Background The 1911 federal election, in which the Conservatives under Borden defeated the Liberal government of Sir Wilfrid Laurier, was fought partly on the question of what role Canada should play in the common defence of the British Empire. At the time, Britain was engaged in a naval arms race with the German Empire. While the Liberals and Conservatives both agreed that the best long-term maritime defence policy would be for Canada to acquire its own navy, the Conservatives vehemently objected to the policy of the former Liberal government, set out in the Naval Service Act. That Act, passed in 1911, had called for construction of a Canadian navy to begin immediately. As Opposition Leader, Borden had argued that Laurier’s plan to operate an autonomous fleet of five cruisers and six destroyers was a wholly inadequate response to the Empire's apparently pressing need. What was not yet well known within Britain or Canada was that by 1912 the German government had quietly scaled back its naval ambitions in favour of strengthening its army. The Germans had made this policy change in secret, and in any event the Admiralty strenuously downplayed reports that the Germans might have been giving up on their attempt to surpass the Royal Navy. As the new Prime Minister of Canada, Borden visited the United Kingdom in 1912 to accept the knighthood that was customarily granted at the time to Dominion Prime Ministers. While in the U.K., at the urging of the First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill, Prime Minister Borden agreed to finance the construction of three dreadnought-class battleships or armoured cruisers for $35 million. The Conservative plan was at least three times more costly than the Liberal plan to construct a Canadian-operated fleet, and would reap no benefits to Canadian industries whatsoever. Debates in Parliament House of Commons On December 5, 1912, Borden introduced the Naval Aid Bill in