The 620,000 men in service were most remembered for combat in the trenches of the Western Front ; there were 67,000 war dead and 173,000 wounded . This total does not include the 2,000 deaths and 9,000 injuries in December 1917 when a munitions ship exploded in Halifax . After three years of a war that was supposed to have been over in three months , Canada was suffering from a shortage of volunteers . Prime Minister Robert Borden had originally promised not to introduce conscription , but now believed it was necessary to win the war . The '' Military Service Act '' was passed in July , but there was fierce opposition , mostly from French Canadians ( led not only by Bourassa , but also by Wilfrid Laurier ) , as well as Quakers , Mennonites , and other pacifists . Borden 's government almost collapsed , but he was able to form a Union government with the Liberal opposition ( although Laurier did not join the new government ) . In the 1917 election , the Union government was re-elected , but with no support from Quebec . Over the next year , the war finally ended , with very few Canadian conscripts actually participating
a munitions ship exploded in Halifax .
Halifax Explosion
Canada in the World Wars and Interwar Years