Unlike organizations in Britain at the time, the league avoided violence and campaigned by distributing pamphlets, organizing petitions and staging peaceful demonstrations. Speakers such as Lillian Beynon Thomas and Nellie McClung gave talks on suffrage and
maternal feminism at theaters and halls across Manitoba, often encountering a hostile reception. According to McClung the government of
Rodmond Roblin sent "stooges" to cause trouble at the meetings. In 1913 the league presented a petition signed by 20,000 men to
Tobias Norris, leader of the
Liberal Party. He agreed to support female suffrage.
Mock parliament On 28 January 1914 the League presented a mock parliament at the Walker Theatre.
Lillian Thomas wrote the satire, which starred Nellie McClung as premier of a province in which women were the political leaders and men led sheltered lives. McClung visited the provincial legislature with a delegation of reformers the day before the show. She called for women to have the vote so they could address evils such as alcoholism and prostitution, but was informed by Roblin that "nice women don't want the vote." McClung noted Roblin's gestures and way of speaking. She used her observations with wicked effect the next evening when playing the premier of a legislature composed of women. After the women had dealt with issues such as suitable male clothing and labor saving devices for men, and had dismissed dower rights for men, a delegation of men arrived with a wheelbarrow full of petitions for the right to vote. McClung (a tiny woman) brought the house down as she parodied the domineering premier Rodmond, rocking on her heels, twiddling her fingers and loudly proclaiming, The mock parliament was a great success, and was followed by repeat performances. Earnings from the play financed the suffrage campaign that followed. The
Winnipeg Telegram described the first performance, to a packed house,
Provincial elections In the lead-up to the 1914 provincial elections the League campaigned for Dixon as an independent and for the Liberals, using political meetings to make the suffrage argument that "all sane adult persons [must] have
equal voice in the making of laws which they have equally to obey." Nellie McClung and Lillian Thomas spoke at the Liberal convention, the first time in Canada women had spoken at such an important political event. During the election campaign Tobias Norris proclaimed: Despite the league's efforts, the Conservatives won the
election of July 1914. However, on 12 May 1915 Roblin and his entire cabinet were forced to resign due to a corruption scandal. In the subsequent
provincial election of 6 August 1915 the Liberals under Norris won by a landslide. In August Norris said he would introduce legislation on women's suffrage if he received a petition with at least 20,000 signatures. In December a delegation of sixteen men and women formally presented two petitions to Norris with more than 40,000 names in total. The 93-year-old Amelia Burritt was one of the most active in getting signatures, reaping 4,000 in a door-to-door campaign in Winnipeg. The first draft of the bill excluded women from election to the legislature. When the league noticed this, they threatened to raise the omission with the
Manitoba Grain Growers' Association, which was holding its convention. The government hastily revised the draft to allow women to sit in the house. The act giving full provincial suffrage to women passed in January 1916, making Manitoba the first province in Canada to give women full political rights. The league was no longer active after 1916, but during its short existence had made a fundamental impact on politics in Manitoba. ==References==