The rumor that the state of my health will necessitate my resignation is entirely unfounded.

He thus created the foundation for the Canadian armies of 1914-1918 and 1939-1945. Miller (2010) presents evidence that that Borden saved himself from financial ruin by stationing three battalions of soldiers to Halifax in 1900 in order to make a profit for his faltering supply company. Minister of militia and defence
He was Minister of militia and defence from 1896–1911 and was instrumental in raising the services from appendages of Britain to forces in their own right.

While he was the Minister for Militia and Defence he was the father of the most famous Canadian casualty of the Second Boer War Harold Lothrop Borden. He thus created the foundation for the Canadian armies of 1914-1918 and 1939-1945. Sir Frederick William Borden KCMG PC (May 14 1847 – January 6 1917) was a Canadian politician.