The 1917 election was Laurier's last election. The election was fought entirely on the issue of conscription and Canada's role in World War I. The Liberal Party split between those Liberals who supported the Borden government's policy of conscription, and the Liberals led by Laurier, who opposed it. The election badly divided the country between English-Canadians, who tended to support conscription, and French-Canadians, who opposed it. Laurier and the Laurier Liberals lost the election, with Borden winning office as the leader of a Unionist (coalition) government. Laurier remained as Leader of the Opposition, but died in 1919, ending one of the longest careers in the Parliament of Canada, almost 45 years since he was first elected in 1874.