Canadians established their reputation as a fighting force in World War I during the second Battle of Ypres in April 1915. The 1st Canadian Division had just arrived on the Western Front and, after a long artillery bombardment, held their own against the Germans' use of a new weapon of modern warfare - chlorine gas.

It was also in the trenches at Ypres that John McCrae wrote the poem In Flanders Fields when a close friend of his became one of 6000 Canadian casualties in just 48 hours.

Photo: Flanders Poppies
Tom Brakefield / Getty Images

Canada and World War I
Battle of Vimy Ridge
Battle of Beaumont Hamel
Battle of Passchendaele
The Halifax Explosion
Canada and World War I

The Broadcasting Consortium - made up of representatives from TV networks CBC/Radio-Canada, CTV, Global and TVA - will hold the Leaders' TV Election Debates on Tuesday April 12, in English, and on Wednesday April 13, in French. The French debate was originally scheduled for April 14, but was moved up a day to avoid conflicting with an NHL playoff game between the Montreal Canadiens and the Boston Bruins. The debates begin at 7 pm EDT and are two hours long.

There will only be four party leaders participating this election: Conservative Party Leader Stephen Harper, Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff, Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe and NDP Leader Jack Layton. The Broadcasting Consortium which organizes and runs the debates decided to exclude Green Party Leader Elizabeth May this time.

The debate format will be different than in 2008, which tried a sit-down, round-table discussion.

If you're concerned about how to register to vote in the May 2 federal election, don't fret. If you're eligible to vote, there's a good chance that you are already registered.

Preliminary voters lists are drawn up from the National Register of Electors which collects information from a wide variety of sources, including individual qualified voters, the Canada Revenue Agency, and provincial registrars of motor vehicles and vital statistics. If you are on the voters lists you should receive a Voter Information Card in the mail from Elections Canada by April 15.

If you don't get a Voter Information Card, or if the information on the card is incorrect, you can still register to vote in several ways and places: at your local returning office, at the advance polls, or at the polls on election day.

Photo: Donald Weber / Getty Images

Voting in Canadian Federal Elections
Find Your Federal Riding in Canada
Contact Your Local Returning Officer
Advance Polls in the Federal Election

At dawn on April 9, 1917 all four divisions of the Canadian Corps attacked Vimy Ridge above the Douai Plain in France. It was the first time the Canadians fought as a national unit, and some say it was Canada's coming of age. The change in Canada from a subservient colony to a country which had paid for its nationhood did not come cheaply. These pictures of the Battle of Vimy Ridge show the muddy trenches, barbed wire, exploding shells, crude dugouts, and filth, misery and death faced by the Canadians. More than 10,600 Canadians were wounded in the Battle of Vimy Ridge and nearly 3600 Canadians died. The German forces suffered 20,000 casualties.

Photo: W.I. Castle / Canada. Dept. of National Defence /
Library and Archives Canada / PA-001125

More on Canada In World War I
Sir Arthur Currie
Lord Byng
Battle of Passchendaele
Canada in World War I