The party Canada First ( the Canada initially ) was born in the Années 1870 with Toronto to promote the emergence of a Canadian identity for the young nation. One finds among his first supporters Goldwin Smith and Edward Blake. This movement was strongly disputed by the partisans of the maintenance of strong bonds with the the United Kingdom, although Canada First never really proposed a rupture. Smith and Blake ended up withdrawing their support for the group, preferring in the case of Smith to support a direct annexation by the the United States.