The fact that King kept the Army out of action for as long as possible to avoid another conscription crisis like that of 1917 caused much dismay among the more hawkish Canadians anxious to see Canada get into action. The Royal Canadian Legion issued its manifesto "A Call for Total War" that was endorsed by some 500 other civic groups across English Canada. Mitchell Hepburn, the Premier of Ontario and John B. McNair, the Premier of New Brunswick both demanded overseas conscription in speeches attacking King. A Gallup poll in November 1941 showed 61% of Canadians satisfied with the war effort, but 60% also wanted conscription for overseas service. On 13 November 1941, King's old nemesis from the 1920s, the former Prime Minister, Arthur Meighen became leader of the Conservative Party. Unlike his predecessor, "Fighting Bob" Manion who had supported King's conscription policies, Meighen made a call for "total war" including sending the Zombies overseas the central-piece of his criticism of King. Meighen and King had one of the most famous political rivalries in Canadian history as both men passionately hated one another, and Meighen travelled across the country, accusing King of not doing everything within his power to win the war. After the disaster of the Battle of Hong Kong in December 1941 where two Canadian battalions were lost, a storm broke out in Canada with George A. Drew, the leader of the Ontario Conservative Party urging the Canadian people to "face the shameful truth" that two battalions of badly trained men had been sent to Hong Kong, which was a sign of the failure of King's policies, and of the need for conscription for overseas service. By the end of 1941, the armies of Britain, the United States, the Soviet Union and other allies were all fighting in various theatres of war while the Canadian Army did nothing, guarding Britain against the not very likely threat of a German invasion. By the end of December 1941, the Royal Canadian Air Force which first went into action in the Battle of Britain in the summer of 1940 had lost 1,199 men while the Royal Canadian Navy had lost 439 men. At Hong Kong, the Canadian Army had lost 290 men, with 487 men wounded and the rest taken prisoner to be held under horrific conditions by the Japanese, with most not surviving their captivity.