THE CANADIAN ELECTION
91i¢,—Miriam Chapin in 'The Canadian Election' naively proposes that the Liberals lost their hold on Quebec in the 1958 Federal election because Premier Duplessis 'ordered his henchmen to get out to the back counties and earn their perquisities.' It is, of course, not necessary either to condemn or to defend the now deceased Premier's activities in Quebec during his years of leadership but even allowing that he possessed the influence and power necessary to swing the province so decisively in favour of the Tories surely there are more reason- able explanations for the landslide completely in- dependent of Mr. Duplessis and his 'henchmen.'
If Quebec had been the only province to fall in support of the Conservatives there may have been some justification for the creation of such sinister invention but under the circumstances it would have been exceptional if Quebec hadn't followed suit.
Almost without exception the provinces rejected a government which had carried them through the most prosperous years in Canadian history. The rejection was the result of certain suspicions on the
part of the general electorate toward a government which they suspected of becoming inert and arro- gant. The arrogance seemed to confirm itself in the stormy much-publicised debate on the Trans- Canada pipe-line which ended abruptly when the Liberals introduced closure over the objections of the Conservatives. The `pipe-line' climaxed for many a series of events, and the statements by Mr. Howe and others merely drove the nails firmly into the political. coffin. Whether there was any validity to the public's misgivings of the Liberals is dubious but it is now generally acknowledged that the fickle Canadian electorate had had enough and the Diefenbaker 'image' provided them with a reason- able alternative. Quebec was no exception.
There was, as well, another consideration for Quebec. Louis St. Laurent, the popular French- speaking successor to Mackenzie King who was Canada's Prime Minister from 1949, was defeated at the polls in 1957 and a new leader was appointed, Lester Pearson. In the pre-election campaigning Pearson, assuming the support of Quebec, cam- paigned vigorously on a platform of external affairs and defence. Not the most attractive programme for the French-Canadian. Diefenbaker, on the other hand, wooed Quebec with promises of Cabinet appointments and greater federal support to the province. His effectiveness in selling Conservatism, without the added attraction of being able to' con- verse in French, is history.
The waning popularity of the Liberals plus the lack of Pearson's personal and party platform appeal were the main reasons for the Tory win and Duplessis support of Diefenbaker was merely in- teresting.
Previous page
