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142-525: With the Progressive Party 's 1921 electoral breakthrough , Canadian federal politics operated under a "three party system" for the first time. The Liberal Party under William Lyon Mackenzie King tried to deal with this situation by co-opting the Progressives, offering to form a coalition with them. The Progressive Party refused. But by 1926, the party had split and some Progressives decided to support

284-618: A minority government with the support of the Liberal-Progressives in the house. This government lasted for four years. The Liberal-Progressives also had their own caucus meetings and developed their own politics on certain issues, particularly in relation to agriculture. For example, they were critical of the 1927 federal budget for not reducing tariffs , a long-time Progressive demand. In the 1930 election , eight Liberal-Progressives ran in Manitoba, but only two were elected. One candidate

426-739: A Liberal-Progressive for the riding of Portage-Neepawa, and was the sole candidate to run as under the Liberal-Progressive label in those elections. Weir served as Chief Government Whip from 1945 to 1953 and parliamentary assistant to Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent from 1953 to 1957. He was defeated in the 1957 election , the first in which he ran as a Liberal. Five MPs in all sat as Liberal-Progressives: Edgar Douglas Richmond Bissett , Robert Forke , James Allison Glen , George William McDonald and William Gilbert Weir . Forke and Glen became ministers in Liberal cabinets (Glen also served as Speaker of

568-460: A Progressive, was persuaded to become the leader of the national Conservative Party . As a condition of his accepting the leadership, the party's name was changed to Progressive Conservative Party of Canada . The Progressive Party of Canada, however, refused to disband, and ran its own candidates in the subsequent federal election against Bracken's Tories. The party's electoral fortunes continued to decline, and most Progressives ended up joining either

710-411: A Quebecer as a nominator would not increase his support. Diefenbaker was elected on the first ballot, and a number of Quebec delegates walked out of the convention after his victory. Other Diefenbaker opponents, such as those who had urged Smith to run, believed that the 61-year-old Diefenbaker would be merely a caretaker, who would serve a few years and then step down in favour of a younger man, and that

852-456: A UFO-Labour candidate in 1930 and was successful. *** The three Labour and Independent Labour MPs, J. S. Woodsworth , Abraham Albert Heaps and Angus MacInnis successfully ran for re-election as Co-operative Commonwealth Federation candidates. A fourth Labour MP, Humphrey Mitchell , who entered parliament in a 1931 by-election refused to join the CCF and ran for re-election as a Labour candidate but

994-573: A budget that failed to sufficiently reduce the tariff. Saskatchewan farmer leader and independent MP John Archibald Maharg withdrew his support from the government and joined Crerar, as did eight other Unionist MPs from the west. This loosely-organized caucus proved to be the beginnings of the Progressive Party. Owing to the movement's outgrowth from a variety of provincial farmers' organizations, agrarian leaders were divided on an appropriate federal political strategy. Henry Wise Wood , president of

1136-665: A by-election later in the year and was appointed to the Cabinet . These candidates were not opposed by the Liberal Party in the election and ran with the understanding that they would sit with and support the Liberals in Parliament and attend Liberal caucus meetings. Mackenzie King's Liberals alone did not have a majority of seats in the House of Commons after the 1926 election, but were able to form

1278-549: A candidate from Drew's conservative wing of the party, wooed University of Toronto president Sidney Smith as a candidate. However, Smith refused to run. Tory leaders scheduled a leadership convention for December. In early November, the Suez crisis erupted. Minister of External Affairs Lester Pearson played a major part in the settlement of that dispute, and was later awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his role. Diefenbaker, as

1420-497: A grassroots democratic organization, or "economic solidarity group". Philosophically, he advocated for cooperative democracy against the autocratic and corrupting tendencies of competitive party politics. Wood's theory of group government was considered revolutionary at the time, with critics accusing his collectivism as introducing "Sovietism" to Westminster responsible government. The struggle between Wood's "group government" faction, and agrarian leaders including Crerar who advocated

1562-515: A minority should not be allowed to impose its will on an elected majority. St. Laurent suggested that the Tories had performed badly as an opposition in the debate, and suggested that the public give them more practice at being an opposition. Finally, the Tories contended that the Liberals had been in power too long, and that it was time for a change. The PC party stated that the Liberals were arrogant, inflexible, and not capable of looking at problems from

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1704-553: A more traditional party-centric approach to federal politics, troubled the party throughout its existence. In their first formal caucus meeting on March 3, 1920, Crerar and eleven allied MPs established the National Progressive Party of Canada with Crerar as its first leader. The name of party was referred by Michael Clark two days later in the House of Commons. Nevertheless, Crerar was unable to secure support among members of

1846-625: A movement of farmers at all, the Fisherman's Protective Union of Newfoundland provides an interesting case that parallels that of the United Farmers . However Newfoundland was not part of Canada until 1949. The United Farmers of Nova Scotia was formed in January 1920 at meetings that followed the annual convention of the Nova Scotia Farmers' Association. At an April meeting, 300 farmers approved

1988-432: A national party organization. These efforts were resisted, however, and in 1922, Crerar resigned as leader. He was replaced by Robert Forke , another ex-Liberal who agreed with Crerar on most issues. The Progressives proved unsuccessful in Parliament and lost much of their moderate support in eastern Canada. While in the 1921 election Crerar had toured across the country, Forke abandoned everything east of Manitoba. As well,

2130-463: A new face on the national scene given to outspoken attacks on the government, he began to attract unexpectedly large crowds early in the campaign. When reduced to the written word, however, Diefenbaker's rhetoric sometimes proved to be without much meaning. According to journalist and author Peter C. Newman , "On the printed page, it makes little sense. But from the platform, its effect was far different." Both Newman and Meisel cite as an example of this

2272-631: A new party, not an old one with a repellent image." Grosart later stated that he structured the entire campaign around the personality of John Diefenbaker, and threw away the Tory party and its policies. Diefenbaker began his campaign with a week of local campaigning in his riding, after which he went to Toronto for the Massey Hall speech. After two days in Ontario, he spoke at a rally in Quebec City, before spending

2414-661: A new point of view. Liberals responded that with the country prosperous, there was no point to a change. In 1953, almost half of the Tories' campaign funds were spent in Quebec, a province in which the party won only four of seventy-five seats. After the 1953 election, Tory MP Gordon Churchill studied the Canadian federal elections since Confederation. He concluded that the Progressive Conservatives were ill-advised to continue pouring money into Quebec in an effort to win seats in

2556-437: A protectionist policy regarding foreign agricultural products. The Liberals argued that such tariffs were not worth the loss of bargaining position in efforts to seek foreign markets for Canadian agricultural products. The institution of the welfare state was by 1957 accepted by both major parties. Diefenbaker promised to expand the national health insurance scheme to cover tubercular and mental health patients. He characterized

2698-415: A schoolboy prank," and a reaction to reading an article about how the art of heckling was dying. According to public relations executive J.G. Johnston in a letter to Diefenbaker on June 10, Hatton had come to the rally with several other boys, including Johnston's son, but had gone off on his own while the other boys paraded with Diefenbaker posters which had been smuggled inside. According to Johnston, Hatton

2840-641: A socialist platform. In 1930, in response to the Progressive-Conservative coalition, the UFC (SS) under the leadership of George Hara Williams decided to form a new political party. In 1932 it joined with the Independent Labour Party in the province to form the Farmer-Labour Group . Progressive MLA Jacob Benson joined the new party to become its first MLA. In the 1934 provincial election ,

2982-567: A stable minority government following the 1926 election with the support of the seven elected Liberal-Progressive MPs. Forke entered the Mackenzie King cabinet as Minister of Immigration and Colonization . The Alberta UFA MPs dropped the Progressive label. Identifying themselves as parliamentary representatives of the United Farmers of Alberta , 11 UFA MPs were elected in the 1926 election and nine in 1930 – most of whom were members of

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3124-526: A strong showing by a revived Conservative Party of Saskatchewan . The Progressives joined with the Conservatives to force the Liberals from office on September 6, 1929 and formed a coalition government allowing the Conservatives leader James T. M. Anderson to take power as premier; one Progressive, Reginald Stipe , was appointed to Anderson's cabinet as minister without portfolio . By the next election

3266-414: A surplus of $ 258 million, of which $ 100 million was to be returned in the form of increased welfare payments, with an increase of $ 6 per month (to a total of $ 46) for old age pensioners —effective after the election. Harris indicated that no more could be returned for fear of increasing inflation. Diefenbaker attacked the budget, calling for higher old age pensions and welfare payments, more aid to

3408-472: A vacancy for A.G.L. McNaughton, Case ran and won the 5 February 1945 by-election as the candidate of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada . William Gilbert Weir was the longest-lasting Liberal-Progressive MP, winning his first election in the riding of Macdonald in Manitoba in 1930. He was re-elected as a Liberal-Progressive in 1935 and 1940. In 1945, 1949 and 1953, he was elected as

3550-562: A weak fourth. However, the province responded to Diefenbaker, and 3,800 turned out for his Victoria speech on May 21, his largest crowd yet. This was bettered two days later in Vancouver with a crowd of 6,000, with even the street outside the Georgia Street Auditorium packed with Tory partisans. Diefenbaker responded to this by delivering what Dick Spencer (who wrote a book on Diefenbaker's campaigns) considered his greatest speech of

3692-516: A weeks-long debate which ended with the Speaker ignoring points of order as he had the division bells rung. Both measures were closely associated with Howe, which, in combination with his earlier comments, led to Tory claims that Howe was indifferent to the democratic process. Tory preparations for an upcoming election campaign were thrown into disarray in August 1956 when Drew fell ill. Tory leaders felt that

3834-525: The 1921 federal election . Agriculture Minister Maharg, a former SGGA president, resigned from the Cabinet in protest and crossed the floor to sit as an Independent and become Leader of the Opposition . Martin himself was forced to step down and the federal Progressives won 15 of 16 Saskatchewan seats in the federal election. The SGGA subsequently authorized the creation of local political action committees across

3976-560: The 1925 election and no other UF candidates were elected at subsequent elections. In Ontario , the United Farmers of Ontario formed government as a result of the 1919 provincial election with E. C. Drury as Premier . After the government's defeat in 1923 and the formal decision of the UFO to withdraw from electoral politics, most remaining UFO Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) took to calling themselves "Progressives". In

4118-587: The 1934 provincial election the remaining Progressive MLAs under Harry Nixon ran as Liberal-Progressives in an alliance with the Ontario Liberal Party led by former UFO member Mitch Hepburn . The Liberal-Progressives subsequently joined the Liberal Party. The Progressive Party of Manitoba had merged with the Manitoba Liberal Party in the 1920s to form a Liberal-Progressive party there. Despite this, in 1942, Manitoba Premier John Bracken ,

4260-447: The 1937 provincial election and were returned to office. Nixon served as Leader of the Liberal Party from 1943 to 1944 and briefly as Premier on Ontario in 1943, until his government's defeat in the 1943 election ,and would continue sitting as a Liberal until his death in 1961. Kelly would sit as a Liberal until leaving politics in 1945. Two remaining Liberal-Progressive MLAs were returned in that election, Campbell and Patterson. Campbell

4402-572: The Canadian Council of Agriculture for the establishment of significant party structure; thus, the party had no formal national organization, with the Canadian Council of Agriculture itself providing a minimal degree of structure. Crerar formally served as parliamentary leader of the Progressives until the provincial organizations accepted his endorsement as national leader by the Canadian Council of Agriculture in 1921. The new party won 58 of

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4544-451: The Liberals were not strong enough proponents of free trade and were too strongly tied to business interests. Generally, farmers groups formed alliances with Labour and socialist groups though, in power, they became closer to the Liberals causing ruptures in several provinces between United Farmer governments and their organizations. The origins of the Progressive Party can be traced to

4686-726: The National Progressive Party , was a federal-level political party in Canada in the 1920s until 1930. It was linked with the provincial United Farmers parties in several provinces, and it spawned the Progressive Party of Saskatchewan , and the Progressive Party of Manitoba , which formed the government of that province. The Progressive Party was part of the farmers' political movement that included federal and provincial Progressive and United Farmers' parties. The United Farmers movement in Canada rose to prominence after World War I . With

4828-695: The Reform Party of Canada to the present day Conservative Party of Canada . The CCF and Social Credit had their roots in the United Farmers movement, from which a large number of MLAs were elected in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Manitoba, and which formed governments in Alberta, Ontario and Manitoba. In Manitoba, the United Farmers of Manitoba changed their name to the Progressive Party of Manitoba after coming to power in 1922. The Conservative Party received

4970-539: The Saskatchewan Liberal Party . The Liberals had a tradition of consulting the SGGA about farm policy and of appointing prominent farm activists to cabinet such as Charles Dunning and John Maharg . A political crisis ensued the Liberal government in late 1921 in which Premier William Melville Martin angered the SGGA by campaigning for the federal Liberal Party of Canada against the Progressive Party of Canada in

5112-465: The Tariff Board of Canada and was succeeded in a by-election by a Liberal, and the third, Archibald M. Carmichael , did not seek re-election in 1935 x – less than 0.005% of the popular vote The study of the Progressive Party is almost wholly dominated by one author, W. L. Morton , whose 1950 book, The Progressive Party in Canada , won a Governor General's Award , and had been the principal text on

5254-406: The United Farmers of Alberta . The first big activity was the farmers' march on Ottawa in 1911. After World War I, farmers' organizations across Canada became more politically active and entered electoral politics on the provincial level. The United Farmers of Ontario ran in the 1919 provincial election and, surprisingly, won. The emergence of the UFO exemplified the scope of farmer politics. It

5396-948: The 1921 federal election. The Progressives won 24 of the 81 seats in Commons from Ontario; however, the party viewed this as a disappointing result. Despite finishing second in seat count, there were not enough Progressive and farmer MPs to safely secure the balance of power against the narrow Liberal minority government. The Progressives received significant support in the Maritime provinces, but obtained only one seat in New Brunswick . It also got five seats in British Columbia . In addition to their power in Ontario, Manitoba and Alberta, farmers' parties were significant presences in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, but this failed to translate into seats in

5538-444: The 1930 election. The three include Milton Neil Campbell and Archibald M. Carmichael of Saskatchewan and Agnes Macphail of Ontario (who was known as a proponent of the United Farmers of Ontario). Macphail successfully ran for re-election as a United Farmers of Ontario – Labour candidate in the 1935 election but was defeated running under the same banner in 1940. After the collapse of the party, most Progressive voters returned to

5680-404: The 1957 race, and which Newman considered the turning point of Diefenbaker's campaign. Diefenbaker stated, "I give this assurance to Canadians—that the government shall be the servant and not the master of the people ... The road of the Liberal party, unless it is stopped—and Howe has said, 'Who's going to stop us?'—will lead to the virtual extinction of parliamentary government. You will have

5822-487: The 235 seats in the 1921 general election , despite the lack of national party structure. Owing to the anti-party character of the Progressives, individual candidates' campaigns were strictly independent of the national organization, and no financial, organizational, or strategic support was provided under a policy of "constituency autonomy". Support for reforming the National Policy was a common denominator, but even this

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5964-529: The Canadian Parliament has always had a third, and sometimes a fourth or even fifth, party present ever since. The Progressives thus served both as a model and a cautionary tale for those that followed after. The above table does not include MPs elected as United Farmers, Labour, Independent, Independent Progressive or other designations who may have been part of the Progressive Party caucus. (see United Farmers of Alberta ) Progressive MP Agnes Macphail

6106-589: The Commons that the allegations were false. It quickly became apparent that the information released by the Americans might have come from Canadian intelligence sources, and after severe questioning of Pearson by Diefenbaker and the other parties' foreign policy critics, Pearson made a statement announcing that Norman had had communist associations in his youth, but had passed a security review. The minister evaded further questions regarding what information had been provided, and

6248-544: The Depression , and was defeated in 1935, as Liberal William Lyon Mackenzie King , who had previously served two times as prime minister, was restored to power. The Liberals won five consecutive elections between 1935 and 1953, four of the victories resulting in powerful majority governments . The Liberals worked closely with the civil service (drawing several of their ministers from those ranks) and their years of dominance saw prosperity. When Mackenzie King retired in 1948, he

6390-618: The FLG returned five MLAs to the legislature and subsequently became the Saskatchewan section of the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation . 1957 Canadian federal election Louis St. Laurent Liberal John Diefenbaker Progressive Conservative The 1957 Canadian federal election was held June 10, 1957, to select the 265 members of the House of Commons of Canada of the 23rd Parliament of Canada . In one of

6532-518: The Government's election promises; when it demands economy in one breath and increased spending in the next; when it proposes an immediate tax cut regardless of inflationary results ... when in short, the Conservative party no longer gives us a conservative alternative after twenty-one years ... then our political system desperately requires an opposition prepared to stand for something more than

6674-537: The House of Commons of Canada ) while Weir served as government whip for a number of years. Forke was appointed to the Senate of Canada in 1929 and was the sole Liberal-Progressive to ever sit in that body. In Alberta, one candidate ran under the Liberal-Progressive banner during the 1926 Alberta election . Mr A.D. Campbell won 252 votes, in the Camrose district, and came in fourth place. In Ontario, an electoral coalition

6816-522: The House of Commons. The Progressives were divided over what to do following the 1921 election. A significant group of ex-Liberals, including Crerar, supported forming a coalition government with the Liberals. This was resisted by Montreal interests in the Liberal Party and by radical Progressives, including the UFA MPs. These followers of Wood wished to remain a decentralized party with each individual member simply representing his constituents, supporting

6958-551: The Liberal Party or the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF), rather than the renamed Progressive Conservatives. The Progressive Party of Saskatchewan ran seven candidates and elected six members to the Saskatchewan legislature in the 1921 general election despite the absence of a provincial organization due to the reluctance of the Saskatchewan Grain Growers' Association to break with

7100-408: The Liberal Party. The Liberals had always viewed the Progressives as simply "Liberals in a hurry", and for a large group of the party's supporters, this was true. The most important example of this return to the Liberals is T. A. Crerar , who served with the Liberals for decades, first as a cabinet minister and then as a Senator . The more radical of the progressives split two ways. The Ginger Group

7242-516: The Liberal Progressive banner. There was also one Independent Liberal-Progressive candidate that year. In the 1926 election, twelve candidates ran as Liberal-Progressives and eight were elected, including seven in Manitoba and one in Saskatchewan.There were three unsuccessful candidates in Ontario . An eighth Manitoba Liberal-Progressive, Robert Forke , who was the group's leader, was acclaimed in

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7384-503: The Liberal government in what it did in their mind right and opposing it in what it did wrong. The two groups agreed to refuse the position of Official Opposition , normally accorded to the party with the second-largest number of seats, and this was passed on to the third-largest party, the Conservative Party . Crerar attempted to introduce certain attributes of a standard party to the Progressives, including Parliamentary Whips and

7526-527: The Liberals and the Tories, it was the only party to nominate a candidate in a majority of the ridings. In 1957, the party was led by Saskatchewan MP M.J. Coldwell . In 1956, the party adopted the Winnipeg Declaration , a far more moderate proposal than its previous governing document, the 1933 Regina Manifesto . For example, the Regina Manifesto pledged the CCF to the eradication of capitalism;

7668-487: The Liberals in by-elections, and the Liberals (who had won 169 seats in 1953) lost an additional seat to the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF, the predecessor of the New Democratic Party (NDP)). After over two decades in opposition, the Tories were closely associated with that role in the public eye. The Tories were seen as the party of the wealthy and of English-speaking Canada and drew about 30% of

7810-425: The Liberals, running as Liberal-Progressive or Liberal-Labour-Progressives , or similar variations. This phenomenon occurred particularly in the 1925 election and the 1926 election . A number of Liberal-Progressive Members of Parliament (MPs) became full-fledged Liberals in the 1930s. There was one Independent Liberal-Progressive candidate in 1925. In the 1925 election, only one candidate ran—unsuccessfully—under

7952-519: The Ontario Liberal Party from 1945 to 1950 and again from 1954 to 1958 and would continue to sit in the legislature as a Liberal until 1967 when he retired from office. In Manitoba , the Progressives and Liberals merged in 1932 under Premier John Bracken and ran as Liberal-Progressives . Bracken continued as Premier until 1943, when he was replaced by Stuart Garson . In 1948, Garson

8094-663: The PC party elected the fiery and charismatic Diefenbaker. The Tories ran a campaign centred on their new leader, who attracted large crowds to rallies and made a strong impression on television. The Liberals ran a lacklustre campaign, and St. Laurent made few television appearances. Uncomfortable with the medium, the Prime Minister read his speeches from a script and refused to wear makeup. Abandoning their usual strategy of trying to make major inroads in Liberal-dominated Quebec ,

8236-501: The Prime Minister. Meisel describes Hatton as an "otherwise politically apathetic boy who ... slowly and deliberately tore up a photograph of the Prime Minister as the latter was speaking" and states that Hatton engaged in "intensely provocative behavior". Liberal partisans interceded, and in the ensuing fracas, Hatton fell from the platform, audibly hitting his head on the concrete floor. St. Laurent watched in apparent shock, according to his biographer Dale Tompson, as officials aided

8378-474: The Progressive Party ever since. A great number of more recently published works on western politics cite only Morton's book in their discussion of the Progressive Party. Morton, a Red Tory , wrote in the context of a seemingly spreading Social Credit movement. Morton's book was the first in a series exploring the origins of the Social Credit movement. Though not part of the United Farmers movement, or indeed

8520-630: The Progressives had disappeared. While the Progressives moved to the right, more radical farmers gravitated to the United Farmers of Canada (Saskatchewan Section) which was formed in 1926 by members of the Farmers' Union of Canada and the Saskatchewan Grain Growers' Association. As a result of the Dust Bowl farm crisis during the Great Depression the UFC (SS) became politicised and adopted

8662-550: The Tories focused on winning seats in the other provinces. They were successful; though they gained few seats in Quebec, they won 112 seats overall to the Liberals' 105. With the remaining seats won by other parties, the PC party only had a plurality in the House of Commons, but the margin was sufficient to make John Diefenbaker Canada's first Tory Prime Minister since R. B. Bennett in 1935. The Tories had last governed Canada under R.B. Bennett , who had been elected in 1930. Bennett's government had limited success in dealing with

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8804-443: The Tories were not campaigning under their own name, Grosart sent copies of the Prime Minister's remarks in a plain envelope to every Liberal candidate, and was gratified when they began inserting the allegation into their own speeches. According to Professor J. Murray Beck in his history of Canadian general elections, "His political enemies were led to make the very point he was striving to drive home: Diefenbaker was, in effect, leading

8946-502: The Tories' campaign committee had urged Diefenbaker not to build his campaign around the Pipeline Debate, contending that the episode was now a year in the past and forgotten by the voters, who did not particularly care what went on in Parliament anyway. Diefenbaker replied, "That's the issue, and I'm making it." Diefenbaker referred to the conduct of the government in the Pipeline Debate more frequently than he did any other issue during

9088-470: The Tories' foreign policy critic and as the favourite in the leadership race, gained considerable attention for his speeches on Suez. The Tories attacked Pearson for, as they said, being an errand boy for the United States government; he responded that it was better to be such a lackey than to be an obedient colonial doing Britain's will unquestioningly. While Suez would come to be regarded by many as one of

9230-680: The Tories, and, according to Liberal minister Lionel Chevrier , Diefenbaker's victory in the party leadership race increased his confidence by a factor of ten. At his press conference detailing his election tour, St. Laurent stated, "I have no doubt about the election outcome." He indicated that his campaign would open April 29 in Winnipeg, and that the Prime Minister would spend ten days in Western Canada before moving east. However, he indicated he would first go home to Quebec City for several days around Easter (April 21 in 1957). This break kept him out of

9372-418: The UFA MPs, other farmer MPs and the three Labour MPs in the House of Commons ( J. S. Woodsworth , William Irvine and Joseph Shaw ) joined together in the Ginger Group , breaking from Forke's leadership. In the 1925 election , the Progressives lost almost all of their Ontario members, but were still moderately successful in the west, holding many of their seats in Alberta. This left the party dominated by

9514-477: The UFNA's constitution and the publication of a newspaper, United Farmer's Guide . The movement nominated 16 candidates and elected 7 in the 1920 general election . Aligning with the Independent Labour Party they formed the official opposition with 11 MLAs (elected with a 30.9% of the popular vote). Daniel G. McKenzie , a successful farmer and former school-teacher from Malagash, was appointed party and opposition leader. The party began to lose its momentum in

9656-414: The United Farmers of Alberta, opposed turning the farmers' political movement into a formal Third Party. His political experience in the U.S., rooted in observation of the Populists of the 1890s, led him to believe that the social friction caused by such a third party would lead to the destruction, through splintering of the farmers movements in general. Wood argued the Canadian farmers' movement should remain

9798-601: The Winnipeg Declaration recognized the utility of private ownership of business, and stated that the government should own business only when it was in the public interest. In its election campaign, the CCF did not promise to nationalize any industries. It promised changes in the tax code in order to increase the redistribution of wealth in Canada. It pledged to increase exemptions from income tax, to allow medical expenses to be considered deductions from income for tax purposes, and to eliminate sales tax on food, clothing, and other necessities of life. It also promised to raise taxes on

9940-417: The amount of $ 120 per family of four. Diefenbaker pledged to reduce taxes and castigated the Liberals for not reducing taxes despite the government surplus. St. Laurent also addressed tax policy in his opening speech, in Winnipeg . St. Laurent noted that since 1953, tax rates had declined, as had the national debt, and that Canada had a reputation as a good place for investments. The Prime Minister argued that

10082-481: The boy and took him from the hall. According to Tompson, the crowd "turned its indignation on the men on the platform" and spent the remainder of the evening wondering about the boy's possible injuries rather than listening to the Prime Minister's speech. Hatton was not seriously injured, but, according to Newman, "the accident added to the image of the Liberal Party as an unrepentant arrogant group of old men, willing to ride roughshod over voters". Grosart later described

10224-467: The campaign. St. Laurent initially dealt with the question flippantly, suggesting in his opening campaign address that the debate had been "nearly as long as the pipeline itself and quite as full of another kind of natural gas". As the issue gained resonance with the voters, the Liberals devoted more time to it, and St. Laurent devoted a major part of his final English television address to the question. The Liberals defended their conduct, and contended that

10366-507: The campaign—half what it had in 1953. Grosart divided most of that money equally by constituency, to the disgruntlement of Quebec Tories, who were used to receiving a disproportionate share of the national party's financing. The Tory campaign opened at Massey Hall in Toronto on April 25, where Diefenbaker addressed a crowd of 2,600, about 200 short of capacity. At the Massey Hall rally, a large banner hung behind Diefenbaker, which did not mention

10508-461: The conclusion to the leader's Massey Hall speech: If we are dedicated to this—and to this we are—you, my fellow Canadians, will require all the wisdom, all the power that comes from those spiritual springs that make freedom possible—all the wisdom, all the faith and all the vision which the Conservative Party gave but yesterday under Macdonald , change to meet changing conditions, today having

10650-462: The cost of campaign promises made by the Progressive Conservatives would inevitably drive up the tax rate. Diefenbaker also assailed tight-money monetary policies which kept interest rates high, complaining that they were hitting Atlantic and Western Canada hard. The Tories promised changes in agricultural policies. Many Canadian farmers were unable to find buyers for their wheat; the PC party promised generous cash advances on unsold wheat and promised

10792-532: The discontent both of those who had prospered in the 1950s, and sought some deeper personal and national purpose, as well as those who had been left out of the prosperity. However, Diefenbaker spoke French badly and the excitement generated by his campaign had little effect in francophone Quebec, where apathy prevailed and Le Devoir spoke of " une campaigne électorale au chloroforme ". The Tories had performed badly in British Columbia in 1953, finishing

10934-637: The discussion was cut short when Parliament was dissolved on April 12. Peter Regenstreif, who studied the four elections between 1957 and 1963, wrote of the situation at the start of the election campaign, "In 1957, there was no tangible indication that the Liberals would be beaten or, even in the opposition's darkest moment of reflection, could be. All the hindsight and post hoc gazing at entrails cannot change that objective fact." The Liberals and PC party differed considerably on fiscal and tax policies. In his opening campaign speech at Massey Hall in Toronto, Diefenbaker contended that Canadians were overtaxed in

11076-472: The election. St. Laurent tried to project an image as a family man, and to that end often addressed schoolchildren. As he had in previous elections, he spoke to small groups of children regarding Canadian history or civics. The strategy backfired while addressing children in Port Hope, Ontario . With the children inattentive, some playing tag or sticking cameras in his face, St. Laurent angrily told them that it

11218-459: The evening of Diefenbaker's Vancouver speech, St. Laurent drew 400 voters to a rally in Sherbrooke , Quebec , where he had once lived. C.D. Howe, under heavy pressure from the campaign of CCF candidate Doug Fisher in his Ontario riding, intimated that Fisher had communist links. At a rally in Manitoba, Howe offended a voter who told him the farmers were starving to death, poking the voter in

11360-477: The event was provided by the Leslie Bell singers, and according to Grosart, many in the audience were Tory supporters who had turned out to hear them. St. Laurent's speech at the rally was interrupted when William Hatton, a 15-year-old boy from Malton, Ontario , climbed onto the platform. Hatton carried a banner reading, "This Can't Be Canada" with a Liberal placard bearing St. Laurent's photograph, and moved to face

11502-470: The failure of the wartime Union government to alter a tariff structure that hurt farmers, various farmers movements across Canada became more radical and entered the political arena. The United Farmers movement was tied to the federal Progressive Party of Canada and formed provincial governments in Ontario , Alberta and Manitoba . It rejected the National Policy of the Conservatives , and felt that

11644-458: The fall when one of its founders, Major Hugh Dickson, was defeated in the Colchester by-election. In 1921, Nova Scotia Liberal Party Premier George Henry Murray discredited the party in the eyes of the public when he offered to divide the government's budget surplus among members of the legislature. All but one United Farmer MLA accepted Murray's largesse. Later that session another scandal rocked

11786-620: The farmer a full income even in bad years. For the Atlantic fisherman, the CCF proposed cash advances at the start of the fishing season and government-owned depots which would sell fishing equipment and supplies to fishermen at much lower than market prices. Coldwell suffered from a heart condition, and undertook a much less ambitious schedule than the major party leaders. The party leader left Ottawa for his riding, Rosetown—Biggar in Saskatchewan, on April 26, and remained there until May 10. He spent three days campaigning in Ontario, then moved west to

11928-457: The final weekend before the Monday election. He spent 39 days on the campaign trail, eleven more than the Prime Minister. According to Professor John Meisel , who wrote a book about the 1957 campaign, Diefenbaker's speaking style was "reminiscent of the fiery orators so popular in the nineteenth century. Indeed, Mr. Diefenbaker's oratory has been likened to that of the revivalist preacher." As

12070-607: The finest moments in Canadian foreign policy, at the time it cost the Liberals support outside of Quebec. Diefenbaker was the favourite throughout the leadership campaign. At the convention in Ottawa in December, he refused to abide by the custom of having a Quebecer be either the proposer or seconder of his candidacy, and instead selected an Easterner (from New Brunswick ) and a Westerner to put his name in nomination. With most Quebec delegates backing his opponents, Diefenbaker felt that having

12212-465: The firm of Cockfield Brown. St. Laurent led the Liberals to an overwhelming triumph in the 1949 election , campaigning under the slogan "You never had it so good". The Liberals won a fifth successive mandate in 1953, with St. Laurent content to exercise a highly relaxed leadership style. The Mackenzie King and St. Laurent governments laid the groundwork for the welfare state, a development initially opposed by many Tories. C.D. Howe , considered one of

12354-428: The form, but the substance will be gone." The Liberal-leaning Winnipeg Free Press , writing shortly after Diefenbaker's speeches in British Columbia, commented on them: Facts were overwhelmed with sound, passion substituted for arithmetic, moral indignation pumped up to the bursting point. But Mr. Diefenbaker provided the liveliest show of the election ... and many listeners undoubtedly failed to notice that he

12496-594: The government gradually built a welfare state . During the Liberals' fifth term in office, the opposition parties depicted them as arrogant and unresponsive to Canadians' needs. Controversial events, such as the 1956 " Pipeline Debate " over the construction of the Trans-Canada Pipeline , had hurt the government. St. Laurent, nicknamed "Uncle Louis", remained popular, but exercised little supervision over his cabinet ministers. In 1956, Tory leader George A. Drew unexpectedly resigned due to ill health. In his place,

12638-469: The greatest upsets in Canadian political history, the Progressive Conservative Party (also known as "PCs" or "Tories"), led by John Diefenbaker , brought an end to 22 years of Liberal rule, as the Tories were able to form a minority government despite losing the popular vote to the Liberals. The Liberal Party had governed Canada since 1935, winning five consecutive elections. Under Prime Ministers William Lyon Mackenzie King and Louis St. Laurent ,

12780-430: The handful of national reporters who followed him. Clark Davey of The Globe and Mail stated, "We did not know how he did it." Reporters thought the Progressive Conservatives might, at best, gain 30 or 35 seats over the 53 they had at dissolution, and when Diefenbaker, off the record, told the reporters that the Tories would win 97 seats (which would still allow the Liberals to form the government), they concluded he

12922-478: The higher income brackets and to eliminate the favourable tax treatment of corporate dividends. The CCF represented many agricultural areas in the Commons, and it proposed several measures to assure financial security for farmers. It proposed national growers' cooperatives for agricultural products which were exported. It proposed cash advances for farm-stored wheat, short and long-term loans for farmers at low interest rates, and government support of prices, to assure

13064-507: The improbable chance of quick victory. In 1955, the Tories, through a determined filibuster , were able to force the government to withdraw amendments to the Defence Procurement Act, which would have made temporary, extraordinary powers granted to the government permanent. Drew led the Tories in a second battle with the government the following year: in the so-called " Pipeline Debate ", the government invoked closure repeatedly in

13206-487: The incident as "the turning point" of the campaign. Professor Meisel speculated that the Hatton incident might have been part of an organized campaign to annoy St. Laurent out of his pleasant "Uncle Louis" persona, and Grosart later related that Liberal frontbencher Jack Pickersgill always accused him of being behind the boy's actions, but that the incident was "a sheer accident". Hatton's mother described his actions as "[j]ust

13348-413: The leadership, Diefenbaker got Grosart to help out at Tory headquarters, and soon appointed him national director of the party and national campaign manager. Grosart appointed a national campaign committee, something which had not been done previously by the Tories, but which, according to Grosart, provided the organizational key to success in 1957. The party was ill-financed, having only $ 1,000,000 to wage

13490-499: The leading forces of the St. Laurent government, told his Tory opponents when they alleged that the Liberals would abolish tariffs if the people would let them, "Who would stop us? ... Don't take yourselves too seriously. If we wanted to get away with it, who would stop us?" At the start of 1956, the Tories were led by former Ontario premier George A. Drew , who had been elected PC leader in 1948 over Saskatchewan MP John Diefenbaker. Drew

13632-519: The least of the Progressive's spoils, inheriting little more than the name, in 1942. Its first leader after amalgamation was John Bracken , who was then serving as the Progressive Premier of Manitoba. More important than these effects on individual parties, the Progressive Party also had a great effect on Canada's governmental system — it was the most successful early example of a third party in Canada. Despite Duverger's law of political science,

13774-488: The limelight for ten days at a time when Diefenbaker was already actively campaigning and making daily headlines. At a campaign stop in Jarvis, Ontario , St. Laurent told an aide that he was afraid the right-wing, anti-Catholic Social Credit Party would be the next Opposition. St. Laurent denied Opposition claims that he would resign after an election victory, and the 75-year-old indicated that he planned to run again in 1961, if he

13916-700: The major cities of the prairie provinces and British Columbia, before returning to his riding for the final days before the June 10 election. Other CCF leaders took charge of campaigning in Quebec and the Maritimes. By 1957, the Social Credit Party of Canada had moved far afield from the theories of social credit economics, which its candidates rarely mentioned. Canada's far-right party, the Socreds were led by Solon Low , though its Alberta leader, Premier Ernest Manning ,

14058-413: The name of his party, but which instead stated, "It's Time for a Diefenbaker Government." The slogan, coined by Grosart, sought to blur Canadian memories of the old Tory party of Bennett and Drew and instead focus attention on the party's new leader. Posters for election rallies contained Diefenbaker's name in large type; only the small print contained the name of the party. When St. Laurent complained that

14200-458: The number of seats in Ontario. All the MPs from Alberta were either United Farmers of Alberta candidates who were allied to the Progressives (and included in the totals recorded above) or Labour – no Conservatives or Liberals were elected in that province that election. Ten UFA MPs were elected, the other two seats in the province were taken by Labour candidates. Alberta had elected a UFA government prior to

14342-491: The old age pension increase which the Liberal government was instituting as a mere pittance, not even enough to keep up with the cost of living. Diefenbaker noted that the increase only amounted to twenty cents a day, using that figure to ridicule Liberal contentions that an increase would add to the rate of inflation. All three opposition parties promised to increase the pension, with the Social Crediters and CCF even stating

14484-511: The party had changed its name to the Progressives and after the 1926 election, Nixon was the sole former member of the Drury cabinet left in the Legislature. In the coalition formed in 1934, the Progressive group ran as Liberal-Progressives . They were eventually absorbed into the Ontario Liberal Party. Even before 1934, several candidates ran and were elected under the Liberal-Progressive banner: It

14626-475: The party needed vigorous leadership with a federal election likely to be called within a year. In September, Drew resigned. Diefenbaker, who had failed in two prior bids for the leadership, announced his candidacy, as did Tory frontbenchers Davie Fulton and Donald Fleming . Diefenbaker, a criminal defence lawyer from Prince Albert, Saskatchewan , was on the populist left of the PC party. Those Tory leaders who disliked Diefenbaker and his views, and hoped to find

14768-429: The party was not recognized in the previous election x – less than 0.005% of the popular vote Note: * The party did not nominate candidates in the previous election. ** Beniah Bowman was elected as a UFO MP in 1926 and ran for re-election as a Liberal in 1930 and was defeated. Notes: * The party did not nominate candidates in the previous election. ** Progressive MP Agnes Macphail ran for re-election as

14910-445: The party when it was revealed that MacKenzie had secretly accepted a government salary of $ 500. A series of defections followed and by 1925 the United Farmers of Nova Scotia had virtually ceased to exist. The 1920 provincial election elected nine United Farmers and two Farmer-Labour MLAs who sat together and allowed the incumbent Liberals to maintain confidence in a minority government situation. None of them were re-elected in

15052-556: The point and in a televised address stated that Canadians were "asking Pearson to explain his bumbling of External Affairs". Though they were reluctant to discuss the Norman affair, the Tories suggested that the government had irresponsibly allowed gossip to be transmitted to United States congressional committees. They also attacked the government over Pearson's role in the Suez settlement, suggesting that Canada had let Britain down. Some members of

15194-501: The politics of compromise under Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier . The most important issue to farmers in western Canada at the time was free trade with the United States . The National Policy implemented by Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald in the 1890s forced farmers to pay higher prices for equipment and to sell their produce for less. After World War I, however, neither of the major political parties supported free trade. At

15336-531: The poorer provinces, and aid to farmers. St. Laurent had informed Diefenbaker that Parliament would be dissolved in April, for an election on June 10. A final parliamentary conflict was sparked by the suicide of Canadian Ambassador to Egypt E.H. Norman in the midst of allegations made by a United States Senate subcommittee that Norman had communist links. Pearson had defended Norman when the allegations became public, and defended him again after his death, suggesting to

15478-414: The province but were unable to build on the 1921 federal breakthrough and only ran 6 of a possible 63 candidates in the next two provincial elections. In the 1925 provincial election the Progressives again won six seats and formed the official opposition . They were reduced to third party status and five seats in the 1929 provincial election with the Liberals reduced to minority government status due to

15620-505: The province; the Tories could win at least a minority government by maximizing their opportunities in English-speaking Canada, and if the party could also manage to win twenty seats in Quebec, it could attain a majority. Churchill's conclusions were ignored by most leading Tories—except Diefenbaker. Diefenbaker's successful leadership race had been run by Allister Grosart , an executive for McKim Advertising Ltd. Soon after taking

15762-527: The provincial level had slowly been eroding. When the Liberals gained Federal power in 1935, they controlled eight of the nine provincial governments, all except Alberta . By early 1957, the Liberals controlled the legislatures only in the tenth province, Newfoundland , and in Prince Edward Island and Manitoba . In March, Finance Minister Walter Harris , who was believed to be St. Laurent's heir apparent, introduced his budget. The budget anticipated

15904-460: The radical Ginger Group faction of left wing Progressive, Labour and United Farmer MPs. Most sitting UFA MPs joined the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation party, and all the UFA MPs were defeated at the polls in the election of 1935 by the Social Credit Party of Canada political landslide. In addition to Alberta electing nine UFA MPs in 1930, three MPs were elected as Progressives in

16046-465: The radical United Farmers of Alberta MPs. Forke resigned as Progressive house leader on June 30, 1926, one day after Mackenzie King resigned as Prime Minister. Forke and most of the Manitoba Progressives made a deal with the Liberal Party and ran as Liberal-Progressives in the 1926 election prompted by the fall of the interim Conservative government of Arthur Meighen . The Liberals formed

16188-439: The remainder of the first week in the Maritimes. The next week saw Diefenbaker spend two days in Quebec, after which he campaigned in Ontario. The next two weeks included a Western tour, with brief returns to Ontario, the most populous province. The final two weeks saw Diefenbaker spend much of the time in Ontario, though with brief journeys east to the Maritimes and Quebec and twice west to Saskatchewan. He returned to his riding for

16330-467: The remainder of the second week of the campaign returning to, and in, Ottawa. The third week opened with a major speech in Quebec City, followed by intensive campaigning in Ontario. The fifth week was devoted to the Maritime provinces and Eastern Quebec. The sixth week opened with a major rally in Ottawa, before St. Laurent returned to the Maritimes and Quebec, and the final week was spent in Ontario before St. Laurent returned to his hometown of Quebec City for

16472-459: The responsibility of this party to lay the foundations of this nation for a great and glorious future. Diefenbaker's speeches contained words which evoked powerful emotions in his listeners. His theme was that Canada was on the edge of greatness—if it could only get rid of its incompetent and arrogant government. He stressed that the only alternative to the Liberals was a "Diefenbaker government". According to Newman, Diefenbaker successfully drew on

16614-560: The specific amounts it would be raised by. The Liberals were content to rest on their record in foreign affairs, and doubted that the Tories could better them. In a radio address on May 30, Minister of Transport George Marler commented, "You will wonder as I do who in the Conservative Party would take the place of the Honourable Lester Pearson, whose knowledge and experience of world affairs has been put to such good use in recent years." Diefenbaker, however, refused to concede

16756-441: The stomach and saying "Looks like you've been eating pretty well under a Liberal government." At another rally, Howe dismissed a persistent Liberal questioner, saying "Look here, my good man, when the election comes, why don't you just go away and vote for the party you support? In fact, why don't you just go away?" The Liberals concluded their campaign with a large rally at Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens on June 7. Entertainment at

16898-442: The train passed through, the Liberals allowed ample time for "Uncle Louis" to shake hands with voters, pat their children on the head, and kiss their babies. In British Columbia, St. Laurent took the position that there were hardly any national issues worth discussing—the Liberals had brought Canada prosperity and all that was needed for more of the same was to return the party to office. After touring Western Canada, St. Laurent spent

17040-660: The turn of the century, voters in Western Canada began to consider an influx of radical political ideas. From the United States came Progressivism and the Non-Partisan League . From Britain , the new immigrants brought Fabian socialism . This mix of ideology and discontent led to discussion of forming an independent party, especially in the " Grain Growers' Guide ", a magazine of the day. The first organizations of agricultural protest were farmers’ organizations: Manitoba Grain Growers' Association , Alberta Farmers' Association , and

17182-585: The two major party campaigns crossed paths in Woodstock, Ontario . Speaking in the afternoon, St. Laurent drew a crowd of 200. To the shock of St. Laurent staffers, who remained for the Diefenbaker appearance, the PC leader drew an overflow crowd of over a thousand that evening, even though he was an hour late, with announcements made to the excited crowd that he was slowed by voters who wanted only to see him or shake his hand. Diefenbaker's intensive campaign exhausted

17324-426: The upcoming election would be lost to the Liberals regardless of who led the Tories. When Parliament convened in January, the Liberals introduced no major proposals, and proposed nothing controversial. Diefenbaker turned over his parliamentary duties to British Columbia MP Howard Green and spent much of his time on the road making speeches across the country. Diefenbaker toured a nation in which Liberal support at

17466-425: The upcoming increase in old age pension by an additional four dollars a month, St. Laurent refused to consider it, feeling that the increase had been calculated on the basis of the available facts, and those facts had not changed. During the Prime Minister's Western swing, St. Laurent made formal speeches only in major cities. In contrast to Diefenbaker's whistle-stop train touring, with a hasty speech in each town as

17608-399: The vote in federal elections. The Tories had enjoyed little success in Quebec in the past forty years. By 1956, the Social Credit Party was becoming a potential rival to the Tories as Canada's main right-wing party. Canadian journalist and author Bruce Hutchison discussed the state of the Tories in 1956: When a party calling itself Conservative can think of nothing better than to outbid

17750-406: Was a faction formed in 1924 by radical Progressives and were later joined by several Labour and independent MPs. They would eventually form the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (the forerunner of the modern New Democratic Party ). Others, especially the radical populists, would later turn towards Social Credit ideology, forming a definite line of western protest that continued to run through

17892-543: Was caught on CBC tape saying to St. Laurent, "I can no longer stand your hypocrisy, Sir" before tearing the St. Laurent poster. Attempts by Johnston to have the Liberal activist who pushed Hatton off the platform arrested failed, according to Johnston, on the ground that the police could find no witnesses. The CCF was a socialist party, which had much of its strength in Saskatchewan, though it ran candidates in several other provinces. At Parliament's dissolution in April 1957, it had 23 MPs, from five different provinces. Aside from

18034-447: Was defeated by a Liberal candidate. In the 1935 election , five Liberal-Progressives ran in Manitoba, four of whom were elected. One of these won over a Liberal candidate, while the defeated Liberal-Progressive was defeated by a Liberal. In Ontario, Hughes Cleaver won Halton on the Liberal-Progressive ticket, but afterwards allied himself with the Liberals. In the 1940 election , two Liberal-Progressives ran in Manitoba, of whom one

18176-403: Was defeated. He later joined the Liberals. **** Of the 9 United Farmers of Alberta MPs, 8 ran for re-election as CCFers and were defeated, the ninth ran as a Conservative and was also defeated. ***** Of the 3 Progressive MPs elected in 1930, one, Agnes Macphail, ran in 1935 as a UFO-Labour candidate and was re-elected, a second, Milton Neil Campbell , resigned in 1933 to become vice-chairman of

18318-572: Was elected. Two Liberal-Progressives ran in Ontario. Both were elected. "National Liberal Progressive" was a political label used in the federal election of 1940 , by W. Garfield Case, in Grey North electoral district in Ontario . Case listed 'Insurance manager' as his profession. He won 2,434 votes, 15.5% of the popular vote. The election was won by the Liberal Party candidate, William P. Telford. When Telford resigned on 9 December 1944, to provide

18460-402: Was formed in 1934 between the provincial Liberals under Mitchell Hepburn , and the Progressive bloc of Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) under Harry Nixon . Nixon had been elected with the United Farmers of Ontario (UFO) and served in cabinet of E. C. Drury as Provincial Secretary and Registrar of Ontario when the party formed government in 1919. By the end of its term in 1923,

18602-493: Was guilty of wishful thinking. Diefenbaker was even more confident in public; after he concluded his national tour and returned to his constituency, he addressed his final rally in Nipawin, Saskatchewan : "On Monday, I'll be Prime Minister." St. Laurent was utterly confident of an election victory, so much so that he did not even bother to fill the sixteen vacancies in the Senate . He had been confident of re-election when Drew led

18744-545: Was not just western opposition to the tariff and eastern economic power, It was an occupational or class movement with a realistic chance at federal political influence. Over 1919 and 1920 several federal by-elections were won by "United Farmers" candidates. In June 1919, Thomas Crerar , Minister of Agriculture in the Unionist government of Robert Borden , quit the Borden cabinet because Minister of Finance Thomas White introduced

18886-455: Was not returned in the 1943 election while Patterson was re-elected as a straight Liberal. While he never sat as a Liberal-Progressive, Farquhar Oliver was first elected as a UFO MLA in 1926 and sat informally with the Liberal caucus beginning in 1934, when Hepburn formed government, while remaining a UFO MLA until 1941 when he officially joined the Liberals and was appointed to cabinet as minister of public works. Oliver would serve as leader of

19028-508: Was not universal within the party. Given the autonomy of individual members and lack of formal party organization, some argue that the Progressives are better termed a "movement" rather than a party. The Progressive Party is commonly perceived as a western protest party, but in fact more Progressive MPs were elected in Ontario (with a sitting provincial farmers' government) than in Alberta in the 1921 election. The party had strong support among western voters, although they were few when compared to

19170-523: Was only in the 1934 election that a formal alliance between the Progressives and Liberals began, returning four Liberal-Progressive MLAs (Nixon, Douglas Campbell of Kent East , Roland Patterson of Grey North and James Francis Kelly of Muskoka ). Liberal-Progressive leader Harry Nixon was provincial secretary in Liberal Premier Mitchell Hepburn 's cabinet from its inception in 1934. He and Kelly ran for re-election as Liberals in

19312-413: Was re-elected in the 1935 federal election as a United Farmers of Ontario – Labour candidate but was defeated running under the same banner in the 1940 federal election . Notes: * not applicable – the party was not recognized in the previous election ** Robert Henry Halbert was elected as UFO in 1921, ran for re-election as a Progressive in 1925 but was defeated. Notes: * not applicable –

19454-431: Was replaced by Douglas Campbell . Although the party was dominated by its "Progressive" wing, it had become popularly known as the Liberal Party by the 1940s. (The national Progressive Party had vanished by this time.) It changed its name to the Manitoba Liberal Party in 1961, against only scattered objections from diehard Progressives. Progressive Party of Canada The Progressive Party of Canada , formally

19596-408: Was saying even less than the Prime Minister, though saying it more shrilly and with evangelistic fervour ... Mr. Diefenbaker has chosen instead to cast himself as the humble man in a mood of protest, the common Canadian outraged by Liberal prosperity, the little guy fighting for his rights. So far as the crowds mean anything, that posture is a brilliant success at one-night stands. On June 6,

19738-470: Was still around. The Liberals made no new, radical proposals during their campaign, but instead ran a quiet campaign with occasional attacks on the opposition parties. They were convinced that the public still supported their party, and that no expensive promises need be made to voters. St. Laurent was made the image of the nation's prosperity, and the Liberals refused to admit any reason for discontent existed. When Minister of Finance Harris proposed raising

19880-429: Was succeeded by Minister of Justice Louis St. Laurent , a bilingual Quebecer who took office at the age of 66. An adept politician, St. Laurent projected a gentle persona and was affectionately known to many Canadians as Uncle Louis. In actuality, St. Laurent was uncomfortable away from Ottawa, was subject to fits of depression (especially after 1953), and on political trips was carefully managed by advertising men from

20022-425: Was the fifth man to lead the Tories in their 21 years out of power. None had come close to defeating the Liberals; the best performance was in 1945, when John Bracken secured 67 seats for the Tories. The Liberals, though, had won 125 seats, and maintained their majority. In the 1953 election, the PC party won 51 seats out of the 265 in the House of Commons. Subsequently, the Tories picked up two seats from

20164-432: Was their loss if they did not pay attention, as the country would be theirs to worry about far longer than it would be his. St. Laurent and the Liberals suffered other problems during the campaign. According to Newman, St. Laurent sometimes seemed unaware of what was happening around him, and at one campaign stop, shook hands with the reporters who were following him, under the apparent impression they were local voters. On

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