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Wind
from the West | Avro Arrow |
Quiet Revolution |
Pearson
| Norad |
Liberals
win Quebec | NDP |
Economic Problems |
Bill of Rights
| The Flag |
FLQ | Expo
As the Liberals stagger to recover from
their loss in the 1957 Federal election and the
resignation of their leader, Louis St Laurent, most eyes
in the party looked towards Lester Bowles Pearson.
Pearson had made his reputation in external affairs, had
served a year as chairmen of the General Assembly of the
United Nations and had been awarded a Nobel Peace Prize
for his solution to the 1956 Suez Crisis.
He easily defeated his
nearest rival, Paul Martin, during the leadership
convention and defiantly called for Prime Minister
Diefenbaker to either allow the Liberals to take over
the Government or call an election. Although Pearson was
an experienced and skilled manager of affairs at the UN
he was not accustomed to the rough and tumble chaos of
the House of Commons and was not completely in touch
with the Canadian public. The Conservatives won in a
landslide and Pearson's Liberals were reduced 49 seats.
As Diefenbaker's popularity began to wane
during his majority mandate and the Conservative party
begin to tear apart with internal infighting, Pearson
was learning the skills needed to succeed in Canadian
politics. He rebuilt party moral, recruited young
people, built up support across the country and repaired
his damage image with Canadians. When the 1962 election
was called the Liberals came close to winning the most
seats by doubling their total to 100 while the
Conservatives lost 92 seats dropping to just 118. The
real wrench in the electoral landscape was the 26 seats
which Real Caouette's Social Credit party picked up in
Quebec. The Liberals needed a dominate showing in Quebec
to win and Caouette had prevented that.
Diefenbaker was a
handicapped Prime Minister at best with no clear way
find support and a majority vote in the House. divisions
in the Conservatives were causing the party to
disintegrate and in early 1963 the Minister of Defence
resigned because he disagreed with Diefenbaker over the
question of Nuclear warheads in the new Canadian Bo marc
missiles. Pearson and the other parties saw their chance
and called for a confidence vote which the Conservatives
lost and were then forced to call an election, The
Conservatives then experienced a full scale revolution
with Cabinet Ministers jockeying to replace Diefenbaker.
This move failed but Diefenbaker was mortally wounded.
The Liberals gained
enough seats to defeat the Conservatives but not enough
t form a majority government. Pearson had 129 seats to
the Conservatives 95, the Social Credit 24 and the NDP
17.
Pearson led his party
in the unification of the Canadian armed forces choose a
new flag for Canada, which proved to be an emotional
debate, and had to deal with rising nationalistic forces
in Quebec. Federal-Provincial relations also began to
move onto centre stage as an issue and the Pearson
government tried o work out revenue sharing plans and
pension plans with the provinces.
By 1965 Pearson felt
that he could win a majority and called an election but
due to unfavourable press regarding potentially
scandalous actions of a few of his Cabinet Ministers he
was able to win only 131 seats, to the Conservatives 97,
the NDP's 21, Social Credit's 5 and other parties 11.
Pearson pushed ahead
and was able to expand welfare programs, provide
additional support to universities, developed programs
for aiding regional development and signed the auto pact
with the United States which lead to a boom in the
automobile industry in Canada. The biggest plus that
Pearson was able to capitalize was the centennial
celebrations that were quickly approaching in 1967. Expo
67 was to be a national celebration.
Pearson had decided to resign by 1967
believing that the time was right to have a new Liberal
leader try to win the elusive majority and he
specifically recruited star candidates from Quebec such
as Gerald Pelletier, Jean Marchand and Pierre Trudeau.
His career in politics and as Prime Minister was an
effective successful one with many highlights and
achievements but when e departed the political stage the
60s; were in full swing and it was time for a new
generation of leaders. |
