Talk:Canadian federal election, 1957/International media coverage

Australian coverage

The Age

Unattributed, "Poll today in Canada; Govt. party tipped", The Age, 10 June 1957, p. 3
From the AAP, June 9;

Canadians will go to the polls tomorrow to decide whether the Liberal party's 22-years in power will be continued.

At stake will be 265 seats in the House of Commons, being contested by four parties – the Liberals, the Progressive Conservatives, the Social Credit Party, and the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (Socialist).

One hundred and thirty-three seats will be necessary to form a Government. In the last Parliament, elected in 1953, the Liberals held 170 seats.

Most political observers expect the Liberal Government of the Prime Minister (Mr. Louis St. Laurent) to win the election, but with its majority severely cut.

Unattributed, "Canadian poll a big victory for Conservative party", The Age, 12 June 1957, p. 1 From the AAP, June 11;

John Diefenbaker, who will be the new Prime Minister of Canada, can count the defeat of the Liberal Government in large part a personal victory.

From the time Mr. Diefenbaker, a 61-year-old Saskatchewan lawyer, took over the leadership of the Progressive Conservative party in December last year, he looked ahead to yesterday's elections.

While Parliament sat he spent almost as much time away from Ottawa, campaigning throughout the country, as he did in his Commons seat.

When the election fight began in earnest six and a half weeks ago, Mr. Diefenbaker opened the throttle on one of the most strenuous personal campaigns undertaken in recent Canadian political history.

With a rolling, somewhat old-fashioned style of oratory, he made more than 100 speeches and logged more than 20,000 miles in crossing the country twice.

Deep dedication —

He drew big crowds almost everywhere he went. No hecklers crossed verbal swords with him as they did with other leaders.

Last night, as the results became known, Mr. Diefenbaker, said from Regina that if his party formed the Government he would keep faith with the Canadian people.

"This is a moment of deep dedication rather than elation," he said.

Those who travelled with him knew the gruelling pace he set. He kept up his strength with frequent naps and by drinking plenty of milk – he neither smokes nor drinks alcohol.

His only rest came on Sundays. A Baptist, he refused to campaign on the Sabbath.

Mr. Diefenbaker is married but has no children.

Latest figures indicate the Progressive Conservatives will be able to form a minority Government, and will need the votes of two minor groups to hold office.

The Conservatives have won 110 seats, Liberals 103, Social Credit 19 and the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation 24.

Unattributed, "St. Laurent Ministry falls in Canada; Overwhelming win by Conservatives", The Age, 12 June 1957, p. 4
From the AAP, June 11;

The long-ruling Liberal party Government led by Mr. Louis St. Laurent fell yesterday in a stunning upset defeat at the hands of the Progressive Conservatives in Canada's general election.

The Progressive Conservative party, led by Mr. John Diefenbaker, will probably form Canada's new Government.

Returns compiled by the Canadian press early today allowed that the Opposition party broke the Liberals' 22-year regime in yesterday's balloting, but will not have an overall majority in the House of Commons.

Early today 110 Conservatives had been elected to the Liberals' 103 in the 265-member House. No other party was in the running. The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (C.C.F.), Canada's equivalent of the Australian Labor party, had 24 members elected and the Social Credit party 19.

Under normal procedure the Governor-General (Mr. Vincent Massey) will call on Mr. Diefenbaker, 61-year-old lawyer, who has been party leader only since last December, to form a Government.

Election of a minority Government poses the new Administration the problem of keeping Opposition groups satisfied or possibly having to go to the country again should they join forces against the Government.

Strategic positions —

It appeared to leave the socialist C.C.F. and the Social Credit party in strategic positions. On the basis of the late returns, both appeared to have made slight gains.

The C.C.F. had 22 seats at dissolution of the last Parliament, and the Social Credit party 15.

The C.C.F. leader, Mr. M. J. Coldwell, personally re-elected in Rosetown-Biggar (Saskatchewan), said last night his party would not join a coalition, but would be guided by what legislation a minority Government brought down in Parliament.

The Social Credit leader, Mr. Solon Low—returned in Peace River (Alberta)—said his party would not coalesce or amalgamate with other parties, but was prepared to co-operate with as long as the policies put forward by the new Government were in line with the Social Credit views.

"In particular, we will use our influence in Parliament to get a better deal for the farmers of Canada, to do away with the tight money policies of the Liberals, to reduce taxation and to bring the cost of living under control," he said.

Cabinet shattered —

In a post-election statement, Mr. St. Laurent went no further than to say he would continue his parliamentary duties as a member of the Commons and that he would come to Ottawa as soon as possible to decide with his colleagues what should be done in the face of complete election results.

The 75-year-old Liberal chief was re-elected in Quebec East, but his Cabinet was shattered in the Conservative upsurge. Nine of his Ministers—many of them senior members of the Government—were toppled.

The veteran Trade Minister, Mr. C. D. Howe, 72, who had been in the Cabinet since 1935 and was the Prime Minister's right-hand man, lost to a C.C.F. opponent, Mr. Douglas Fisher, a school teacher, in his riding of Port Arthur (Ontario).

Conservatives defeated the Finance Minister (Mr. Walter Harris), the Revenue Minister (Mr. James McCann), the Justice Minister (Mr. Stuart Garson), the Labor Minister (Mr. Milton Gregg), the Works Minister (Mr. Robert Winters), the Veterans' Minister (Mr. Hagues Lapointe), the Defence Minister (Mr. Ralph Campney) and the associate Defence Minister (Mr. Paul Hellyer).

Mr. Campney lost in Vancouver centre to Mr. Douglas Jung, a young Chinese lawyer, who becomes the first of his race to enter the Canadian Parliament.

Retains seat —

The External Affairs Minister (Mr. Lester Pearson) retained his Algoma East (Ontario) seat for the third time, defeating Mr. Merton Mulligan (Progressive Conservative).

The election win was the greatest upsurge of Conservative strength in 27 years. The Conservatives left the last Parliament with only 50 members in the Commons.

It will be the first time the party gained power since Mr. R. B. Bennett led it to victory in 1930. The Conservative Government went out in 1935, and Canada has had a succession of Liberal Administrations since.

"Pendulum in Canada swings at last", editorial, The Age, 13 June 1957, p. 2

CANADA, which in a few weeks celebrates the 90th anniversary of its foundation as a nation, has just experienced on of those electoral upsets of common occurrence in democratic countries. For 22 years—in fact, except for a break between 1930-1935, for 36 years—the Liberal party has governed in the British Commonwealth's oldest Dominion. Now the Progressive Conservative party has broken the Liberals' hold.

The Conservatives under Mr. Diefenbaker lack a clear majority and may find it difficult to form a Government. But the vote represents a rebuff to the Liberal Administration. As there is no Labor party on the British or Australian style, the the decision of the electorate must be regarded as a swing to the Right.

It is unlikely, however, that there is much political significance in this. Mr. St. Laurent's Government has led Canada through a period of unprecedented prosperity. The Canadian dollar stands superior even to the American dollar. Over a quarter of the national income has been lately devoted to capital investment.

Canada seems gradually to be moving towards the American pattern, the country providing its own market and the value of exports (particularly agricultural) as a proportion of the national income is declining. In 1935 Canada's gross national product was 4400 million dol. Last year it was 29,300 million dol. Wages have kept ahead of prices. The former Government financed the uranium boom, developed air, rail and road transport and other industries. Canada today appears on the world scene as a country with limitless opportunities.

The reason for the reverse is more probably the simple desire of the electorate for a change. Any Government long in office drops its guard against self-satisfaction, even arrogance. Reports had appeared abroad of the power wielded by the former Minister for Trade (Mr. Howe), who lost his seat. The supremacy of Parliament over the Government seemed sometimes in danger.

From the Commonwealth and overseas viewpoint, the most noticeable change, if the Conservatives form a Government, would be the loss of Mr. Lester Pearson as Foreign Minister. Canada's foreign policy is unlikely to be modified in any way. But under Mr Pearson's energy and diplomatic initiative Canada has been quickly gathering a reputation as the honest broker of international politics.

In Commonwealth affairs, the Colombo Plan, the United Nations and in NATO, Mr. Pearson has often taken the lead in forging new measures or breaking old deadlocks. Although Canada and Australia interpreted the Suez crisis differently, the two countries remained close in mutual understanding and assistance. Mr. Pearson is a figure of international repute and it is to be hoped his services to the Commonwealth will be still in some way available.

The Sydney Morning Herald

"Polling day in Canada", editorial, The Sydney Morning Herald, 10 June 1957, p. 2

It will be a major surprise if Canadian voters, who will go to the polls to-day for their first general election since 1953, decide that they want a change from Mr. St. Laurent's Liberal Government. Except for a five-year break between 1930 and 1935, the Liberals have been in power for the last 36 years. Canada continues to enjoy overwhelming prosperity, and, on the whole, extremely efficient administration at the Federal level. The Government has been attacked on a wealth of local and temporary issues, but nothing emerged during the campaign as a big national issue to upset the Liberals.

And, even if such an issue had arisen, there was no truly national Opposition party to exploit it. The Progressive Conservatives, under their new leader, Mr. John Diefenbaker, have been making a strenuous effort to establish themselves in this role, but without any conspicuous success. The Social Credit Party, which controls the provincial Governments of Alberta and British Columbia, made a big drive for support in eastern Canada with a similar end in view; but the result seems to have been negligible. The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, too, has made little headway by touting its socialist doctrines.

There has been no sign of any attempt by these three parties to form a united front, even for a strictly limited range of objectives, against the Liberals—who, at the dissolution in April, held 168 of the 265 seats in the House of Commons. The task facing each Opposition party is, therefore, so overwhelming as to be almost impossible. At the moment the Conservatives hold 50 seats, C.C.F. 22, and Social Credit 15. Their only hope is to reduce the number of Liberal seats to below 133, the minimum now necessary for an absolute majority. Obviously, if they can do this, there will be—at last!—satisfying scope for political manoeuvring.

But can they? It seems very doubtful. The Liberals may well—in fact, probably will—lose quite a number of the 50 seats they now hold in Ontario, whose overwhelmingly English-speaking population returns 85 members to the House of Commons. The reason is that the Progressive Conservatives have now patched up their damaging internal dispute in this province, whose Government they dominate. The provincial Premier, Mr. Leslie Frost, refused to support the former national Conservative leader, Mr. Drew; but he and Mr. Diefenbaker have buried the hatchet, with great benefit to the Federal Conservative candidates.

Quite apart from this, there is a local issue which, to Australians, sounds delightfully familiar. Messrs. Diefenbaker and Frost claim that the Federal Government, led by the Big Bad Wolf, Mr. St. Laurent (to his admirers, the benevolent Uncle Louis), has been taking too much in taxes and building up huge surpluses while the provinces are desperately hard pressed for funds. (Can it be that Mr. Frost and our own Mr. Cahill are, as it were, sisters under the skin?) But Uncle Louis just smiles, shakes hands, and kisses as many babies as possible. After all, does he not have a virtual monopoly on Quebec's 75 seats? And what, anyway, have the Conservatives found to criticise? Nothing—or, at any rate, nothing that can really disturb the genial, successful Uncle Louis.

Unattributed, "Canadians go to the polls", The Sydney Morning Herald, 11 June 1957, p. 3
From the AAP, June 10;

Canadians will vote to-day to decide whether the Liberal Party's 22 years in power will continue.

Nine million people are qualified to vote for the 860 candidates for the 265 seats in the House of Commons.

At the dissolution of Parliament (on April 12) the Liberals held 168 seats, the Progressive Conservatives 50, the Commonwealth Co-operative Federation (Socialist) 22, Social Credit Party 15, and Independents three. Seven seats were vacant.

None of the parties other than the Liberals and Conservatives is given a chance of winning anything like a majority.

The C.C.F., the Canadian equivalent of the Australian Labor Party, is regarded as a waning force. The most the Social Credit Party can hope for is that it might control the balance of power if the elections fail to give either the Liberals or the Conservatives a clear majority.

Some Ministers in danger —

The Social Credit Party is strongest in Western Canada, where it holds the Provincial Governments in British Columbia and Alberta. It has put up 115 candidates, making its strongest bid yet to emerge as a power on the Canadian national scene.

Several Cabinet Ministers last night were reported in danger of losing their seats.

The "New York Times" has predicted: "Most political observers expect the Liberal Government of Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent to win, but with its majority severely cut."

Unattributed, "Canadian Govt. defeated; Nine Ministers lose seats at election", The Sydney Morning Herald, 12 June 1957, p. 3
From the AAP, June 11;

The Liberal Party Government of Canada, led by Mr. Louis St. Laurent, fell yesterday in one of the nation's most crushing election upsets. The Prime Minister was himself re-elected in Quebec East, but nine of his Ministers lost their seats.

[...]

Mr. St. Laurent said he would continue his parliamentary duties as a member of the Commons.

He would come to Ottawa as soon as possible to decide what should be done as a result of the poll.

The Montral "Gazette" said to-day that the voting "was only what ought to happen" when a Government lost touch with the people.

The newspaper added: "It is still too early to predict what the effects of this extraordinary change in public opinion will be.

"But it does indicate that a two-party system can be restored in Canada, and this must have a profoundly reinvigorating influence upon the whole spirit of Canadian democracy."

"People were fed up" —

The Windsor "Daily Star" said: "Obviously much of the vote which went to the Conservatives was a protest vote. But Mr. Diefenbaker captured it in a manner no other Conservative leader has been able to do in more than two decades.

"People voted against the Liberal Government just because people were fed up with it. That Government had lost touch with the people. It had become smug, complacent and self-satisfied."

Mr. Diefenbaker, 61, was born in Grey County, Ontario, to a family of Liberal leanings. His father was successively a schoolteacher, farmer, land titles clerk and Federal Customs officer.

As a boy, Mr. Diefenbaker sold newspapers in Saskatoon (Saskatchewan).

Later, he studied law at the University of Saskatchewan. In 1939 he won election to the House of Commons.

He won the Conservative leadership last December on his third attempt.

Mr. Diefenbaker is married but has no children. He neither smokes nor drinks alcohol.

"Canada turns to the Tories", editorial, The Sydney Morning Herald, 13 June 1957, p. 2

The dramatic reverse suffered by the St. Laurent Liberal Government in the Canadian general election has surprised not only overseas spectators but Canadians themselves. Before the polling, political commentators were virtually unanimous that, although the Liberals might lose between 20 and 35 seats, they would still survive, fairly comfortably, as the party in power. This view was reinforced by the fragmented nature of the Opposition parties, and by the fact that the strongest of these, the Progressive Conservatives, seemed to have neither nation-wide support nor a policy with instant appeal to the electorate.

Well, all the pundits were wide of the mark. The Liberals lost no fewer than 65 seats, the Conservatives emerged as numerically the strongest party (though well short of a clear majority), and Mr. John Diefenbaker won a striking personal triumph. He must certainly have scored a success with the big television audiences, whose reactions were one of the campaign's imponderables. No one factor, however, accounts for the landslide against the Liberals. No doubt many people felt that the Liberals had wielded too much power for too long, but many other relatively minor issues helped to tip the scale.

Mr. Diefenbaker, for instance, made much of the theme that the Liberals had used their huge majority to treat Parliament with something approaching contempt. He attacked the mounting American influence on Canadian industrial and cultural life. He won much support in the depressed Atlantic provinces by offering Federal economic aid. He sympathised with Ontario over its tax dispute with Ottawa; and encouraged the prairie farmers, who want Federal help in emptying their overfull wheat-bins and who itch to share more fully in Canada's prosperity. He also promised lower taxes and higher old-age pensions.

This empirical approach, combined with a healthy desire to change the Government, has paid dividends. Mr. Diefenbaker can now, if he chooses, form a Government. How long it can last is quite another matter. It will need support from one or more of the other parties. His best chance seems to be to come to a working agreement with the Independents and with the Social Credit Party, many of whose leaders used to be Conservatives, and whose policies (as shown by the provincial Governments of Alberta and British Columbia) are in some ways more conservative than those of the Conservatives themselves. But a minority Government in Canada always has a precarious and short-lived existence; and another election may well be necessary soon.

Staff correspondent, "New political star on Canadian scene", The Sydney Morning Herald, 13 June 1957, p. 2

Unattributed, "Lack of majority may cause new Canadian election", The Sydney Morning Herald, 13 June 1957, p. 3