Prime Ministerial Series Blog Posting – Now With 87% More Facts!
Today’s installment of my prime ministerial series was generously written by guest blog writer and our resident Canadian historian here on Not To Be Trusted With Knives, Sarah. Which explains why, unlike the ones I write, this posting contains more than just a rip-off of the Wikipedia entry. Thanks, Sar!
13th Prime Minister of Canada
Born: September 18, 1895 in Neustadt, ON
Died: August 16, 1979 in Ottawa, ON (buried in SK)
In office: June 21, 1957 to April 22, 1963
Nicknames: “The Chief”, “Dief”, “The Prairie Populist”
The Essential Dief
Previous Occupation: Criminal Defense Lawyer
Federal Ridings: Lake Centre, SK (riding abolished in 1953) and Prince Albert, SK
Best Known For: Bombastic speeches (which MP Eugene Forsey likened to “loud detonations in a dense fog”); enormous jowls
Famous Quotes:
“I’ll have my place in history.”
“My baby cows will soon know how to shit.” – delivered in French, while attempting to say “I hope my wishes will be well-received.”
Most Famous Quote:
“Canadians have an appointment with Destiny!” – said with great fanfare to cheering throngs. “What did it mean? No one knew, but it didn’t matter. It was Destiny! And we had an appointment!” – Will Ferguson.
Early Political Record, by the Numbers
Local politics
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1 win – alderman, 1920
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2 losses – alderman re-election, 1923; mayor of Prince Albert, 1933
Provincial Politics
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0 wins (though became leader of SK Conservatives in 1936)
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3 losses -1929, 1933 and 1938 as leader, where the Conservatives lost every single seat
Federal Politics
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1 win (finally, in 1940)
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2 losses (1925, 1926)
Overall Record over 20 years: 2-6, .250
Attempts to assume leadership roles with federal Conservatives
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1942, party leader – Loss
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1943, house leader – Loss
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1948, party leader – Loss
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1953, house leader – Loss
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1956, party leader – WIN
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1957 federal election – SURPRISE WIN (due to general displeasure at long-standing Liberal rule)
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1958 federal election – Largest majority in history (only surpassed by Brian Mulroney in 1984)
After 47 years in the wilderness, Dief had arrived. However, as Peter C. Newman wrote: “[He] came to the toughest job in the country without having worked for anyone but himself, without ever having hired or fired anyone, and without ever having administered anything more complicated than a walk-up law office.”
Prime Ministerial Career Highlights
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Extended right to vote to First Nations (then known as “Status Indians”)
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Appointed first francophone Governor General: Georges Vanier
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Repealed discriminatory immigration barriers put in place by Mackenzie-King and maintained by St. Laurent
Prime Ministerial Career Lowlights
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“15 % Promise” to Great Britain
Basking in the rosy glow of his first Commonwealth leaders’ meeting, Diefenbaker decreed, without consulting his advisors or his Cabinet, that Canada would divert 15% of its total trade to the UK. This 15%, apparently chosen on a whim, represented $625 million a year, and stood in direct violation of the 1947 General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). Even his supporters were aghast, and insisted he back down. To salvage something, the UK proposed a Free Trade Agreement. Diefenbaker’s Cabinet strongly recommended against it as well, and the 15% figure never came up again. Relations between the UK and Canada were strained for years.
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Canadian “Bill of Rights”
Viewed by Diefenbaker as his crowing achievement, this bill was introduced in 1960. Though a noble idea, the bill was an ordinary federal statute (and not part of the yet-to-be-patriated Canadian Constitution), and was unenforceable in provincial courts. As one provincial official quipped: “It’s great, unless you live in one of the provinces.”
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Canceling the Avro Arrow Project
The Avro Arrow, a super-sonic, Canadian-made fighter plane, was designed by A.V. Roe Canada of Malton, ON. Magnificent and expensive, it was intended to protect Canada from Soviet Missile attacks via the Arctic. Cancelled on Friday, February 20th, 1959 (“Black Friday” in the Canadian aviation industry), it led to a mass exodus of Canadian engineering ingenuity and signaled the end of home-grown military development.
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Bomarc Missile Debacle (as per Will Ferguson in Bastards and Boneheads)
“[Diefenbaker] accepted nuclear weapons onto Canadian soil by accident. Having cancelled the Avro Arrow, Diefenbaker purchased American Bomarc surface-to-air missiles in its stead, without realizing that (a) Bomarcs were designed to carry nuclear warheads, and (b) he had vowed to keep Canada a nuclear-free zone. Once these simple facts were pointed out to him, Diefenbaker frantically tried to come up with a solution. He ended up stuffing the Bomarcs with sandbags of ballast, making them the world’s most expensive blanks: $685 million worth of duds. His defense minister quit in disgust, and in the ensuing election, Diefenbaker was defeated.”
Links:
http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/2/4/h4-3331-e.html
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2005/09/18/diefenbaker_day_20050918.html (most unflattering photo ever)
Image credit: From from the Library and Archives Canada, copyright is expired. I could only seem to find copyright free photos of young Dief, so be sure to check out the “most unflattering photo ever” in the link above).
Jesus! Did you find that picture by googling “Worst picture of anyone ever?”
Ask your wife – she found that pic. Hence her comment that Dief was best known for “enormous jowls.”
Great post. I don’t know what you’re talking about, Beth. I *love* your PM series!
That picture — the third one that comes up when you do a Google Image Search for Dief. I’m glad that you like the post, though. Dief was something else!
[…] remember anything I hear in a lecture beyond the final exam. As well, resident historian Sarah, of Dief guest blog posting fame, once taped the Trudeau movie starring Colm Feore, for me. Like on a VHS tape (we are old). […]
I'm "late to the party" but the pose is *quintessential* Diefenbaker. I met him once at his cottage in Prince Albert National Park. In a non-political environment he was exactly like his wife Olive: a genuinely gracious person with interests that extended far beyond politics and government.
Incidentally, Beth, you might want to augment your PM series with the best Prime Minister that Canada never had: Robert Lorne Stanfield. A bit before your time but the research will do you well.
Stanfield, eh? You've intrigued me! I'll have to look into this! Have any recommendations for books on the subject?
A few enquiries and this seems to be the only recommended book — there could be others and they, too, could be good or, even, better but my enquires came back with this one:
http://www.amazon.ca/Robert-Stanfields-Canada-Per…
Interestingly enough, ABEBOOKS has 17 listings … none in Canada.