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John George Diefenbaker, CH, PC, QC, BA, MA, LL.B, LL.D, DCL, FRSC, FRSA, D.Litt, DSL, (18 September 1895 – 16 August 1979) was the 13th Prime Minister of Canada (1957 – 1963). Diefenbaker was known by several nicknames during his career, "J.G.D." and "The Leader" (a monicker that continued to be applied to him even after his leaving the post of prime minister), but most affectionately as "Dief the Chief," (or simply "the Chief").
Early career
Prime Minister of Canada Diefenbaker's oratory skill and a desire for change by the populace propelled him to victory in the 1957 election, after which he was able to form a minority government. Soon afterwards, Lester Pearson took over the Liberal leadership, and in his first speech he asked Diefenbaker to hand power back to the Liberals because of the recent economic decline. In a scathing two-and-a-half hour response, Diefenbaker revealed a formerly classified Liberal file that predicted the economic malaise. The "arrogant" label that had been on the Liberals in 1957 stayed. Diefenbaker returned to the polls in the 1958 election. Running on a campaign of building a "Canada of the North", increasing subsidies and development in the northern parts of the country, and on increasing social programs, Diefenbaker's message hit harder in English Canada. The biggest surprise was in Quebec, where the Union Nationale political machine was put into use for the Tories. On election night, Diefenbaker won the largest majority government in Canadian history. However, as Peter C. Newman would write: "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." His first Commonwealth leaders meeting went over well, until he made an offer to the United Kingdom to bring 15% of Canada's trade with the United States to the UK. Since the proposal violated many international agreements, the UK instead proposed a Free Trade Agreement. Diefenbaker's Cabinet strongly recommended against it, and the 15% figure never came up again. Relations considerably cooled between the UK and Canada. Diefenbaker soon ran into economic problems. With a recession already looming by the time he came in, increased deficits hurt the economic picture more. Diefenbaker blamed Liberal policies of tight money. Out of this sprang the Governor of the Bank of Canada, James Coyne. Coyne heavily criticised the government's financial record, saying that the country was relying too much on exports to the United States, and that a tightening was needed. The Government rejected his advice, and tried to get rid of Coyne for playing politics with his position. While the House of Commons passed a bill declaring his position vacant, the Liberal-controlled Canadian Senate rejected it. Nevertheless, Coyne resigned the next day. The main bank manager criticising the Government gave a feeling of chaos to international investors, which prompted many to withdraw capital from Canada. The ensuing crunch heavily limited economic growth. Diefenbaker made what some believe to have been one of the most controversial policy decisions of the last century in Canada when his government cancelled the development and manufacture of the Avro Arrow. The Arrow was a Mach 2 supersonic jet interceptor built by A.V. Roe Canada (Avro Canada), in Malton, Ontario to defend Canada in the event of a Soviet nuclear bomber attack from the north. During its production, the Canadian government purchased American-made Bomarc missiles as a means of bomber defense, leading to the cabinet decision to cancel the Avro Arrow and its Orenda Iroquois engine on 20 February 1959, forever known as "Black Friday" in Canadian industry. After cancelling the technologically advanced interceptor project, he obtained CF-101 Voodoo interceptors in 1961 from the United States. Dwight Eisenhower was president when Diefenbaker became prime minister and the two fostered a strong friendship. His hostility to the United States Kennedy administration would be pronounced. During the Cuban Missile Crisis, Diefenbaker was annoyed at the failure of President John F. Kennedy to consult with him ahead of time, which led Diefenbaker to be skeptical of the seriousness of the situation. This caused him to fail to act quickly on an American request to put Canadian forces on Defcon 3 status. The Minister of National Defence, Douglas Harkness, defied Diefenbaker by putting the military on high alert two days prior to Cabinet's decision to authorize the move. Diefenbaker was also instrumental in bringing in the Canadian Bill of Rights in 1960. This was the first attempt to articulate the basic rights of Canadian citizens in law. Because the Bill of Rights was an ordinary federal statute and not a part of the Canadian Constitution, it did not codify such rights in an enforceable way, since it could not be used by courts to nullify federal or provincial laws that contradicted it (An official would comment, "It's great, unless you live in one of the provinces."). Thus its effect on the decisions of the courts, unlike the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms of 1982, was limited. The lack of economic progress and the lack of an active UN political machine in Quebec helped the Progressive Conservatives lose their majority in the 1962 election. Immediately afterward, Diefenbaker's minority government began a program to reduce government spending, and raise tariffs and bank interest rates. He then reorganized his Cabinet, moving Finance Minister Donald Fleming into the Minister of Justice portfolio, replacing him with George C. Nowlan. In September 1962, Diefenbaker attended the Conference of Commonwealth Prime Ministers in London, where he attacked Britain's prospective entry into the European Economic Community, stating it would be at the expense of Canada's increased economic dependence on the United States. He also criticized South Africa's policy of apartheid, and successfully opposed its readmission into the Commonwealth after it declared itself a republic. Diefenbaker's final term of office saw the escalation of a nuclear arms question brought on by the imported Bomarc missiles and the Voodoo aircraft that had replaced the Avro Arrow. Diefenbaker rejected American nuclear warheads being put in missiles. The already strained relationship deteriorated faster, and a Cabinet split further undermined the government. Social Credit and the CCF withdrew their support of the government, prompting its fall over the nuclear arms question. Diefenbaker used Congressional testimony about the Bomarc missiles to accuse Pearson of making Canada a target for a nuclear war, and accused American media outlets and the US government of interfering with the election. Party leader and Member of Parliament Diefenbaker lost the 1963 federal election to Lester Pearson and the Liberals. Nevertheless he continued as PC party leader after the 1963 election, serving as Leader of the Opposition. In the 1964 Great Flag Debate, he led the opposition to the Maple Leaf flag, which he castigated as the "Pearson Pennant", arguing for the retention of the Canadian Red Ensign. There were early calls for Diefenbaker's retirement, especially from the Bay Street wing of the party. At the February, 1964 PC Convention, a secret ballot on his leadership was held. Diefenbaker held on by a very narrow margin. Diefenbaker would be introduced to the convention by Joe Clark, president of the Student Federation whose delegates were seen as the vote that tipped the balance. Clark described when he first saw Diefenbaker in High River, Alberta, and Diefenbaker's bravery at standing for the vote. Diefenbaker emotionally accepted the result, and said, "If there were no other rewards in public life than to have done what was stated by the brilliant Joe Clark, I would have been rewarded more than I could hope for." To the surprise of many, he ran an aggressive, nationalistic campaign in the 1965 election, which Pearson had called in the expectation that the Liberals would win a majority. Growing dissatisfaction with his leadership, however, led to open dissension within the party, headed by Party president Dalton Camp. There was a fear within the party that even though ditching Diefenbaker would probably improve Eastern results, they might lose the Western seats Diefenbaker brought to the party. Anti-Diefenbaker efforts by Camp and others resulted in a leadership review, a measure for which there was no provision in the party's constitution. The Progressive Conservatives called a leadership convention in 1967. Although Diefenbaker stood as a candidate for the leadership, against the proposed Deux Nations policy, he was defeated by Nova Scotia Premier Robert Stanfield. His exit was considered the most emotional moment of the convention. Diefenbaker retained his parliamentary seat for the next twelve years until his death, while also serving as the chancellor at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon beginning in 1969. He was a favourite of the Press Gallery, and would frequently make snide remarks about other Conservatives. This reached a head in 1979, when he joked that Canada had celebrated the International Year of the Child by electing Joe Clark, who as a student had defended Diefenbaker. Death
Legacy
Supreme Court appointments Diefenbaker recommended to the Governor General that the following be appointed as Justice to the Supreme Court of Canada: Honours Trivia In 1967, the boyhood home of Diefenbaker was moved from Borden, Saskatchewan, to Wascana Park in Regina, Saskatchewan. In 2001, the Wascana Centre Authority shut the site to visitors and, in 2004, it was moved to the Sukanen Ship and Pioneer Village Museum, 13 km south of Moose Jaw. With the exception of recent Prime Ministers: Kim Campbell, Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin, Diefenbaker is the only former Prime Minister alive at the time of the creation of the Order of Canada not to receive the honour. Sitting politicians are not permitted to be given the order while in office and since Diefenbaker did not leave the House of Commons before his death, he never became eligible. A number of fallout shelters constructed for the Canadian Government were nicknamed "Diefenbunkers" after Diefenbaker, a nickname which persists to this day in describing the many government fallout shelters. The television show Due South had a wolf character who was named "Diefenbaker," after the Prime Minister. The star of that show, Paul Gross, would eventually play Diefenbaker himself in the Tommy Douglas miniseries Prairie Giant. A planet in the BattleTech Wargame universe was also named after the late Prime Minister. In Israel, a hill trail connecting battle sites of the 1948 Independence War, is named after Diefenbaker, who was considered a strong supporter of the fledgling Jewish state. The trail connects Sha'ar HaGay on the Jerusalem - Tel Aviv road to a war memorial dedicated to Israeli soldiers who fell during fighting to break the siege of Jerusalem. Diefenbaker was a Freemason*. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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