John George Diefenbaker, who became the voice of the Saskatchewan prairie, was born in Ontario in 1895. His family moved west in 1903. His father was of German descent, his mother Scottish. His very name, "Diefenbaker," seemed to mark him as an outsider.
At 15 Diefenbaker chanced to meet and impress Sir Wilfrid Laurier, and it was not long before young John showed his own knack for politics and oratory. He spoke on "Canada's Future" at his high school graduation and was a star debater in university. He graduated in law after serving in World War I. As a criminal lawyer, he successfully took on unpopular causes, but the political life was his real ambition.
Defeat and Persistence
Diefenbaker's political rise is a lesson in persistence. He ran for Parliament in 1925 and 1926, losing both times. He lost races for the provincial legislature in 1929 and for mayor of Prince Albert in 1933. As party leader, he led the Saskatchewan Conservatives to complete defeat in 1938. They won no seats.
Once he was finally elected to Ottawa in 1940, he sat in opposition for 17 years, a renegade in his own party who championed the rights of "average" Canadians, and upset wealthy Tory supporters.
He lost two leadership races. The party's "Old Guard" distrusted his policies and populism. Finally elected Progressive-Conservative leader in 1956, Diefenbaker never forgot who had opposed him.
Prime Minister
Diefenbaker became Canada's 13th prime minister in 1957 when he defeated Louis St. Laurent's astonished Liberals on a "Canada First" theme of building "one Canada" with "equal opportunity" for every individual and every province. He told Canadians they had "an appointment with destiny" and took 111 seats to the Liberals' 105, forming a minority government.
It was a very energetic and popular government, and in a second election in January 1958, Diefenbaker's Tories swept the nation. They won 205 seats, the largest majority in history. Voters had been carried away by the eloquence of a man who presented them with a vision of a new "people's" Canada developing its great northern frontier.
The Chief in Power
Riding the crest of his enormous majority, Diefenbaker was able to push through some legislation that reflected his populist philosophy. As an experienced criminal lawyer sensitive to the legal position of citizens, he was particularly proud of the Canadian Bill of Rights.
His government at last gave Native people the right to vote in federal elections. He restructured social programs to provide more aid to the needy. His "northern vision" inspired some economic development of the Far North.
Internationally, Diefenbaker played a key role in forcing the apartheid government of South Africa out of the British Commonwealth.
Troubles at Home
Diefenbaker's government began to encounter trouble from the start. The economy entered a serious recession. Unemployment reached post-war highs, and the government seemed unable to produce the prosperity Canadians had come to take for granted.
A political loner for decades, Diefenbaker the Prime Minister distrusted the federal bureaucracy. Instead, he relied on political cronies for advice. He did not organize the Office of the Prime Minister, nor did he carry out his promises of parliamentary reform.
Diplomacy and Defence
Diefenbaker also suffered diplomatic setbacks. Britain resented his attacks on its attempts to enter the European Common Market and the US bridled at Diefenbaker's economic nationalism and his confused defence policy.
After entering the North American Air Defence Command, the Diefenbaker government bought expensive nuclear defence systems, then refused to buy nuclear warheads, rendering them useless. Both the government and the country were divided about whether Canada should become a member of the nuclear "club."
Diefenbaker also cancelled construction of the Avro Arrow, a supersonic fighter touted as a symbol of advanced Canadian technology, and bought American Bomarcs instead. The reasons were sound: there were enormous cost overruns, and no other countries wanted the plane, but Tory mismanagement of the decision created a public relations disaster.
The Cuban Missile Crisis
Diefenbaker and US President John Kennedy disliked each other intensely. Their animosity came to a head in 1962. When Russian nuclear missiles were discovered in Cuba, Kennedy blockaded the island to stop Soviet vessels. The result was an international crisis, a showdown of the Cold War powers.
Kennedy called for solidarity, but Diefenbaker hesitated for three days, constantly changing his mind over putting the Canadian military into defence preparedness. Diefenbaker claimed that he had not been "consulted" and was, therefore, not bound by any agreements. He did not convince the Canadian people, who felt that when the country was threatened the PM could not make up his mind.
Québec and the End of the Road
Diefenbaker battled with the Québec Tories, and his calls for "unhyphenated" Canadians and "one nation" rankled Quebeckers, who regarded him as unsympathetic to their distinctiveness. The beginning of Québec's "Quiet Revolution" in 1960 seemed to make the Conservatives, who had swept the province in 1958, the enemies of change.
Diefenbaker clung to power in a minority situation after the 1962 election. Crises involving defence policy destroyed the unity of his government and led to its defeat in the 1963 election. Diefenbaker clung to the party leadership until he was overthrown in 1967.
The Chief's Last Days
Even in defeat, the Chief was unbowed. He continued to sit in the Parliament he loved, a thorn in the side of Liberal and Conservative alike. He was elected for a thirteenth time in May, 1979. He died in August of the same year.
His last public act was his own funeral, which he had planned well in advance. When the train that carried his casket crossed the country from Ottawa to Saskatoon, mourners stood beside the track to pay their last respects to the man who, for all his foibles and failures, is still remembered for his fiery oratory, his affection for the people, and his inspiring vision of a great Canada.
