Gift from Washington

All through Canada's eight-week election campaign, Conservative Prime Minister John Diefenbaker and Liberal Leader Lester Pearson were politicians in search of an issue. The crowds turned out in numbers, but the oratory sounded as if it were from a leftover LP record, and this time the campaigners were playing the dull side. In the final stage of the campaign, just when he seemed to be running out of things to say, John Diefenbaker decided that he had found his issue.

It came, an unexpected present, from Defense Secretary Robert McNamara in Washington.

The presence of U.S.-built Bomarc anti-aircraft missiles on Canadian soil was the subject that originally triggered the election. Asked about Bomarcs while testifying before the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee last Feb. 13, McNamara made a general defense of the weapons, no matter where they were based*: "At the very least they would cause the Soviets to target missiles against them and thereby increase their missile requirements, or draw missiles onto these Bomarc targets that would otherwise be available for other targets."

Happy Days. Had he wanted to--and he obviously did not--McNamara could hardly have presented Diefenbaker with a better opening. Ever since the first Bomarc agreement in 1958, Diefenbaker's government had stalled about equipping the missiles with nuclear warheads, until at last the U.S. publicly accused Canada of reneging on its defense commitments. Combined with Diefenbaker's dillydallying performance on domestic issues, the uproar was enough to bring down his shaky government. Now he saw a chance to vindicate himself and, on TV, proceeded to twist McNamara's words to his political advantage. "That means that we are just a decoy to draw fire," said Diefenbaker. To reporters, he was exultant. "Happy days are here," he chortled. "This has really put the skids under Pearson. This is the knockout blow." Gleefully he added: "It came at just the right time."

In Victoria. B.C., Lester Pearson tried to shrug it off: "It's his rug, not mine." Diefenbaker was the one who brought the Bomarcs to Canada, Pearson recalled.

Even so, Pearson had come out in favor of nuclear warheads for the Bomarcs. And throughout the campaign, he had attacked Diefenbaker for his anti-Americanism. "I've been charged with being soft on Communism," said Pearson at one point. "Now I'm charged with being soft on Americans. I'm making progress." It was a quip then. But Diefenbaker's manipulation of McNamara's words had obviously put Pearson on the defensive.

Looking for a Precedent. Going into the final week, the impression was widespread that Pearson and the Liberals were ahead, but not decisively. Many thought that the Liberals might win about 120 seats, short of the 134 seats needed to form a majority government in Parliament. Ontario was strongly Liberal; the prairies, prosperous from grain sales to Red China, were for Diefenbaker. But Quebec flamed with French Canadian nationalism and the demagoguery of Social Credit Leader Real Caouette, and the west coast was split every which way.

From the start, the Liberals had staked their campaign on the promise of "stable government," arguing that they were the only party capable of winning a majority. Diefenbaker, with his emotional Chautauqua-style campaigning, was conducting a surprisingly strong campaign. If he finished not too far behind Pearson, there was a good chance that Diefenbaker might insistently hang onto office even though he might have fewer seats than the Liberals. There was a convenient precedent: in 1926, with 101 seats, Liberal Prime Minister Mackenzie King nonetheless clung to power for a time though the opposition held 116.

The betting was that in such circumstances, Diefenbaker would do the same. As Prime Minister, he has the technical right to remain in power until voted down in the House of Commons, and might well try to form a coalition with the funny-money Social Crediters. That possibility filled Lester Pearson with dismay. "I can think of nothing else much worse for Canada," he said, "except war or complete domestic anarchy, than to have this country fall into the hands of a group of parties of such men as Mr. Diefenbaker and Mr. Caouette." With Diefenbaker making the most of his gift from Washington, it was a possibility that could not be ignored.

* Eight sites in the U.S., two in Canada.

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