Canada 1919: Fielding Liberal leader

[RogueBeaver]

At the Liberal convention, switch 38 votes on the final ballot and Fielding beats King. Short and long-term consequences? Some I can think of: even greater Western alienation given Fielding's arch-conservative and arch-protectionist views. Westerners see he and Meighen as Tweedledum and Tweedledee. Progressives do better in the West but perhaps Fielding's protectionism helps him in Ontario. He and the Liberal right strongly favoured privatizing CNR, as desired by Beatty & Co. Given Fielding's age and poor health (70s, suffered a crippling stroke in 1923 as finance minister IRL) I don't see him surviving a full term. Liberal right does not have a younger, healthy candidate and the entire party wants an Anglo leader. Maybe RL's Speaker Rodolphe Lemieux if they can accept another Francophone so quickly, but IIRC he was more ideologically flexible than Gouin & Fielding. Gouin's age is OK but given his health issues in 1924 I could see him dying of a heart attack (as IRL) or stroke within a few years. So King would probably inherit the leadership unless the timing is right for Dunning.

[DC Al Fine]

I could see Canadian politics having a similar alignment to the rest of the Anglosphere because of this. It would give leftish voters a reason to abandon the Liberals. Canadian politics would be much more boring although our major left wing party would have more of a agrarian flavour than most.

[RogueBeaver]

Temporarily sure, but when King or Dunning becomes leader? Wouldn't the moderate Progressives come back?