DC Al Fine
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« on: November 11, 2015, 02:13:55 PM » |
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The election of 1944 did not give Robert Manion his conscription mandate.
Unionist: 35% (-4%), 95 seats (-16)
CCF: 35% (nc), 82 seats (nc)
Bloc Populaire: 9% (+9%), 37 seats (+37)
Social Credit: 6% (+2%), 21 seats (+8)
Liberal: 13% (-8%), 10 seats (-29)
Communist: 1% (+1%), 0 seats (nc)
Gouin’s decision to back the unity cabinet destroyed his leadership, as Quebecois voters defected to the Bloc Populaire. He was unable to win compensating votes in Anglo Canada,went down in defeat in his own riding, and resigned soon after the election. Social Credit’s anti-communist campaign found fertile soil among traditionalist Catholics, and the previously all-Alberta party returned a small Quebec caucus. The Unionist votes collapsed in Quebec and the party only returned a few Anglo-Montrealers. The CCF-Tory race was status quo elsewhere in Canada and the Communists failed to win a seat, coming close in a couple of industrial seats.
The unity cabinet continued as before sans the Liberals, who were in disarray. With the Liberals knocked out of cabinet and Gouin out of the leadership, the Bloc Populaire MP’s soon began to take out their Liberal membership cards and rejoin the Liberal caucus. Manion and Gillis continued in their tacit understanding that an election would be called after the war. In the spring of 1945, with the war drawing to a close, Robert Manion had a heart attack and died. Congenial backbencher Joseph Harris was appointed as interim leader and Prime Minister until a new leader could be selected.
The Tories faced a leadership election in the fall of 1945. With the war in Europe over and the government popular, they hoped to ride a wave of good tidings and win a majority government on the back of their new leader. After Manion’s win last time, the party’s right wing establishment quickly coalesced behind Ontario Premier George Drew. With most of cabinet behind him, Drew is a strong favourite. However several more progressive voices have put their names forward as well.
Meanwhile the Liberals are in disarray. After facing their worst ever result, it was expected that Arthur Cardin of the Bloc Populaire would simply absorb the Liberal caucus and assume the Liberal leadership unchallenged. However, Cardin bowed out of the race early on due to very poor health. He would die in 1946. Cardin’s departure left the door open for a more competitive race. While the Bloc Populaire formed a separate caucus in Parliament, many of the MP’s had strong Liberal ties and plenty of Liberal members had sympathies for the Bloc. As the convention opened in Montreal, the question of what direction the chronically losing Liberal should set loomed large in delegates minds.
George Drew, Premier of Ontario, MLA for High Park, ON
Premier of Ontario, George Drew is the establishment’s candidate and has convinced the party’s most traditionalist wing to support his candidacy so as not to allow the party progressives to win. His platform is blandly Protestant and centre right, focusing on free market, anti-union politics, pro-British nationalism and a strong national defence, including developing a nuclear arsenal. Drew’s support is relatively broad with a notable weakness in Francophone Quebec.
Howard Green Minister of Fisheries, MP for Vancouver South, BC
A minor cabinet minister under Manion and the sole non-CCF MP from British Columbia, Howard Green is running a one issue campaign, attacking nuclear weapons and promising never to develop an arsenal as Unionist leader. Green’s support is fairly even across Canada, although he has managed to build up a healthy support base among the well to do in his native Vancouver.
Camillien Houde, Mayor of Montreal, QC
Camillien Houde is something of a unicorn in Canadian politics; an anti-conscription Tory! He wants the Unionist party to apologize to Quebec for conscription during World War One and for some of their more excessive anti-Catholic rhetoric. He has virtually no support outside of Quebec.
William Rowe Former Leader of the Ontario Unionist Party, MP for Dufferin-Simcoe, ON
William Rowe is another peculiar member of the Unionists. A Protestant chauvinist, Rowe is prominent in the Orange Order of Ontario and backed the largely working class Protestant attempts to unionize General Motors in Ontario. Rowe’s campaign is twofold. Railing against “big business” and “Papists”, he promises a pro-union labour stance and promises to favour British immigration from the British Isles. He has built up a modest machine in some of the Protestant small towns of southern Ontario, particularly those with automobile plants. However, his anti-Catholic rhetoric has limited his support among the more Catholic working class in larger cities.
Frederic Dorion: Former deputy leader of the Bloc Populaire caucus, MP for Charlevoix-Saguenay, QC
A former Liberal, Dorion was Cardin’s deputy and leader of the Bloc’s traditionalist Catholic wing. Dorion has slammed the Liberals flirting with “Imperialist Anglos”, and promises to take the party back to it’s francophone roots, promoting Catholicism in the province and francophone rights in the rest of Canada. Dorion has courted controversy. His rabid anti-communism has earned the endorsement of Quebec Premier Maurice Duplessis, and he has accused Paul Martin of harbouring a secret pact with the Communist Party of Canada. Dorion’s support base is among the party’s rural Catholic hinterland in Quebec.
Paul Martin, Liberal Activist, Candidate for Essex East, ON
Paul Martin is the only Anglo Liberal who came even close to being elected in the most recent election. Martin argues that the Liberals Quebec-centric leadership has turned off Anglophone voters, who in turn vote CCF. Martin plans on revitalizing the Liberal’s moribund organization west of Quebec, and enacting a new flagship policy, universal, non-nationalized healthcare. Believing that CCF promises to nationalize healthcare have turned off otherwise progressive voters, Martin thinks that this promise can revitalize the Liberals among Anglos. Martin has near unanimous support from what’s left of the party’s Anglos, but has very little support from Francophones.
Charles Power, Liberal Defence Critic, MP for Quebec South, QC
Charles Power is the Liberal’s most senior MP now. He is promoting himself based on his ability to heal the divisions within the Liberal party. Power is an Anglo, but represents a Francophone riding, and is a devout Catholic. He also claims he can mediate the divide between former Bloquistes and those who stayed with the Liberals because he was an anti-conscription Liberal during World War One, who stayed in the party and the unity cabinet in World War Two. Power’s support is very broad but he does not have a strong machine in any particular region.
Louis St. Laurent, Liberal Justice Critic, MP for Quebec East, QC
A prominent lawyer and professor at Universite Laval, St. Laurent was nearly named to the Supreme Court under the Meighen government. St. Laurent took a pro conscription stance, but is more progressive on other issues. He is relatively irreligious without being anti-clerical, and is promising a large array of public works if elected Prime Minister including a trans-Canadian highway system. Although he is popular among progressive Francophones, his pro-conscription stance has hurt his campaign and his support is largely limited to the upper and middle classes of Montreal and Quebec City.
Usual rules apply. You can vote in one or both conventions. Three days per round. Voting continues until a candidate gets 50%+1
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