John Diefenbaker had won a majority government in 1958 (which would end up being the third largest majority government in Canadian history, with the winning party winning 208 seats) as the leader of the Progressive Conservative Party.
Diefenbaker was the first leader of a conservative party to turn Quebec away from the Liberal Party since the First World War, with only 25 of the province's remaining in Liberal hands. The only province that had more Liberal Members of Parliament was Newfoundland. No Liberals were elected in British Columbia, with four Co-operative Commonwealth Federation MPs being elected. The rest were Progressive Conservatives.
In the Comox-Alberni riding, Henry Carwithen McQuillan was elected as the riding's MP. A member of the Progressive Conservative party, McQuillan was born in Courtenay and was a logger.
Diefenbaker introduced the Bill of Rights in Parliament on Canada Day (then known as Dominion Day), 1960. The bill, which Diefenbaker had started working on in 1936 as a prosecutor, passed on August 10. He also extended voting rights to First Nations people in Canada, who had been disenfranchised since confederation.
While Diefenbaker was a dominating presence, he was a loner who distrusted his advisors and steered clear of anyone he deemed an intellectual superior, and often left domestic issues in the hands of their respective ministries. Foreign and defence policy was his bread and butter. Diefenbaker shared the same view on the Soviet Union as American President Dwight David Eisenhower. The Soviet Union, they agreed, was a threat, and the Canadian prime minister, without consultation in the cabinet, committed Canada to the North American Air Defence Agreement (NORAD) in 1957. He doubled down in 1958, allowing the United States to move two short-range Bomarc anti-aircraft missile bases in northern Ontario and Quebec. These missiles were armed with nuclear warheads.
However, Diefenbaker flip-flopped on some defence projects, cancelling the Canadian-designed Avro Arrow, an advanced interceptor aircraft, from being produced in Toronto.
In 1959, South Africa was still an apartheid state. Diefenbaker's administration and the Liberal Party were not critical of South Africa's government then. However, Diefenbaker was privately disgusted by South Africa's segregation. This all came to a head when white South Africans were heading to the polls for a referendum in 1960 on becoming a republic, but wished to maintain membership in the Commonwealth. Diefenbaker did not want to deny them membership, regardless of the referendum's outcome. After police killed 69 peaceful protesters in Sharpeville on March 21, 1960, and when the white South Africans referendum passed in favour of becoming a republic in October, Diefenbaker confronted the African country's External Affairs Minister Eric Louw. He urged Louw to allow his government to give South Africa's people of colour representation, which was denied by Louw and South Africa's Prime Minister Hendrick Frensch Verwoerd refused.
In March 1961, prime ministers of the Commonwealth gathered at the Prime Minister's Conference to decide if South Africa would be allowed to reenter the Commonwealth. Diefenbaker was torn on accepting or denying the segregated country back into the fold, but decided the best course would be to force a choice on South Africa. Refusing to condemn his country's discriminatory and racial principles, Verwoerd withdrew the application and left the meeting.
Eisenhower and Diefenbaker had a strong relationship. In January 1961, Eisenhower invited Diefenbaker to the White House to sign the Columbia River Treaty. It was Eisenhower's last act as president. In 1960, he lost the election to John Fitzgerald Kennedy. The relationship between the new president and Canada's prime minister was not very warm.
A renegotiation of nuclear Bomarc missiles increased tensions, with anti-nuclear sentiment in Canada being quite strong. Diefenbaker was unsure about storing them on Canadian soil. Kennedy pressured him by claiming it would make Canada a neutral country in the Cold War. Diefenbaker discovered a document calling for JFK to pressure Canada on this issue, among others. He kept it to use as leverage, instead of returning much to the frustration of his staff (and was leaked during the 1963 general election).
Before the 1963 election, there was one in 1962. Diefenbaker's majority was now a minority, with the Progressive Conservative Party winning 116 seats. The Liberals, still led by Lester B. Pearson, won 99. The Social Credit won 30 seats while the New Democratic Party of Canada won 19.
The New Democratic Party emerged from the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, merging with the Canadian Labour Congress in 1961, with Tommy Douglas, a long-time CCF Premier in Saskatchewan, as its leader. British Columbia, instead of Saskatchewan, ended up being the NDP's stronghold, including Comox-Alberni, where Thomas Speakman Barnett was reelected, now a member of the NDP.
1962 was also the first time Indigenous Canadians could vote and the first time the entire country's landmass was represented by a federal electoral district.
Quebec was also a battleground, split between the Social Credit, the Liberals and the Progressive Conservatives. The Liberals had the most seats, but the Social Credit was a close second. Diefenbaker could have made a deal with the Social Credit Party for a majority, but refused.
The government only lasted a year. Diefenbaker faced a coup from his cabinet, which wanted to replace him as the party's leader and as prime minister. The Bomarc missile controversy, which Diefenbaker opposed, caused Minister of National Defence Douglas Harkness to resign. More of his cabinet was poised to do the same. Realizing this, Diefenbaker announced he would resign with immediate effect and asked the Governor General to appoint Donald Fleming, minister of justice, as acting prime minister. He was persuaded not to go through with it, and then lost two non-confidence votes, forcing the House to dissolve on Feb. 6, 1963.
An election was triggered for April 8. Pearson's party was five seats short of a majority on election day and relied on the NDP to prop them up.
Barnett was again elected to the Comox-Alberni riding.
Pearson supported the Bomarc program, appeasing the Americans and NATO. He originally opposed them, but acknowledged Canada committed in 1958 to having the missiles located in Northern Ontario and Quebec.
Pearson also got to work updating social programs along with the NDP Leader Tommy Douglas. As premier of Saskatchewan, Douglas introduced the country's fire health care program, which was now being introduced to the entire country. Canada introduced a universal, publicly funded single-payer healthcare system for its citizens and permanent residents. Pearson's government also introduced the Canadian Pension Plan, Canada Student Loans, a new minimum wage for workers, the 40-hour work week and two weeks' vacation.
The new flag of Canada, the Maple Leaf designed by Mount Allison University historian George Stanley, was introduced as the new official flag of Canada in 1965 (Diefenbaker was opposed to this and campaigned for keeping the Union Jack and the Red ensign).
Hoping to win a majority, Pearson called an election three years early in November 1965. The gamble failed, only winning three more seats, again relying on the NDP to help them pass legislation. It was the second election Diefenbaker won, and he refused to resign. He was eventually forced to exit after party president Dalton Camp campaigned against him. Diefenbaker was replaced by Robert Stanfield after a 1967 leadership convention, reelection failed to go Diefenbaker's way. The NDP increased its seats by four and increased in popularity, but still finished third in the election. The Social Credit Party, however, had split in two before the election, with its Quebec contingent splitting to form the Ralliement cr茅ditiste (Social Credit Rally) party under R猫al Caouette.
Barnett also won reelection.
Pearson, retaining his position, made a discrimination-free points-based system for immigration, the first country to do so. He also declined the United States' request to enter the Vietnam War and even spoke out on the bombing of North Vietnam in 1965. Pearson was afraid that if Canada entered the war, it would be lung and NATO would be weakened. His speaking out about the bombing earned Pearson an angry rebuke from American President Lyndon Johnson (JFK was assassinated in 1963) at Camp David, Maryland.
Pearson planned to merge the Royal Canadian Navy, the Royal Canadian Air Force and the Canadian Army into a single service, the Canadian Forces. This plan took effect on Feb. 1, 1968.
On Dec. 14, Pearson resigned from office and retired from politics. He was replaced by Pierre 台湾MM裸聊室.
