Louis St. Laurent
Encyclopedia
Louis Stephen St. Laurent, PC
, CC
, QC
(Saint-Laurent or St-Laurent in French, baptized Louis-Étienne St-Laurent), (1 February 1882 25 July 1973) was the 12th Prime Minister of Canada
from 15 November 1948, to 21 June 1957.
, a village in the Eastern Townships
to Jean-Baptiste-Moïse Saint-Laurent, a French-Canadian, and Mary Anne Broderick, an Irish-Canadian. He grew up fluently bilingual. His English had a noticeable Irish
brogue
, while his gestures (such as a hunch of the shoulders) were French.
He received degrees from St. Charles Seminary (B.A. 1902) and Université Laval
(LL.L. 1905). He was offered, but declined, a Rhodes Scholarship
upon this graduation from Laval in 1905. In 1905 he married Jeanne Renault (1886–1966) with whom he had two sons and three daughters.
St-Laurent worked as a lawyer from 1905 to 1941, also becoming a professor of law at Université Laval in 1941. St-Laurent practised corporate and constitutional law in Quebec
and became one of the country's most respected counsels. He served as President of the Canadian Bar Association
from 1930 to 1932.
St-Laurent's father, a Compton shopkeeper, was a staunch supporter of the Liberal Party of Canada
and was particularly enamoured with Sir Wilfrid Laurier
. When Laurier led the Liberals to victory in the 1896 election
, 14-year-old Louis relayed the election returns from the telephone in his father's store. However, while an ardent Liberal, Louis remained aloof from active politics for much of his life, focusing instead on his legal career and family. He became one of Quebec's leading lawyers and was so highly regarded that he was offered a position in the Cabinet of the Conservative
Prime Minister
Arthur Meighen
in 1926 and was offered a seat as a justice in the Supreme Court of Canada
.
It was not until he was nearly 60 that St-Laurent finally agreed to enter politics when Liberal Prime Minister
William Lyon Mackenzie King
appealed to his sense of duty in late 1941.
, Ernest Lapointe
, in November 1941, King was well aware of the need for the government to have a strong, well respected member of cabinet to serve as a new deputy for Quebec to help deal with the volatile conscription issue. King had been in his political infancy when he witnessed the Conscription Crisis of 1917
during World War I and he wanted to prevent the same divisions from threatening his government. St-Laurent supported King's decision to introduce conscription
in 1944, despite the lack of support from other French Canadians (see Conscription Crisis of 1944
). His support prevented more than a handful of Quebec Liberal Members of Parliament
(MPs) from leaving the party, and was therefore crucial to keeping the government and the party united.
in 1945, a portfolio King had previously always kept for himself. In this role, St-Laurent represented Canada at the Dumbarton Oaks Conference
and San Francisco Conference that led to the founding of the United Nations
(UN).
At the conferences, St-Laurent, compelled by his belief that the UN would be ineffective in times of war and armed conflict without some military means to impose its will, advocated the adoption of a UN military force. This force he proposed would be used in situations that called for both tact and might to preserve peace or prevent combat. In 1956, this idea was actualized by St-Laurent and his Secretary of State for External Affairs Lester B. Pearson
in the development of UN Peacekeepers that helped to put an end to the Suez Crisis
.
on 15 November, making him Canada's second French-Canadian Prime Minister, after Wilfrid Laurier
.
The Canadian economy was one of the strongest in the world in the period immediately following the end of the war. The prosperity lasted for more than a decade, significantly expanding the Canadian national infrastructure.
In the 1949 federal election
that followed his ascension to the Liberal leadership many wondered, including Liberal party insiders, if St-Laurent would appeal to the post-war populace of Canada. On the campaign trail, St-Laurent's image was developed into somewhat of a 'character' and what is considered to be the first 'media image' to be used in Canadian politics. St-Laurent chatted with children, gave speeches in his shirt sleeves, and had a 'common touch' that turned out to be appealing to voters. At one event during the 1949 election campaign, he disembarked his train and instead of approaching the assembled crowd of adults and reporters, gravitated to, and began chatting with, a group of children on the platform. A reporter submitted an article entitled "'Uncle Louis' can't lose!" which earned him the nickname "Uncle Louis" in the media (Papa Louis in Quebec). With this common touch and broad appeal, he subsequently led the party to victory in the election against the Progressive Conservative Party
led by George Drew. The Liberals won 190 seats—the most in Canadian history at the time, and still a record for the party.
His reputation as Prime Minister was impressive. He demanded hard work of all of his MPs and Ministers, and worked hard himself. He was reputed to be as knowledgeable on some ministerial portfolios as the ministers responsible themselves. To that end, Jack Pickersgill
(a minister in St-Laurent's cabinet) said as prime minister St-Laurent had: "as fine an intelligence as was ever applied to the problems of government in Canada. He left it a richer, a more generous and more united country than it had been before he became prime minister."
St-Laurent led the Liberals to another powerful majority in the 1953 federal election
. He lost several seats, but still dominated the Canadian House of Commons
.
' role in the post-World War II world.
Militarily, St-Laurent was a leading proponent of the establishment of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1949, serving as an architect and signatory of the treaty document. Involvement in such an organization marked a departure from King who had been reticent about joining a military alliance. Under his leadership, Canada supported the United Nations
(U.N.) in the Korean War
and committed the third largest overall contribution of troops, ships and aircraft to the U.N. forces to the conflict. Troops to Korea were selected on a voluntary basis.
In 1956, under his direction, St-Laurent's Secretary of State for External Affairs Lester B. Pearson, helped solve the Suez Crisis
in 1956 between Great Britain, France, Israel
and Egypt
, bringing forward St-Laurent's 1946 views on a U.N. military force in the form of the United Nations Emergency Force
(UNEF) or peacekeeping
. It is widely believed that the activities directed by St-Laurent and Pearson could well have avoided a nuclear war. These actions were recognized when Pearson won the 1957 Nobel Peace Prize
.
St-Laurent was an early supporter of British Prime Minister Clement Attlee's
proposal to transform the British Commonwealth
from a club of white dominions into a multi-racial partnership. The leaders of the other "white dominions" were less than enthusiastic. It was St-Laurent who drafted the London Declaration
, recognizing King George VI
as Head of the Commonwealth
as a means of allowing India
to remain in the international association once it became a republic
.
, the Great Depression
and World War II
. With remaining revenues, St-Laurent oversaw the expansion of Canada's social programs, including establishment of the Canada Council
to support the arts, and the gradual expansion of social welfare programs such as family allowances, old age pension
s, government funding of university and post-secondary education and an early form of Medicare
termed Hospital Insurance at the time, that lay the groundwork for Tommy Douglas
' healthcare system in Saskatchewan and Pearson's nationwide universal healthcare in the late 1960s. Under this legislation, the federal government paid towards around 50% of the cost of provincial health plans to cover “a basic range of inpatient services in acute, convalescent, and chronic hospital care.” The condition for those cost-sharing legislation was that all citizens were to be entitled to these benefits, and by March 1963 98.8 of Canadians were covered by Hospital Insurance.
In addition, St-Laurent modernized and established new social and industrial policies for the country during his time in the prime minister's office. Amongst these measures included the universalization of old-age pensions for all Canadians aged seventy and above (1951), the introduction of old age assistance for needy Canadians aged sixty-five and above (1951), the introduction of allowances for the blind (1951) and the disabled (1954), amendments to the National Housing Act (1954) which provided federal government financing to non-profit organisations as well as the provinces for the renovation or construction of hostels or housing for students, the disabled, the elderly, and families on low incomes), and unemployment assistance (1956) for unemployed employables on welfare who had exhausted (or did not qualify for) unemployment insurance benefits.
In 1949, the former lawyer of many Supreme Court cases, St-Laurent ended the practice of appealing Canadian legal cases to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
of Great Britain, making the Supreme Court of Canada
the highest avenue of legal appeal available to Canadians. In that same year, St-Laurent negotiated the British North America (No. 2) Act, 1949
with Britain which 'partially patriated' the Canadian Constitution, most significantly giving the Canadian Parliament the authority to amend portions of the constitution. Also in 1949, following two referenda
within the province, St-Laurent and Premier Joey Smallwood
negotiated the entry of Newfoundland
into Confederation
.
When asked in 1949 whether he would outlaw the Communist Party in Canada, St-Laurent responded that the party posed little threat and that such measures would be drastic.
In 1952, he advised Queen Elizabeth II
to appoint Vincent Massey
as the first Canadian-born Governor-General
. Each of the aforementioned actions were and are seen as significant in furthering the cause of Canadian autonomy from Britain and developing a national identity on the international stage.
In 1956, using the Constitutional taxation authority of the federal level of government, St-Laurent's government introduced the policy of "Equalization payments
" which redistributes taxation revenues between provinces to assist the poorer provinces in delivering government programs and services, a move that has been considered a strong one in solidifying the Canadian federation, particularly with his home province of Québec
.
The government also engaged in massive public works and infrastructure projects such as building the Trans-Canada Highway
(1949), the St. Lawrence Seaway (1954) and the Trans-Canada Pipeline. It was this last project that was to sow the seeds that led to the downfall of the St-Laurent government.
St-Laurent was initially very well-received by the Canadian public, but by 1957, "Uncle Louis" and his government began to appear tired, old and out of touch. The government was also perceived to have grown too close to business interests. The 1956 Pipeline Debate
led to the widespread impression that the Liberals had grown arrogant in power when the government invoked closure
on numerous occasions in order to curtail debate and ensure that its Pipeline Bill passed by a specific deadline. St. Laurent was criticized for a lack of restraint exercised on his minister C. D. Howe
, who was widely perceived as extremely arrogant. Western Canadians felt particularly alienated by the government, believing that the Liberals were kowtowing to interests in Ontario and Quebec and the United States. (The opposition accused the government of accepting overly costly contracts that could never be completed on schedule - in the end the pipeline was completed early and under budget). The pipeline conflict turned out to be meaningless, insofar as the construction work was concerned, since pipe could not be obtained in 1956 from a striking American factory, and no work could have been done that year. But the ensuing uproar in Parliament had a lasting impression on the electorate, and was a decisive factor in the Liberal government's defeat at the hands of the Progressive Conservative Party
led by John Diefenbaker
in the 1957 election
. Because the Liberals
were still mostly classically liberal
, Diefenbaker promised to outspend the incumbent Liberals, who campaigned on plans to stay the course of fiscal conservatism they had followed through St-Laurent's term in the 1940s and 1950s.
St-Laurent was the first Prime Minister to live in the present official residence of the Prime Minister of Canada
: 24 Sussex Drive
, from 1951 to the end of his term in office.
, following the logic that the popular vote had supported them and even though their Parliamentary minority was smaller than the Conservatives, the Liberals' more recent governmental experience would make them a more effective minority.
Another option circulated within the party saw the balance of power to be held by either the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation
(CCF) and their 25 seats or Social Credit Party of Canada
with their 15. St-Laurent was encouraged by others to reach out to the CCF and at least four of six independent/small party MPs to form a coalition majority government, which would have held 134 of the 265 or 50.1% of the seats in Parliament. St-Laurent, however, decided that the nation had passed a verdict against his government and his party and he resigned as Prime Minister rather than be seen as clinging to office.
by the Governor General
:
After a short period as Leader of the Opposition
and now more than 75 years old, St- Laurent's motivation to be involved in politics was gone. He announced his intention to retire from politics. St-Laurent was succeeded as Liberal Party leader by his former Secretary of State for External Affairs and representative at the United Nations, Lester B. Pearson
, at the party's leadership convention
in 1958.
After his political retirement, he returned to practising law and living quietly and privately with his family. During his retirement, he was called into the public spotlight one final time in 1967 for the inception of the award, he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada
.
Louis Stephen St-Laurent died from natural causes on July 25, 1973, in Quebec City
, Quebec
, aged 91, and was laid to rest at St. Thomas Aquinas Cemetery
in his hometown of Compton, Quebec
. He is survived by granddaughter Louise Mignault and grandson Louis St-Laurent II.
St. Laurent was ranked #4 on a survey of the first 20 prime ministers (through Jean Chrétien
) of Canada done by Canadian historians, and used by J. L. Granatstein and Norman Hillmer
in their book Prime Ministers: Ranking Canada's Leaders.
on 6 July 1967. His citation reads:
Queen's Privy Council for Canada
The Queen's Privy Council for Canada ), sometimes called Her Majesty's Privy Council for Canada or simply the Privy Council, is the full group of personal consultants to the monarch of Canada on state and constitutional affairs, though responsible government requires the sovereign or her viceroy,...
, CC
Order of Canada
The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...
, QC
Queen's Counsel
Queen's Counsel , known as King's Counsel during the reign of a male sovereign, are lawyers appointed by letters patent to be one of Her [or His] Majesty's Counsel learned in the law...
(Saint-Laurent or St-Laurent in French, baptized Louis-Étienne St-Laurent), (1 February 1882 25 July 1973) was the 12th Prime Minister of Canada
Prime Minister of Canada
The Prime Minister of Canada is the primary minister of the Crown, chairman of the Cabinet, and thus head of government for Canada, charged with advising the Canadian monarch or viceroy on the exercise of the executive powers vested in them by the constitution...
from 15 November 1948, to 21 June 1957.
Early life and career
Louis St-Laurent (lwi sɛ̃ loʁɑ̃) was born on 1 February 1882 in Compton, QuebecCompton, Quebec
Compton is a municipality in the regional county municipality of Coaticook and the administrative region of Estrie. And Home Of the world famous Sanders Farm and Vallons Maraichers farm, organic vegetable growers in the Deep Root Organic Cooperative of Vermont....
, a village in the Eastern Townships
Eastern Townships
The Eastern Townships is a tourist region and a former administrative region in south-eastern Quebec, lying between the former seigneuries south of the Saint Lawrence River and the United States border. Its northern boundary roughly followed Logan's Line, the geologic boundary between the flat,...
to Jean-Baptiste-Moïse Saint-Laurent, a French-Canadian, and Mary Anne Broderick, an Irish-Canadian. He grew up fluently bilingual. His English had a noticeable Irish
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
brogue
Brogue
A brogue is a strong accent, notably in Irish dialects of English. For example, in the folksong "Finnegan's Wake", the character of the song, Tim Finnegan, was said to have a "beautiful brogue so rich and sweet"....
, while his gestures (such as a hunch of the shoulders) were French.
He received degrees from St. Charles Seminary (B.A. 1902) and Université Laval
Université Laval
Laval University is the oldest centre of education in Canada and was the first institution in North America to offer higher education in French...
(LL.L. 1905). He was offered, but declined, a Rhodes Scholarship
Rhodes Scholarship
The Rhodes Scholarship, named after Cecil Rhodes, is an international postgraduate award for study at the University of Oxford. It was the first large-scale programme of international scholarships, and is widely considered the "world's most prestigious scholarship" by many public sources such as...
upon this graduation from Laval in 1905. In 1905 he married Jeanne Renault (1886–1966) with whom he had two sons and three daughters.
St-Laurent worked as a lawyer from 1905 to 1941, also becoming a professor of law at Université Laval in 1941. St-Laurent practised corporate and constitutional law in Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
and became one of the country's most respected counsels. He served as President of the Canadian Bar Association
Canadian Bar Association
The Canadian Bar Association represents over 37,000 lawyers, judges, notaries, law teachers, and law students from across Canada.-History:The Association's first Annual Meeting was held in Montreal in 1896. However, the CBA has been in continuous existence in its present form since 1914...
from 1930 to 1932.
St-Laurent's father, a Compton shopkeeper, was a staunch supporter of the Liberal Party of Canada
Liberal Party of Canada
The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...
and was particularly enamoured with Sir Wilfrid Laurier
Wilfrid Laurier
Sir Wilfrid Laurier, GCMG, PC, KC, baptized Henri-Charles-Wilfrid Laurier was the seventh Prime Minister of Canada from 11 July 1896 to 6 October 1911....
. When Laurier led the Liberals to victory in the 1896 election
Canadian federal election, 1896
The Canadian federal election of 1896 was held on June 23, 1896 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 8th Parliament of Canada. Though the Conservative Party won a plurality of the popular vote, the Liberal Party, led by Wilfrid Laurier, won the majority of seats to form the...
, 14-year-old Louis relayed the election returns from the telephone in his father's store. However, while an ardent Liberal, Louis remained aloof from active politics for much of his life, focusing instead on his legal career and family. He became one of Quebec's leading lawyers and was so highly regarded that he was offered a position in the Cabinet of the Conservative
Conservative Party of Canada (historical)
The Conservative Party of Canada has gone by a variety of names over the years since Canadian Confederation. Initially known as the "Liberal-Conservative Party", it dropped "Liberal" from its name in 1873, although many of its candidates continued to use this name.As a result of World War I and the...
Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Canada
The Prime Minister of Canada is the primary minister of the Crown, chairman of the Cabinet, and thus head of government for Canada, charged with advising the Canadian monarch or viceroy on the exercise of the executive powers vested in them by the constitution...
Arthur Meighen
Arthur Meighen
Arthur Meighen, PC, QC was a Canadian lawyer and politician. He served two terms as the ninth Prime Minister of Canada: from July 10, 1920 to December 29, 1921; and from June 29 to September 25, 1926. He was the first Prime Minister born after Confederation, and the only one to represent a riding...
in 1926 and was offered a seat as a justice in the Supreme Court of Canada
Supreme Court of Canada
The Supreme Court of Canada is the highest court of Canada and is the final court of appeals in the Canadian justice system. The court grants permission to between 40 and 75 litigants each year to appeal decisions rendered by provincial, territorial and federal appellate courts, and its decisions...
.
It was not until he was nearly 60 that St-Laurent finally agreed to enter politics when Liberal Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Canada
The Prime Minister of Canada is the primary minister of the Crown, chairman of the Cabinet, and thus head of government for Canada, charged with advising the Canadian monarch or viceroy on the exercise of the executive powers vested in them by the constitution...
William Lyon Mackenzie King
William Lyon Mackenzie King
William Lyon Mackenzie King, PC, OM, CMG was the dominant Canadian political leader from the 1920s through the 1940s. He served as the tenth Prime Minister of Canada from December 29, 1921 to June 28, 1926; from September 25, 1926 to August 7, 1930; and from October 23, 1935 to November 15, 1948...
appealed to his sense of duty in late 1941.
Minister of Justice
Following the death of his Quebec lieutenantQuebec lieutenant
In Canadian politics, a Quebec lieutenant is a politician, from Quebec, usually a francophone and most often a Member of Parliament or at least a current or former candidate for Parliament, who is selected by a senior politician such as the Prime Minister or the leader of a national federal party,...
, Ernest Lapointe
Ernest Lapointe
Ernest Lapointe, PC was a Canadian lawyer and politician.-Education, early career:Lapointe earned his law degree from Laval University...
, in November 1941, King was well aware of the need for the government to have a strong, well respected member of cabinet to serve as a new deputy for Quebec to help deal with the volatile conscription issue. King had been in his political infancy when he witnessed the Conscription Crisis of 1917
Conscription Crisis of 1917
The Conscription Crisis of 1917 was a political and military crisis in Canada during World War I.-Background:...
during World War I and he wanted to prevent the same divisions from threatening his government. St-Laurent supported King's decision to introduce conscription
Conscription
Conscription is the compulsory enlistment of people in some sort of national service, most often military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and continues in some countries to the present day under various names...
in 1944, despite the lack of support from other French Canadians (see Conscription Crisis of 1944
Conscription Crisis of 1944
The Conscription Crisis of 1944 was a political and military crisis following the introduction of forced military service in Canada during World War II. It was similar to the Conscription Crisis of 1917, but was not as politically damaging....
). His support prevented more than a handful of Quebec Liberal Members of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
(MPs) from leaving the party, and was therefore crucial to keeping the government and the party united.
Minister of External Affairs
King came to regard St-Laurent as his most trusted minister and natural successor. He persuaded St-Laurent that it was his duty to remain in government following the war in order to help with the construction of a post war international order and promoted him to the position of Secretary of State for External AffairsSecretary of State for External Affairs (Canada)
Canada's Secretary of State for External Affairs was, from 1909 to 1993, the member of the Cabinet of Canada responsible for overseeing the federal government's international relations and the former Department of External Affairs...
in 1945, a portfolio King had previously always kept for himself. In this role, St-Laurent represented Canada at the Dumbarton Oaks Conference
Dumbarton Oaks Conference
The Dumbarton Oaks Conference or, more formally, the Washington Conversations on International Peace and Security Organization was an international conference at which the United Nations was formulated and negotiated among international leaders...
and San Francisco Conference that led to the founding of the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
(UN).
At the conferences, St-Laurent, compelled by his belief that the UN would be ineffective in times of war and armed conflict without some military means to impose its will, advocated the adoption of a UN military force. This force he proposed would be used in situations that called for both tact and might to preserve peace or prevent combat. In 1956, this idea was actualized by St-Laurent and his Secretary of State for External Affairs Lester B. Pearson
Lester B. Pearson
Lester Bowles "Mike" Pearson, PC, OM, CC, OBE was a Canadian professor, historian, civil servant, statesman, diplomat, and politician, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1957 for organizing the United Nations Emergency Force to resolve the Suez Canal Crisis...
in the development of UN Peacekeepers that helped to put an end to the Suez Crisis
Suez Crisis
The Suez Crisis, also referred to as the Tripartite Aggression, Suez War was an offensive war fought by France, the United Kingdom, and Israel against Egypt beginning on 29 October 1956. Less than a day after Israel invaded Egypt, Britain and France issued a joint ultimatum to Egypt and Israel,...
.
Prime Minister of Canada
In 1948, King retired, and quietly persuaded his senior ministers to support St-Laurent's selection as the new Liberal leader at the Liberal leadership convention of August 1948. St-Laurent won, and was sworn in as Prime Minister of CanadaPrime Minister of Canada
The Prime Minister of Canada is the primary minister of the Crown, chairman of the Cabinet, and thus head of government for Canada, charged with advising the Canadian monarch or viceroy on the exercise of the executive powers vested in them by the constitution...
on 15 November, making him Canada's second French-Canadian Prime Minister, after Wilfrid Laurier
Wilfrid Laurier
Sir Wilfrid Laurier, GCMG, PC, KC, baptized Henri-Charles-Wilfrid Laurier was the seventh Prime Minister of Canada from 11 July 1896 to 6 October 1911....
.
The Canadian economy was one of the strongest in the world in the period immediately following the end of the war. The prosperity lasted for more than a decade, significantly expanding the Canadian national infrastructure.
In the 1949 federal election
Canadian federal election, 1949
The Canadian federal election of 1949 was held on June 27 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 21st Parliament of Canada. It was the first election in Canada in almost thirty years in which the Liberal Party of Canada was not led by William Lyon Mackenzie King. King had...
that followed his ascension to the Liberal leadership many wondered, including Liberal party insiders, if St-Laurent would appeal to the post-war populace of Canada. On the campaign trail, St-Laurent's image was developed into somewhat of a 'character' and what is considered to be the first 'media image' to be used in Canadian politics. St-Laurent chatted with children, gave speeches in his shirt sleeves, and had a 'common touch' that turned out to be appealing to voters. At one event during the 1949 election campaign, he disembarked his train and instead of approaching the assembled crowd of adults and reporters, gravitated to, and began chatting with, a group of children on the platform. A reporter submitted an article entitled "'Uncle Louis' can't lose!" which earned him the nickname "Uncle Louis" in the media (Papa Louis in Quebec). With this common touch and broad appeal, he subsequently led the party to victory in the election against the Progressive Conservative Party
Progressive Conservative Party of Canada
The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada was a Canadian political party with a centre-right stance on economic issues and, after the 1970s, a centrist stance on social issues....
led by George Drew. The Liberals won 190 seats—the most in Canadian history at the time, and still a record for the party.
His reputation as Prime Minister was impressive. He demanded hard work of all of his MPs and Ministers, and worked hard himself. He was reputed to be as knowledgeable on some ministerial portfolios as the ministers responsible themselves. To that end, Jack Pickersgill
Jack Pickersgill
John Whitney "Jack" Pickersgill, PC, CC was a Canadian civil servant and politician. He was born in Ontario, but was raised in Manitobia. He was the Clerk for the Canadian Government's Privy Council in the early 1950s...
(a minister in St-Laurent's cabinet) said as prime minister St-Laurent had: "as fine an intelligence as was ever applied to the problems of government in Canada. He left it a richer, a more generous and more united country than it had been before he became prime minister."
St-Laurent led the Liberals to another powerful majority in the 1953 federal election
Canadian federal election, 1953
The Canadian federal election of 1953 was held on August 10 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 22nd Parliament of Canada. Prime Minister Louis St...
. He lost several seats, but still dominated the Canadian House of Commons
Canadian House of Commons
The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...
.
Foreign policy
St-Laurent and his cabinet oversaw Canada's expanding international role in the postwar world. His stated desire was for Canada to occupy a social, military and economic 'middle powerMiddle power
Middle power is a term used in the field of international relations to describe states that are not superpowers or great powers, but still have large or moderate influence and international recognition. There is no single specific definition of which countries are middle powers.-Definition:There is...
' role in the post-World War II world.
Militarily, St-Laurent was a leading proponent of the establishment of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1949, serving as an architect and signatory of the treaty document. Involvement in such an organization marked a departure from King who had been reticent about joining a military alliance. Under his leadership, Canada supported the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
(U.N.) in the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
and committed the third largest overall contribution of troops, ships and aircraft to the U.N. forces to the conflict. Troops to Korea were selected on a voluntary basis.
In 1956, under his direction, St-Laurent's Secretary of State for External Affairs Lester B. Pearson, helped solve the Suez Crisis
Suez Crisis
The Suez Crisis, also referred to as the Tripartite Aggression, Suez War was an offensive war fought by France, the United Kingdom, and Israel against Egypt beginning on 29 October 1956. Less than a day after Israel invaded Egypt, Britain and France issued a joint ultimatum to Egypt and Israel,...
in 1956 between Great Britain, France, Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
and Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, bringing forward St-Laurent's 1946 views on a U.N. military force in the form of the United Nations Emergency Force
United Nations Emergency Force
The first United Nations Emergency Force was established by United Nations General Assembly to secure an end to the 1956 Suez Crisis with resolution 1001 on November 7, 1956. The force was developed in large measure as a result of efforts by UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld and a proposal...
(UNEF) or peacekeeping
Peacekeeping
Peacekeeping is an activity that aims to create the conditions for lasting peace. It is distinguished from both peacebuilding and peacemaking....
. It is widely believed that the activities directed by St-Laurent and Pearson could well have avoided a nuclear war. These actions were recognized when Pearson won the 1957 Nobel Peace Prize
Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel.-Background:According to Nobel's will, the Peace Prize shall be awarded to the person who...
.
St-Laurent was an early supporter of British Prime Minister Clement Attlee's
Clement Attlee
Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee, KG, OM, CH, PC, FRS was a British Labour politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951, and as the Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955...
proposal to transform the British Commonwealth
Commonwealth of Nations
The Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and formerly known as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states...
from a club of white dominions into a multi-racial partnership. The leaders of the other "white dominions" were less than enthusiastic. It was St-Laurent who drafted the London Declaration
London Declaration
The London Declaration was a declaration issued by the governments of the Commonwealth of Nations on the issue of India's continued membership of the Commonwealth. It was made in London on 28 April 1949, and marked the birth of the modern Commonwealth. The declaration had two main provisions...
, recognizing King George VI
George VI of the United Kingdom
George VI was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death...
as Head of the Commonwealth
Head of the Commonwealth
The Head of the Commonwealth heads the Commonwealth of Nations, an intergovernmental organisation which currently comprises 54 sovereign states. The position is currently occupied by the individual who serves as monarch of each of the Commonwealth realms, but has no day-to-day involvement in the...
as a means of allowing India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
to remain in the international association once it became a republic
Republic
A republic is a form of government in which the people, or some significant portion of them, have supreme control over the government and where offices of state are elected or chosen by elected people. In modern times, a common simplified definition of a republic is a government where the head of...
.
Domestic policy
St-Laurent's government was modestly progressive and fiscally conservative, taking taxation surpluses no longer needed by the wartime military and paying back in full Canada's debts accrued during the First World WarWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
and World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. With remaining revenues, St-Laurent oversaw the expansion of Canada's social programs, including establishment of the Canada Council
Canada Council
The Canada Council for the Arts, commonly called the Canada Council, is a Crown Corporation established in 1957 to act as an arts council of the government of Canada, created to foster and promote the study and enjoyment of, and the production of works in, the arts. It funds Canadian artists and...
to support the arts, and the gradual expansion of social welfare programs such as family allowances, old age pension
Pension
In general, a pension is an arrangement to provide people with an income when they are no longer earning a regular income from employment. Pensions should not be confused with severance pay; the former is paid in regular installments, while the latter is paid in one lump sum.The terms retirement...
s, government funding of university and post-secondary education and an early form of Medicare
Medicare (Canada)
Medicare is the unofficial name for Canada's publicly funded universal health insurance system. The formal terminology for the insurance system is provided by the Canada Health Act and the health insurance legislation of the individual provinces and territories.Under the terms of the Canada Health...
termed Hospital Insurance at the time, that lay the groundwork for Tommy Douglas
Tommy Douglas
Thomas Clement "Tommy" Douglas, was a Scottish-born Baptist minister who became a prominent Canadian social democratic politician...
' healthcare system in Saskatchewan and Pearson's nationwide universal healthcare in the late 1960s. Under this legislation, the federal government paid towards around 50% of the cost of provincial health plans to cover “a basic range of inpatient services in acute, convalescent, and chronic hospital care.” The condition for those cost-sharing legislation was that all citizens were to be entitled to these benefits, and by March 1963 98.8 of Canadians were covered by Hospital Insurance.
In addition, St-Laurent modernized and established new social and industrial policies for the country during his time in the prime minister's office. Amongst these measures included the universalization of old-age pensions for all Canadians aged seventy and above (1951), the introduction of old age assistance for needy Canadians aged sixty-five and above (1951), the introduction of allowances for the blind (1951) and the disabled (1954), amendments to the National Housing Act (1954) which provided federal government financing to non-profit organisations as well as the provinces for the renovation or construction of hostels or housing for students, the disabled, the elderly, and families on low incomes), and unemployment assistance (1956) for unemployed employables on welfare who had exhausted (or did not qualify for) unemployment insurance benefits.
In 1949, the former lawyer of many Supreme Court cases, St-Laurent ended the practice of appealing Canadian legal cases to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council is one of the highest courts in the United Kingdom. Established by the Judicial Committee Act 1833 to hear appeals formerly heard by the King in Council The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) is one of the highest courts in the United...
of Great Britain, making the Supreme Court of Canada
Supreme Court of Canada
The Supreme Court of Canada is the highest court of Canada and is the final court of appeals in the Canadian justice system. The court grants permission to between 40 and 75 litigants each year to appeal decisions rendered by provincial, territorial and federal appellate courts, and its decisions...
the highest avenue of legal appeal available to Canadians. In that same year, St-Laurent negotiated the British North America (No. 2) Act, 1949
British North America Acts
The British North America Acts 1867–1975 are the original names of a series of Acts at the core of the constitution of Canada. They were enacted by the Parliament of the United Kingdom and the Parliament of Canada. In Canada, some of the Acts were amended or repealed by the Constitution Act, 1982....
with Britain which 'partially patriated' the Canadian Constitution, most significantly giving the Canadian Parliament the authority to amend portions of the constitution. Also in 1949, following two referenda
Newfoundland referendums, 1948
The Newfoundland Referendums of 1948 were a series of two referendums to decide the political future of the Dominion of Newfoundland. Before the referendums, Newfoundland was in debt and went through several delegations to determine whether the country would join Canada, remain under British rule...
within the province, St-Laurent and Premier Joey Smallwood
Joey Smallwood
Joseph Roberts "Joey" Smallwood, PC, CC was the main force that brought Newfoundland into the Canadian confederation, and became the first Premier of Newfoundland . As premier, he vigorously promoted economic development, championed the welfare state, and emphasized modernization of education and...
negotiated the entry of Newfoundland
Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada. Situated in the country's Atlantic region, it incorporates the island of Newfoundland and mainland Labrador with a combined area of . As of April 2011, the province's estimated population is 508,400...
into Confederation
Canadian Confederation
Canadian Confederation was the process by which the federal Dominion of Canada was formed on July 1, 1867. On that day, three British colonies were formed into four Canadian provinces...
.
When asked in 1949 whether he would outlaw the Communist Party in Canada, St-Laurent responded that the party posed little threat and that such measures would be drastic.
In 1952, he advised Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...
to appoint Vincent Massey
Vincent Massey
Charles Vincent Massey was a Canadian lawyer and diplomat who served as Governor General of Canada, the 18th since Canadian Confederation....
as the first Canadian-born Governor-General
Governor-General
A Governor-General, is a vice-regal person of a monarch in an independent realm or a major colonial circonscription. Depending on the political arrangement of the territory, a Governor General can be a governor of high rank, or a principal governor ranking above "ordinary" governors.- Current uses...
. Each of the aforementioned actions were and are seen as significant in furthering the cause of Canadian autonomy from Britain and developing a national identity on the international stage.
In 1956, using the Constitutional taxation authority of the federal level of government, St-Laurent's government introduced the policy of "Equalization payments
Equalization payments
Equalization payments are cash payments made in some federal systems of government from the federal government to subnational governments with the objective of offsetting differences in available revenue or in the cost of providing services....
" which redistributes taxation revenues between provinces to assist the poorer provinces in delivering government programs and services, a move that has been considered a strong one in solidifying the Canadian federation, particularly with his home province of Québec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
.
The government also engaged in massive public works and infrastructure projects such as building the Trans-Canada Highway
Trans-Canada Highway
The Trans-Canada Highway is a federal-provincial highway system that joins the ten provinces of Canada. It is, along with the Trans-Siberian Highway and Australia's Highway 1, one of the world's longest national highways, with the main route spanning 8,030 km...
(1949), the St. Lawrence Seaway (1954) and the Trans-Canada Pipeline. It was this last project that was to sow the seeds that led to the downfall of the St-Laurent government.
St-Laurent was initially very well-received by the Canadian public, but by 1957, "Uncle Louis" and his government began to appear tired, old and out of touch. The government was also perceived to have grown too close to business interests. The 1956 Pipeline Debate
Pipeline Debate
The Pipeline Debate was a political event in the history of the Parliament of Canada.The debate surrounded the finances of the TransCanada pipeline, proper parliamentary procedure, and American economic influence on Canada. The controversy eventually contributed to the defeat of Louis St...
led to the widespread impression that the Liberals had grown arrogant in power when the government invoked closure
Cloture
In parliamentary procedure, cloture is a motion or process aimed at bringing debate to a quick end. It is also called closure or, informally, a guillotine. The cloture procedure originated in the French National Assembly, from which the name is taken. Clôture is French for "ending" or "conclusion"...
on numerous occasions in order to curtail debate and ensure that its Pipeline Bill passed by a specific deadline. St. Laurent was criticized for a lack of restraint exercised on his minister C. D. Howe
C. D. Howe
Clarence Decatur Howe, PC , generally known as C. D. Howe, was a powerful Canadian Cabinet minister of the Liberal Party. Howe served in the governments of Prime Ministers William Lyon Mackenzie King and Louis St. Laurent continuously from 1935 to 1957...
, who was widely perceived as extremely arrogant. Western Canadians felt particularly alienated by the government, believing that the Liberals were kowtowing to interests in Ontario and Quebec and the United States. (The opposition accused the government of accepting overly costly contracts that could never be completed on schedule - in the end the pipeline was completed early and under budget). The pipeline conflict turned out to be meaningless, insofar as the construction work was concerned, since pipe could not be obtained in 1956 from a striking American factory, and no work could have been done that year. But the ensuing uproar in Parliament had a lasting impression on the electorate, and was a decisive factor in the Liberal government's defeat at the hands of the Progressive Conservative Party
Progressive Conservative Party of Canada
The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada was a Canadian political party with a centre-right stance on economic issues and, after the 1970s, a centrist stance on social issues....
led by John Diefenbaker
John Diefenbaker
John George Diefenbaker, PC, CH, QC was the 13th Prime Minister of Canada, serving from June 21, 1957, to April 22, 1963...
in the 1957 election
Canadian federal election, 1957
The Canadian federal election of 1957 was held June 10, 1957, to select the 265 members of the House of Commons of Canada. In one of the great upsets in Canadian political history, the Progressive Conservative Party , led by John Diefenbaker, brought an end to 22 years of Liberal rule, as the...
. Because the Liberals
Liberal Party of Canada
The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...
were still mostly classically liberal
Classical liberalism
Classical liberalism is the philosophy committed to the ideal of limited government, constitutionalism, rule of law, due process, and liberty of individuals including freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, and free markets....
, Diefenbaker promised to outspend the incumbent Liberals, who campaigned on plans to stay the course of fiscal conservatism they had followed through St-Laurent's term in the 1940s and 1950s.
St-Laurent was the first Prime Minister to live in the present official residence of the Prime Minister of Canada
Prime Minister of Canada
The Prime Minister of Canada is the primary minister of the Crown, chairman of the Cabinet, and thus head of government for Canada, charged with advising the Canadian monarch or viceroy on the exercise of the executive powers vested in them by the constitution...
: 24 Sussex Drive
24 Sussex Drive
24 Sussex Drive is the official residence of the Prime Minister of Canada, located in the New Edinburgh neighbourhood of Ottawa, Ontario. Built between 1866 and 1868 by Joseph Merrill Currier, it has been the official home of the Canadian prime minister since 1951.-History:The house at 24 Sussex...
, from 1951 to the end of his term in office.
Defeat in the 1957 election
The defeat in the 1957 was marked by controversy within the Liberal party and the Parliament. The Liberals had actually won more popular support (actual votes cast) than the Progressive Conservatives (40.75% Liberals to 38.81% PC), but the Conservatives took the greatest number of seats with 112 PC candidates elected to serve out of the House of Commons 265 seats (42% of the House). The Liberals took 104 seats (39.2%). Some ministers wanted St-Laurent to stay on and offer to form a minority governmentMinority government
A minority government or a minority cabinet is a cabinet of a parliamentary system formed when a political party or coalition of parties does not have a majority of overall seats in the parliament but is sworn into government to break a Hung Parliament election result. It is also known as a...
, following the logic that the popular vote had supported them and even though their Parliamentary minority was smaller than the Conservatives, the Liberals' more recent governmental experience would make them a more effective minority.
Another option circulated within the party saw the balance of power to be held by either the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation
Co-operative Commonwealth Federation
The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation was a Canadian political party founded in 1932 in Calgary, Alberta, by a number of socialist, farm, co-operative and labour groups, and the League for Social Reconstruction...
(CCF) and their 25 seats or Social Credit Party of Canada
Social Credit Party of Canada
The Social Credit Party of Canada was a conservative-populist political party in Canada that promoted social credit theories of monetary reform...
with their 15. St-Laurent was encouraged by others to reach out to the CCF and at least four of six independent/small party MPs to form a coalition majority government, which would have held 134 of the 265 or 50.1% of the seats in Parliament. St-Laurent, however, decided that the nation had passed a verdict against his government and his party and he resigned as Prime Minister rather than be seen as clinging to office.
Supreme Court appointments
St-Laurent chose the following jurists to be appointed as justices of the Supreme Court of CanadaSupreme Court of Canada
The Supreme Court of Canada is the highest court of Canada and is the final court of appeals in the Canadian justice system. The court grants permission to between 40 and 75 litigants each year to appeal decisions rendered by provincial, territorial and federal appellate courts, and its decisions...
by the Governor General
Governor General of Canada
The Governor General of Canada is the federal viceregal representative of the Canadian monarch, Queen Elizabeth II...
:
- John Robert CartwrightJohn Robert CartwrightJohn Robert Cartwright, was Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada.Born in Toronto, Cartwright was the son of James Strachan Cartwright and Jane Elizabeth Young...
(22 December 1949 – 23 March 1970) - Joseph Honoré Gérald Fauteux (22 December 1949 – 23 December 1973)
- Douglas Charles Abbott (1 July 1954 – 23 December 1973)
- Patrick KerwinPatrick KerwinPatrick Kerwin, PC , was a Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada.Kerwin was born in Sarnia, Ontario to Patrick Kerwin and Ellen Gavin. After graduating from the Sarnia Collegiate Institute at the age of 16, he enrolled at Osgoode Hall Law School in 1906. He articled in Sarnia with R. V...
(as Chief Justice, 1 July 1954 – 2 February 1963; appointed a Puisne JusticePuisne JusticeA Puisne Justice or Puisne Judge is the title for a regular member of a Court. This is distinguished from the head of the Court who is known as the Chief Justice or Chief Judge. The term is used almost exclusively in common law jurisdictions such as England, Australia, Kenya, Canada, Sri Lanka,...
under Prime Minister Richard BennettR. B. BennettRichard Bedford Bennett, 1st Viscount Bennett, PC, KC was a Canadian lawyer, businessman, politician, and philanthropist. He served as the 11th Prime Minister of Canada from August 7, 1930, to October 23, 1935, during the worst of the Great Depression years...
, 20 July 1935) - Henry Grattan NolanHenry Grattan NolanHenry Grattan Nolan, was a Canadian lawyer and jurist.Born in Calgary, Alberta, the son of Patrick James "Paddy" Nolan, a criminal defence lawyer, and Mary Elizabeth Lee, he received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Alberta in 1914 and was awarded a Rhodes scholarship for Alberta...
(1 March 1956 – 8 July 1957)
Retirement
Leader of the Opposition (Canada)
The Leader of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition , or simply the Leader of the Opposition is the leader of Canada's Official Opposition, the party with the most seats in the House of Commons that is not a member of the government...
and now more than 75 years old, St- Laurent's motivation to be involved in politics was gone. He announced his intention to retire from politics. St-Laurent was succeeded as Liberal Party leader by his former Secretary of State for External Affairs and representative at the United Nations, Lester B. Pearson
Lester B. Pearson
Lester Bowles "Mike" Pearson, PC, OM, CC, OBE was a Canadian professor, historian, civil servant, statesman, diplomat, and politician, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1957 for organizing the United Nations Emergency Force to resolve the Suez Canal Crisis...
, at the party's leadership convention
Liberal Party of Canada leadership election, 1958
A Liberal Party of Canada leadership election was called to replace Liberal leader Louis St. Laurent, who had resigned as Prime Minister after the 1957 election...
in 1958.
After his political retirement, he returned to practising law and living quietly and privately with his family. During his retirement, he was called into the public spotlight one final time in 1967 for the inception of the award, he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada
Order of Canada
The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...
.
Louis Stephen St-Laurent died from natural causes on July 25, 1973, in Quebec City
Quebec City
Quebec , also Québec, Quebec City or Québec City is the capital of the Canadian province of Quebec and is located within the Capitale-Nationale region. It is the second most populous city in Quebec after Montreal, which is about to the southwest...
, Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
, aged 91, and was laid to rest at St. Thomas Aquinas Cemetery
St. Thomas Aquinas Cemetery
St. Thomas Aquinas Cemetery is a cemetery located in Compton, Quebec. It is most notable for being the burial place of Canadian Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent....
in his hometown of Compton, Quebec
Compton, Quebec
Compton is a municipality in the regional county municipality of Coaticook and the administrative region of Estrie. And Home Of the world famous Sanders Farm and Vallons Maraichers farm, organic vegetable growers in the Deep Root Organic Cooperative of Vermont....
. He is survived by granddaughter Louise Mignault and grandson Louis St-Laurent II.
St. Laurent was ranked #4 on a survey of the first 20 prime ministers (through Jean Chrétien
Jean Chrétien
Joseph Jacques Jean Chrétien , known commonly as Jean Chrétien is a former Canadian politician who was the 20th Prime Minister of Canada. He served in the position for over ten years, from November 4, 1993 to December 12, 2003....
) of Canada done by Canadian historians, and used by J. L. Granatstein and Norman Hillmer
Norman Hillmer
George Norman Hillmer is a leading Canadian historian and teacher and is among the leading scholars on Canada-US relations....
in their book Prime Ministers: Ranking Canada's Leaders.
Order of Canada citation
St. Laurent was appointed a Companion of the Order of CanadaOrder of Canada
The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...
on 6 July 1967. His citation reads:
Former Prime Minister of Canada. For his service to his country.