The CCF Looks Ahead

Just as the echoes of last spring's Dominion-wide electioneering died away, Canadians learned that they were in for some more tub thumping. British Columbia's Premier John Hart called a provincial election for Oct. 25, Manitoba's Premier Stuart Sinclair Garson got ready to do the same (probable date: some time between Oct. 15 and 22).

Manitoba and British Columbia are the only two provinces governed by Liberal-Conservative coalitions. For these two campaigns, the two old-line parties decided to remain fused. That meant that in each province the fight would be mainly between the Liberal-Conservative fusion and the socialist CCF.

The CCF appeared to have little chance in Manitoba, although it probably would do better than its present five seats (it will run 45 candidates for 55 seats). The British Columbia elections would be something else again. In that largely industrial province, the one thing that has kept John Hart's coalition Government together for four years is an admitted fear of the CCF--a fear so real that the coalition has fought socialism with socialism's weapons. The coalition has, for example, embarked on a program of public ownership of public utilities.

Far from being dead, as some thought, after last June's federal election, the CCF (which ran a poor third) is very much alive. Recent events--notably Britain's socialist sweep and Canada's own war-to-peace economic dislocation --have made its muscles bulge. Plainly, the Manitoba and British Columbia elections would bear watching.

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