Sweep

In Canada's 21st general election, the Liberal Party was a shoo-in. An hour and 16 minutes after the vote-counting started in Eastern Canada and long before the polls closed on the West Coast, it was obvious that the people wanted no change in the government they had had for the last 14 years. By the time the whole country was heard from, the Liberals were back in office with the greatest majority in their party's history.

The Liberals had no idea it would be so easy. They were running under an untried leader, Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent, who took over when the veteran Mackenzie King retired last year. The opposition Tory party had received vigorous new leadership from George Drew. Drew's strength in Ontario, where he had been three-time premier, and his alliance with Quebec Premier Maurice Duplessis threatened the Liberals' hold on the two biggest provinces.

The threat never came off. St. Laurent, a French Canadian, proved the perfect answer to the cardinal rule of Canadian politics: never lose the French vote. French-speaking Quebec went Liberal almost 100%. (In Montreal, the only nonLiberal candidate elected was mammoth Mayor Camillien Houde, who ran as an independent.) In the traditional Tory stronghold of Ontario, St. Laurent's well organized campaign helped his party trim down the Tory vote. In the Maritimes and the West, it was the same story. Commentators used the word "tidal wave" as the Liberals ran up a parliamentary majority (132) and far beyond.

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