New Tory Leader

The stage was set for the kind of political show that sobersided Canada seldom allows itself. Ottawa's Coliseum was decked out with flags, bunting and flashing red, green and yellow lights. More than 1,200 Progressive Conservative delegates converged on the capital from all over Canada to nominate a new leader at the party's first national convention since 1948. Even those who could not attend in person could watch from afar; for the first time, TV cameras were on hand to broadcast the proceedings and let all Canadians see the choosing of the man who will be their Prime Minister if the Tory Party wins the next general election.

Only one detail was amiss: the show's plot was obvious. From the start it was clear that John George Diefenbaker, 61, of Prince Albert, Sask. would be elected leader of Canada's major opposition party. Ever since George Drew resigned because of ill health. Diefenbaker had been the front runner to replace him (TIME, Oct. 1). Diefenbaker did not campaign for the job and refused to ask a single delegate to vote for him. But support piled up steadily and weeks before the convention opened, there was little doubt that Lawyer Diefenbaker would win on the first ballot.

Party Maverick. The predictions were dead right. Diefenbaker rolled up 777 votes on the first round. His closest rival, French-speaking Donald Fleming, 51, of Toronto, who attracted a heavy Quebec vote, polled 393; 40-year-old Davie Fulton of Vancouver had 117.

Clear-cut though his victory was, Diefenbaker's rise to the Tory leadership was not easy. The conservative old guard of the party has always regarded him as something of a misfit in their ranks. Baptist Diefenbaker seemed unsociable; he neither drank nor smoked, and joined none of the Tory clubs. He was a maverick in Parliament, campaigning for a Canadian Bill of Rights similar to that in the U.S. Constitution, and calling for stiffer antitrust laws while the Tory Party stood for pure British tradition and unfettered free enterprise. Even Diefenba-ker's Dutch-origin name did not have a Tory ring; the party never had a leader with a non-British surname.

But Diefenbaker's political skills could not be denied. In parliamentary debate, he was always a standout performer, respected by the Liberals and admired by the galleries for the deftness of his attacks on government policies. He was also a strong political campaigner--and a winning one. While the rest of the Tory Party suffered defeat upon defeat. Diefenbaker steadily increased his majorities in his own district.

Party Weakness. It will take all of Leader Diefenbaker's campaign brilliance to lead his party to a victory in Canada's next general election, expected next summer. The Tories, out of power since 1935, have lost five straight elections, and they have shown few signs of increasing their political appeal. The party's great weakness is in the key province of Quebec, home of the Liberals' Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent. That weakness has not been remedied by the election of John Diefenbaker, who speaks no French and failed to win any Quebec support at the Tory convention.

To make their party more palatable to

Quebeckers, even if their new leader is not, the convention's Resolutions Committee hammered out a new platform for the next election. It contained the tradi tional Tory emphasis on strong ties to Britain and support of free enterprise, but it also stressed "the sovereignty of Canada as an independent nation" and came out strongly for increased pensions and unemployment benefits and national health insurance.

Whatever hope the Tories have of winning public support for their program rests squarely with John Diefenbaker. He is a battler who will not give up easily. Diefenbaker lost four elections before he won his first seat in Parliament, and he was beaten in two previous tries before he won the leadership of his party.

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