Mackenzie King and French Canada

Mackenzie King and French Canada H. BLAIR NEATBY In the Canada of the twentieth century only one political party appears to have coped effectively with the problem of cultural duality. The Liberals have been the only national party with solid support in both English and French ·Canada. It is generally agreed that Wilfrid Laurier established the foundations for this association by his fusion of the rouges and the moderate b/eus in the 1890's, and consolidated it by his fight against the Autonomistes in 1911 and against conscription ·in 1917. The political significance of this association has also been generally recognized. It ·is no coincidence that the Liberal party has been the dominant party in federal politics since 1896, in office for all but twenty of the next seventy-eight years. Its success has depended upon the province of Quebec where, election after election, a solid bloc of Quebec seats provided a margin which ensured a majority of the seats in the House of Commons. This is certainly true in the era of Mackenzie King. In the 1920's when King's majorities were narrow at best, Quebec supplied more than half of the Liberal M.P.s. 1 The relative importance of Quebec declined in subsequent elections. In the four elections of the 1930's and 1940's in which King was party leader, 209 of the 570 Liberal seats came from Quebec - or almost 37%. In part, however, this was because the Liberals were significantly more successful in English Canada - Quebec continues to return large Liberal majorities. If we look at the totals of all the federal elections under King's leadership, we find that Liberal candidates in Quebec won slightly over 60% of the popular vote (compared to 44% of the popular vote in Canada as a whole), and an impressive 86 % of the seats from that province .2 Quebec was clearly one of the keys to King's political success. Journal of Canadian Studies The traditional explanations for this "solid Liberal" Quebec, however, are not completely satisfactory. It is true, for example, that the Liberal party had opposed conscription in 1917. But does it follow that for the next twenty years, over five general elections, Quebec electors were still voting on the issue of conscription? Is it logical to assume that French Canadians had such retentive memories? It is certainly not consistent with the complaint of most politicians that their electors forget past favours only too quickly. To put it in another perspective, is it likely that the French Canadians in the 1930's, many of whom would have no direct recollection of 1917, would be more influenced by that remote crisis than by the depression? It is not irrelevant to note that by the 1930's Quebec, in provincial politics at least, was no longer solidly Liberal. Duplessis and the Union Nationale had proved that French Canadi·ans were prepared to switch their votes. Another traditional explanation ·is that the federal Liberals won by default; and that their hold on Quebec is explained by the failure of the Conservative party to offer an acceptable alternative. Arthur Meighen and R. B. Bennett, so the argument runs, were identified with ·conscription, and their subsequent "Ready, aye, ready" response in Imperial matters confirmed the deepest suspicions of French Canada. But the Conservatives did try to be accommoQating. Meighen's Hamilton speech is only one example of his eagerness to reassure French Canada.3 In 1938 the desire for Quebec votes even goes far to explain the choice of R. J. Manion as party leader - a Roman Catholic with a French-Canadian wife and bilingual children, and a man who advocated Canadian autonomy . The Conservatives faHed to win the confidence of French Canada but it was not because they showed no interest. Even if we concede that the Conservatives could not overcome their WASP image and their Imperial sympathies, there was still the possibility of a third party, a nationaliste 3 party, emerging as a rival to the Liberals in Quebec. It was a very real possibility. There had been the Autonomistes in 1911, there would be the Bloc Populaire in 1945, and there have been the Creditistes...