The Liberal Choice

The Liberal choice JOSEPH WEARING Conventions Past and Present For the first time since 1919, the Liberal Leadership Convention was a genuine race which any one of the five leading contenders (Messrs. Hellyer, Martin, Trudeau, Turner, or Winters) had a reasonable chance of winning. Along with the Convention of 1919 and the Conservative Convention of 1967, this was only the third time that the winner had needed more than two ballots to reach the necessary 50% of votes cast. There were other striking contrasts with earlier conventions: the number of voting delegates in 1968 (2,390 on the first ballot) was almost twice that of 1958 (1,380); earlier conventions had debated and passed lengthy policy statements but this time no policy resolutions were passed or discussed; and there were eight "serious" candidates as opposed to two in 1958, three in 1948 and four in 1919. But all was not chalk and cheese: some of the similarities with earlier conventions were intriguing . For the fourth consecutive time, the party turned down men who had come up through the party and had served it for a long time. Three of the leading contenders, Messrs. Hellyer, Martin, and Winters had first been elected to the House in 1949, 1935, and 1945 respectively; Mr. Trudeau 's two-and-a-half years in the House and indeed his time as a Liberal were less than that of any other serious candidate. In this he had more in common with Mackenzie King, whose service in the House before being elected leader was only a few months longer than Mr. Trudeau's. (This was never mentioned as a means of reassuring those who were disturbed by Mr. Trudeau 's lack of federal experience. Neither was the "error" in reporting his age as 46 rather than 48 apparently an attempt to identify him with King who was 44 when elected leader.) On the other hand, Mr. Trudeau's experience as a young intellectual fighting the Duplessis machine in Quebec contrasted considerably with King's and Journal of Canadian Studies Pearson's early years in the civil service and St. Laurent's career as a lawyer. Secondly, the Party's alternation between English-Protestant and French-Catholic leaders was continued. Thirdly, although St. Laurent and Pearson were very careful not to indicate their preferences publicly, it appears that, for the third time in a row, the retiring leader's personal choice won the contest. A great deal has been said about the two leadership conventions of the last year marking a break with the carefully controlled conventions of the past. In the case of the Liberals, this process started at the policy convention of 1961 and carried on into the more free-wheeling 1966 meeting. By 1968 the instinctual deference of Liberals was being replaced by a new spirit of independence. According to Chubby Power, constituency delegates at earlier conventions were very often the choice of the federal M.P. and voted as he directed. This time however there were many lively contests in electing constituency delegates and delegations were often split. More significantly, the M.P.'s were surprisingly inactive in the early weeks of the leadership campaign and did not attempt to take the initiative and settle on a caucus choice. All this openness was, as in the Conservatives' case, partly a result of the number of candidates and the differences of opinion within the higher levels of the Party. The Cabinet was split, the caucus was split, Ontario was split, the West was split, and Quebec did not know who would be a candidate from that province until the middle of February. Even the most powerful provincial powerbrokers , the three premiers, Messrs. Thatcher, Robichaud , and Smallwood hedged their bets until the week of the Convention. When the Convention was called in December , the three front runners were generally considered to be Martin, Hellyer, and Sharp. Globe and Mail columnist, George Bain, writing in mid-December, reflected most observers' assessments when he said that "anyone who would bet on the outcome of the race ... is patently an ass.'' He then went on to outline the chances of Sharp, Martin, Hellyer, Marchand, Turner, Winters, 3 and MacEachen...