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Although his party had won an enormous mandate to govern by voters, many of Manning’s colleagues had either been in opposition so long that the transition to government member was excruciating, or were new to federal politics completely. Such a situation quickly proved to be unfavourable to the new Prime Minister. Within a year of coming to power the more conservative members of the government had become to grow restless, with many arguing that Manning wanted to avoid reversing the entire agenda set by the previous Labour governments. Hoping to ease the tensions within the party, the Prime Minister introduced the Criminal Law Amendment Act, an omnibus bill which planned to radically undo much of the progressive legislation implemented by Humphrey and his predecessors. Manning had hoped that the relatively early passage of the bill would give the government amble time to weather any such controversy, the ensuing filibusters and riots, culminated in the Montreal Riots, made sure that the legislation stayed in the forefront of voter’s memory.
The chaos brought on by the events in Montreal had not only effected the fortunes of the Unionists, but Labour as well, whose leader’s criticism of the province’s union leaders had provided his enemies ample ammunition to marshal the supported needed to forcibly remove him from the leadership. Refusing to allow his detractors the satisfaction of defeating him openly, Humphrey resigned as leader in 1968 and was quickly replaced by Quebec-strongman and former Environment Minister Jean Marchand. While somewhat more moderate than many other possible candidates, it was hoped that Marchand’s presence would further cement the Montreal controversy in the mind of Canadians.
By the beginning of 1970 polling suggested that the Unionists were trailing Labour by as many as six-points, with the government deeply unpopular in the eastern, more centre-left to left-wing provinces. Domestic affairs quickly dominated the election, with both Manning and Marchand portraying themselves as the superior candidate to protect the economy, which had begun to rebound the previous year. Mark Hatfield meanwhile attempted to draw parallels between both of the major party leaders, stating that both men offered two different paths to the same result, namely the ruination of the country. Unsurprisingly the extremist label was a common tactic for all three campaigns. Conceding French Canada to the opposition, Manning began criticizing Marchand’s heritage, claiming that the Quebec MP would place the interests of his native province first and force official bilingualism on the rest of the country’s predominantly English population. The Labour leader’s open-ended response on the subject caused even members of his own party to begin to worry as to whether or not their leader would implement policies for the benefit of one province rather than the country. Unionists also took advantage of Marchand’s past affiliation with the CSN, which he had served as president, one of the major organizers during the roughly four month Montreal protests.
Heading into the debates most polling showed that the Unionists had reclaimed a narrow lead over Labour, but not enough to win an outright majority. Not wanting to damage their standings in the poll within the final week of the campaign, both Manning and Marchand avoided any major policy promises, instead safely choosing to attack their opponent’s record. The ensuing divide between Marchand and his candidates in English Canada secured a minority victory for the Unionists and Manning, although the situation in Parliament suggested another election would occur before the year was out.
7 Independents, 1 Farmer-Labour
Many members of the Labour Party resented Marchand for failing to win what was originally thought to be a winnable election. The Quebec MP’s clear commitment to staying on and lead the party into the next election further angered members, as it demonstrated that Marchand had little interest in consulting the party membership. Three months following the results members of the Labour backbench voiced their displeasure behind closed doors, with many members advocating for a leadership spill and replace Marchand with a more left-wing, English leader and prepare for the next election, expected to be called sometime in 1972. The decision to sack Shadow Labour Minister George McGovern in November, who was seen by many as a go between for the frontbench and backbench members, caused enough members to force a spill against the Labour leader. After some suggestion that the backbench support the potential bids of McGovern or McCarthy, Mitchell Sharp emerged as the victorious compromise candidate.
Sensing the chance to take advantage of the situation, Manning surprised the opposition by advising the Governor General to dissolve parliament and call a new election for February. This meant that Sharp had little time to introduce either himself or an alternative agenda of his own to Canadians. Labeling him “a tax and spend socialist”, Manning declared that Sharp was even more dangerous than Marchand due to the fact he was from English Canada, and thus held a better chance of forming government than his predecessor. In the hopes of further strengthening his party’s influence and force a minority parliament, Hatfield suggested that his party could “regulate” whomever formed power and prevent any more controversial bills to be passed.
With polls showing his party quickly losing ground, Sharp pledged that the Labour Party would cut funding to the nonessential social programs in order to balance the budget, much to the chagrin of some of the party’s more left-wing members. Many of them felt betrayed since they had supported the former Shadow Finance Minister’s bid to replace Marchand. Recognizing the opposition to the move, the Labour leader backtracked on the pledge, stating that it was a case of thinking aloud rather than making concrete policy. Unfortunately for Labour the move earned Sharp the label as a flip-flopper, further damaging his party’s position in the polls.
Refusing to take part in the debates for fear of providing his opponents a chance to harm his party, Sharp instead delivered a series of pledges to repeal the infamous Criminal Law Amendment Act, as well as to legalize both homosexuality and abortion. While enough to prevent the Liberals to further eat away at their left-wing support, by the final week of the campaign it was clear that it would not be enough to swing enough support so as to allow Labour to form government. Voters returned the Unionists to power with a majority, reducing Labour to their poorest showing since World War Two and the handing the Liberals their best results since 1962.
8 Independents, 2 Farmer-Labour
List of Prime Ministers of Canada
Sir John A. Macdonald (Liberal Conservative) 1869-1877
Sir Edward Blake (Liberal) 1877-1882
Sir John A. Macdonald (Liberal-Conservative) 1882-1891
Sir Mackenzie Bowell (Liberal-Conservative) 1891-1892
Sir Hector Louis Langevin (Liberal-Conservative) 1892-1894
Sir Wilfred Laurier (Liberal) 1894-1906
Sir Frederick W. A. G. Haultain (Conservative) 1906-1915
Sir Hugh John Macdonald (National Government/Conservative) 1915-1919
Hugh Guthrie (Conservative) 1919-1923
Thomas Crerar (Labour) 1923-1930
Robert Manion (Conservative) 1930-1932
Thomas Crerar (Labour) 1932-1934
Robert Manion (Unionist) 1934-1938
Charles Avery Dunning (Labour) 1938-1945
Arthur B. Langlie (Unionist) 1945-1949
Adélard Godbout (Labour) 1949-1956
Brooke Claxton (Labour) 1956-1960
Hubert Humphrey (Labour) 1960-1966
Ernest Manning (Unionist) 1966-
