Regardless of his impressive re-election throughout English Canada, Manning found that he could not count on the support of the entirety of his caucus. Although he had passed legislation to stave off any conservative challenge to his leadership of the party, many of the political right still viewed the Prime Minister as a wolf in sheep’s clothing. His biggest critic, ’66 runner up Joseph Ball, had begun to slowly lay the groundwork for a leadership challenge in case the opportunity arose. In spite of the fact he was excluded from the Cabinet, the Minnesota MP had amassed a loyal following amongst some circles in the backbench, many of whom believed the narrative that Manning, having won what many expected to be his final election victory, would resign well before 1975 after serving roughly ten years as leader. The unexpected defeat of the provincial Unionists in Cascadia at the hands of Labour in 1973 caused many to point to the unpopularity of the federal government, who had implemented various austerity measures to lower the budget deficit, ironically in the hopes of balancing the budget in time for the next election. Whilst such a pursuit sat within the ideological parameters of the brand of conservatism espoused by Ball and his colleagues, Manning’s rising unpopularity caused long held ambitions to trump beliefs. Sensing his opponents moves to destabilize his hold on power, Manning called for a leadership spill himself, arguing that he required the party to settle any such matters if the Unionists were to move on from their defeat in Cascadia and slump in the polls. The move worked, catching Ball and his allies’ off-guard and secured the Prime Minister an even larger victory than his previous win a decade ago. Manning declared to reporters that he would eventually step down as leader, but only at a time of his choosing.
The previous seven years had not been kind to Labour. They had lost power after holding on to it for almost two decades, and since that defeat had gone through three different leaders. On top of that the party was still divided between members who pushed for a more moderate direction, led by former leader Mitchell Sharp, and the Left-wing faction, who now followed the lead of former Shadow Labour Minister George McGovern. Interim leader Byron Allen and the party’s executive scheduled a leadership election, the first non-spill related vote since 1960, for 1973. The final slate of candidates included McGovern, the even more left-wing James Laxer, and the moderate 37-year old Ed Broadbent. Despite McGovern’s former status as the go between for the front and backbench, much of the party’s left-wing faction found support in the views of Laxer, forcing McGovern to reach out to the more moderate Labourites. The first ballot illustrated the deep divisions between the party, with both McGovern and Laxer claiming the support of almost an equal number of their colleague’s support, with Broadbent capturing enough to position himself as the kingmaker of the contest. Backing the Dakota MP, McGovern captured the leadership with a commanding majority of caucus support, enough to temporarily quell the divide within the party. In what would become known as his candid approach to politics, the 51-year old McGovern promised to return to authentic progressive principles once, not if, Labour returned to power.
Most of Canada’s political observers expected the federal election to be called sometime in 1975, following the tradition of four years after the previous campaign. When Prime Minister Manning called a press conference that year many assumed that the Unionist leader has decided to fight one more election in spite of his pledge to step down in 1973. Yet Manning kept his promise, telling reporters that he would resign as leader once his party had chosen his successor, meaning that the election would be called and fought sometime in 1976. Much like Labour’s leadership election three years prior, three major candidates emerged for the Unionist caucus to pick, including Industry Minister Clifford Hansen, Cascadian MP and Minister of Energy, Mines and Resources Daniel J. Evans, and Claude Wagner, the party’s leading organizer in Quebec and the only non-MP in the race. While Evans enjoyed the quiet support of the Prime Minister and the more moderate faction of the party, Hansen was endorsed by Joe Ball, Dick Cheney and remainder of the Unionist’s right-wing, once again making the contest a battle over the direction of the Unionist Party’s ideology. Evans, a supporter of official bilingualism and environmental protection, largely avoided any concrete policy announcements while Hansen on the other hand famously told reporters that the contest was not what they were for, but rather what they were against. Once again, much like Labour, the two leading contenders found themselves deadlocked in support and at the mercy of the third place candidate, in this case Claude Wagner. Despite Hansen's promise of making him a key member of his cabinet following the next election, the Quebec strongman backed Evans, later telling reporters that the Cascadian MP was the party’s best hope of a breakthrough in the French speaking province, and ultimately Wagner’s best hope of capturing a seat in the House of Commons. Canada had a new Prime Minister, and many Unionists were confident that he would lead the party to victory in the upcoming campaign.
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) 1966-1976
Daniel J. Evans (Unionist) 1976-