Update #1: Liberal Party of Canada leadership election, 1948
When on January 20, 1948, longtime Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King called on the Liberal Party to hold a national convention to choose a new leader, his shadow rightfully loomed large. Hand chosen to be the next leader of the Liberal Party by former Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier, almost no one would suspect the legacy their new leader would leave behind. Bitterly torn apart by Quebec's total opposition to introduction of conscription in the Great War, agrarian revolts in Ontario and Quebec, and the rise of the far left Progressive Party, the Liberal Party's prospects for the future in the wake of Laurier's death were dim. However, King exceeded all realistic expectations by reconciling factions and taking the Liberal Party from the official opposition to forming government in the 1921 election. From that election on, the liberals would be in power for the next 21 years, only losing the 1930 election[1] and briefly being forced out by the King-Byng Affair in 1926[2]. Through the majority of the twenties, the latter half of the Great Depression, and the Second World War, King remained a strong and steady figure in the Prime Ministers Office. Policy averse due to a deep seated fear of losing power, stoked by the 1930 loss, he often had to be cornered into passing legislation; by the Progressive Party in the twenties, voter expectations in the thirties, and even his own cabinet in the forties[3]. Despite this however, or perhaps because of it, he became the longest serving prime minister in Commonwealth history and would go down as one of the best, if not the best, prime minister in Canadian history.

So King's successor rightfully had large shoes to fill. Though, King had planned for this moment. As speculation as to his successor ran rampant, for party insiders, it was never in doubt.

1948 Liberal Leadership Election.png


Personally groomed by King for many years to be his successor, the August convention chose Norman McLeod Rogers as the new Liberal Leader, and the successor to Prime Minister King. King managed to persuade all other major cabinet ministers to support his protege, clearing the way for a quick and clean transition of power. Sworn in three months later, Rogers had his work cut out for him, but the former Minister of; Labour, War, and Justice wasn't chosen for nothing. However, only time would tell whether Rogers would live up to his mentor's legacy or suffer the fate of Arthur Meighen.[4]

[1] Owing to King's personal belief that what would become the Great Depression was just a temporary downturn that didn't require government action to correct, and an unguarded statement that a King government wouldn't "give a single five-cent piece" to Tory provincial governments for unemployment relief, King's government was handily defeated by the opposition conservatives.

[2] In the 1925 election King's Liberals only won a minority, but was able to maintain power through Progressive support. However, after a series of corruption scandals, the Progressives withdrew support, and in the face of a certain vote of no confidence King advised Governor General Lord Byng of Vimy to dissolve parliament and call an election. However, for the first and so far only time, Byng refused and instead called on the opposition Tories to form government. This sparked a constitutional crisis on the role of the governor general and was subsequently addressed by a clarification of the Governor General's position and an imperial policy of non-intervention in dominion affairs. However, they too were unable to gain a majority and Tory leader Sir Arthur Meighen advised Byng to call an election, which he did. In the subsequent 1926 election King won a Majority Government.

[3] Such was the case in the implementation of Conscription in 1944. The memory of the 1917 conscription crisis still vivid in his mind, King held out against all military urging, unto the eleventh hour, to pass conscription. Even when General Andrew McNaughton (performing the role of Minister of War, despite not having a seat in the house) attempted to resign in protest, King still held firm. In the end McNaughton did not resign, but when he was finally forced to call for conscription, King forced McNaughton out of cabinet using his old resignation papers which he had kept.

[4] In OTL Norman McLeod Rogers was killed in a plane crash on June 10, 1940 on a trip from Ottawa to Toronto. As well, in ATL following the death of Quebec Lieutenant and Minister of Justice Ernest Lapointe, King appoints Rogers to the Justice Ministry.
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After a few months of lurking, I've finally decided to try my hand at a TL. Hope you enjoy and any advice is appreciated.
 
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Oh hey, this is the first non-1970s or 1990s Canada thread I've seen. I'm curious to see how this goes given that I've already learned a bit about King, and am looking forward to see what directions you take this.
 
Update #2 Louis St. Laurent and appointing a new Quebec Lieutenant
Norman Rogers first challenge as liberal leader came as a surprise when shortly after his election as leader his Quebec lieutenant, Louis St. Laurent, quietly announced he would not seek re-election in 1949. Rogers was caught off guard by this announcement and scrambled to formulate a plan of action. At first Rogers tried to persuade Laurent to reverse his decision, but to no avail. After seven years, the 66 year old lawyer had had enough. Distraught, Rogers instructed his general staff to begin collecting candidates for a new Quebec lieutenant. As a final parting gift, Rogers offered to appoint Laurent to the senate, but he refused. In late 1949, St. Laurent would be appointed to the Supreme Court, eventually becoming chief justice.

Louis St. Laurent Supreme Court.png


Beforehand however, Rogers needed a new Quebec lieutenant, and to fill the now vacant position of Secretary of State for External Affairs. The latter was easier than the former. Though Rogers had attempted to persuade former ambassador to the United States Lester Pearson to join his government, and Mackenzie King had tried before him, the young diplomat declined repeatedly[1]. So, with his preferred candidate out, Rogers chose to take the position for himself, as many Prime Ministers had done before.
But Rogers still needed a Quebec lieutenant. To this end, his staff and assistants gathered together a list of potential candidates. After going over the list, Rogers cut it down to a short list of six choices. The three safest choices were;
MP for Quebec South and 1945 leadership candidate Charles Gavan Power,
MP for St. Lawrence-St. George and Minister for National Defence Brooke Claxton,
Journalist and MP for Dorchester Léonard Tremblay.
Each of these choices were relatively safe, with little risk, but little chance for making waves. With any of these men, the best Rogers could hope for was to hold the gains that had already been made. Charles Power was a good choice to tie down a former leadership candidate. Brooke Claxton was a relatively well known and respected public servant who would be unlikely to rock the boat. Léonard Tremblay was probably the least well known of the three, but his journalistic writings gave him a platform and exemplified his talent for written word. However, there were three other choices. These choices had the potential to drive great gains in Quebec. However they each had their own risks about them.
Thérèse Casgrain; a feminist, reformer, and host of the popular radio show Fémina. She was a lifelong Liberal and had run as an Independent Liberal in 1942. She was the daughter of businessman and politician Rodolphe Forget, and was married to former cabinet minister and supreme court justice Pierre-FranÇois Casgrain. As Quebec lieutenant, she had the potential to prevent the CCF from making any inroads in the province. Her radio show proved she had the oratory skill and her father and husband gave her the right connections. However, the promotion of Casgrain to this post, over any of the many male candidates had the potential to sow the seeds of discontent in the liberal caucus, and some of her more radical beliefs had the potential to stoke claims that the liberals were playing footsies with communists.
Pierre Laporte; grandson famous statesman Alfred Leduc, and journalist with Le Devoir. Laporte's status as grandson to Leduc had the potential to provide perceived legitimacy to Rogers' government as the government of Quebecois. However, his affiliation with the Quebec Nationalist and Social Democratic Le Devoir had the potential to turn some of the more conservative liberal voters away.
René Lévesque; a famous radio broadcaster, journalist, and war corespondent. Likely the lest dangerous of the risky choices, Levesque was well respected in Quebec for his oratory and written word skills, and was likely to be a strong voice for the government in Quebec. However, his political affiliations and beliefs were an enigma, and would possibly become an problem later.
Each of these choices had their own risks and rewards. The first three were established and well respected among the more moderate wing of the party. However, they were all old hands in the party and definitely had their best days behind them. The three latter choices were all firebrands whose risks almost outweighed their reward, but were well respected by the progressive wing of the party. Rogers himself was more progressive than his predecessor but still fell on the side of moderation, but he knew just as well as King that he couldn't afford to alienate either side. If he appointed one of the conservative choices, the progressive wing wouldn't immediately leave the party. However, if he appointed one of the progressives the conservative wing could be counted on to raise a fuss. However, none of the conservative choices could be counted on to bring the burgeoning youth vote to the party. After much going back and forth about the pros and cons of the choices the list was cut down to two. Charles Power or René Lévesque. The choice was finally made when Power informed the Prime Minister that he was planning on retiring if he didn't get the position.

Rene Levesque Election 1949.png


Lévesque was hesitant, at first, to get into the political game. Rogers went to great lengths to get him to run, even making several legislative and personal promises. In the end, with more than a little persuasion from his new wife, Louise L'Heureux, he finally decided to accept the job.[2]

With the holes in his cabinet finally shored up, Rogers decided it was time to call the election.

[1] In OTL Pearson had been a potential candidate on the radar of both the Conservatives and the Liberals. However, Pearson turned down the Tories due to his being a liberal, and turned down the Liberals due to his personal dislike of Mackenzie King. He only agreed to join the Liberals after King announced his retirement. In ATL, Rogers status as King's protege and perceived similarities between the two, dissuaded Pearson from joining the liberals like he did OTL.

[2] With a new wife and a child on the way, Lévesque decided that his job in the french language international service with the CBC wasn't appropriate for raising a new family, and so decided on the more stable and settled job as an MP.
 
Update #3 Canadian Federal Election 1949
Norman Rogers faced a crisis going into the 1949 election. After 24 years of liberal governance, the general populace were beginning to get tired of the same old same old. A housekeeping government that did little in way of policy innovating may have been perfectly fine for the roaring twenties or the forties when they had the war to worry about, but Canada had changed. The general populace had begun to acclimate to a different style of life. The process of wartime industrialization had turned Canada's largely agrarian economy into an industrial one, which saw extensive female participation and higher wages. The standard of living had skyrocketed in the wake of the second world war and increasingly Canada's voters wanted more of their government.
The horrors of the second world war had given birth to a new movement for social progress and rights. In Paris, France; Canadian jurist John Peters Humphrey penned the first draft of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. During the war, women were employed extensively in the Industrial sector and as such were beginning to become awake to the possibility of the possibility of keeping careers of their own. Black Canadians who were employed in the army in large numbers came back to Canada expecting a more equal society and were severely disappointed. The last Asian Canadians who were imprisoned in internment camps across the country, following Japanese bombing of pearl harbour and attack on Hong King, were sent home. Many expected that in the wake of that great Teutonic migration, called world war 2, life would return to normal. Men would return home, women would return home, the men would return to their work. Status quo antebellum would be achieved. Industrialization would be reversed, farms would once again become the main driver of the Canadian economy, and everything would go back to the way it was before the war, sans depression. But, what no one yet knew was that things would never go back to the way things were. The steady march of progress had begun to quicken and it was up to the people to keep pace. Up to the government and politicians to keep pace. Or be left behind.

In 1949 the lines were drawn for Canadian Federal Election #21. The governing Grits, lead by Norman McLeod Rogers, had everything to lose. The opposition Tories, lead by George Alexander Drew, were widely seen as the government in waiting. The third place Co-Operative Commonwealth Federation, were lead by Major James Coldwell, and were viewed with suspicion, due to their socialist nature, in the wake of the Gouzenko affair. And the fourth place Social Credit party, were lead by Solon Earl Low, largely seen as a bygone element due to their antisemitic tendencies and Depression era policies. Norman Rogers was not worried about the CCF or SoCreds. If their policies were seen as too extreme for the Great Depression, than they were definitely too extreme for the prosperity of the late forties. No, despite what they might try to say, if the Grits fell it was not MJ Coldwell or Solon Low who would become Prime Minister. It was George Drew, the one term premier of Ontario, who was as capable a politician as any. Though he had earlier alienated potential French voters by remarking that the french were a; "defeated race," Rogers knew better than to discount him. Though dislike for Drew was high in Quebec, English Canada was still a battleground, for anyone to take.
Like his mentor, Norman Rogers was not fluent in French and indeed, had little interest in the province. He simply relied on his new Quebec Lieutenant, as King had relied on Ernest Lapointe and Louis St. Laurent, to provide the seats and votes he needed. And so, as the election began, the leaders campaigned, crisscrossed the country, and debated as such; Norman Rogers campaigned and defended the status quo, promised stability and prosperity under the Liberals, largely positioning himself as a slightly more progressive version of his predecessor. The Liberal campaign promised more rights and nation building. Running under the slogan "Unity, Security, Freedom" the Grit's platform was vague and had little in the way of more 'sexy' promises. They promised reforms, emphasis on foreign policy cooperation, 'sound fiscal policy' and the same old stability that the last 14 years had seen, barring the depression and war.
George Drew criticized the government's handling of everything from the economy to the war and foreign policy. Drew promised closer relations with the US, a stronger stance against communism, and budget surpluses every year. Largely the Tory platform hit on all the same marks as the Liberal's did. Free trade, industry, social security, etc. In this way Drew promised that a Progressive Conservative government would go further on security and foreign policy than the Liberals.
MJ Coldwell criticized the government on income inequality and accused Rogers of ignoring the plight of the working class and poor voters as well as non-white Canadians. As such he promised increases in welfare spending, government subsidies for farms, and more labour rights. In what would become one of the only notable exchanges of the debate; George Drew accused the CCF of being 'soft communists' and wanting to make Canada, a Soviet satellite. MJ Coldwell countered by accusing the Tories and Liberals of wanting to sell Canada out to the US by signing free trade agreements and allowing big businesses to plunder Canada's natural resources. The CCF platform promised to enshrine minority and labour rights, and to run budget deficits to fund economic growth.
Solon Earl Low did his usual shtick, rocking around Alberta throwing a fuss about Government overreach and Albertan resources. He promised a more de-centralized government, budget surpluses and the implementation of Social Credit theories.
The Prime Minister countered the CCF's criticisms by scaring potential CCF voters with the spectre of a Tory government, using Drew's rabid tendencies against anything he saw as communistic to persuade voters to vote Liberal to block him. On the other hand, he brought Conservative voters into the Liberal fold by emphasizing the Liberal government's response to the Gouzenko Affair, and their foreign policy triumphs with NATO and the UN. Furthermore, the Prime Minister promised that he would push the US, UK, and France to appoint Canadians to senior positions in the UN and NATO, and that the new government would focus on Canada's role on the world stage. In his mind, Rogers was remembering Lester Pearson's near win to be the first Secretary General of the UN, and was craving a re-match.
One particularly pernicious aspect of this election was the accusation, by several riding candidates of the PCs and SoCreds, that the unmarried Norman Rogers was gay. Some even took the rumours so far as to suggest that Rogers had engaged in a homosexual relationship with his mentor Mackenzie King. Though all party leaders disavowed these rumours, Norman Rogers would go to his grave claiming that George Drew and Solon Low had encouraged such remarks. These rumours lead to the unflattering nickname "King's Flower" to refer to Rogers. In one instance while campaigning in Alberta, Rogers walked off stage when someone in the crowd began to shout homophobic slurs at him. Those in the Prime Ministers circle would later remember that this began Rogers' hatred for the province, writing it off in the same way his mentor had written off western Canada.
On election night; June 27, 1949; as the various leaders gathered in their respective ridings, pundits predicted the status quo would prevail.
Canadian Federal Election 1949 Mk2.png

In the end, though there would be some vote shifting, the pundits were right.
In Nova Scotia the Liberals took ten seats with the Tories only taking one. The only non-Liberal seat in the province would be held by former legislative assembly member Percy Chapman Black. Frank Stanfield of the PC's, and Thomas Gillis of the CCF would lose their seats to the Grits.
In Prince Edward Island, the Liberals would take 3 seats, with Winfield Chester Scott McLure taking the only Tory seat in the province.
In New Brunswick, the streak would continue with 9 Liberal seats and 1 Tory seat, held by former legislative assembly member Alfred Johnson Brooks.
In Newfoundland, the Grits would take 4 and the Tories 3.
In Quebec, the Liberals surprised even the most ambitious of pollsters and pundits when they shut out all other parties from the province taking all 73 seats for themselves. This was achieved, in no small part, due to the efforts of the new Quebec Lieutenant René Lévesque. Though many within the Prime Minister's, and indeed many without, it were stunned by the results and wondered how Lévesque achieved it. However, the Prime Minister quickly found out. In his first weeks of being Quebec Lieutenant, Lévesque did what he did best and began fraternizing with his peers, including many within cabinet. In doing so he discovered that instead of what many Quebecois had assumed, that Mackenzie King had chosen to go back on his promise of conscription, King instead was forced to by the military. He thus made this the cornerstone of his campaign in Quebec. This, combined with previous alienating comments by George Drew towards Quebec, had the effect of forcing out all Independent Liberal and Conservative MPs. Though it had it's effect in Quebec, Rogers was enraged as if it had, and indeed as it would, filter out to the rest of Canada it was likely to have a negative effect on the Liberal's standing.
In Ontario, the Liberals lost 10 seats to the Tories, and the CCF lost their only seat east of Manitoba to the Liberals. This seat was York South, previously held by Joseph Noseworthy. During a 1942 by-election in the riding, which was called to allow conservative leader Arthur Meighen to enter parliament, the Liberals did not run a candidate, as is tradition, but rather funded Noseworthy's campaign. Noseworthy had been a thorn in the side of the Grits ever since, and Rogers had been determined to put him down in '49.
Manitoba gained the Liberals 9 seats, the Tories 3, and the CCF 4 seats.
In Saskatchewan the liberals took 10 seats, the Tories took 5, and the CCF took 5. The Tories took 4 more than usual thanks to the efforts of conservative MP and leadership runner up John Diefenbaker.
In Alberta, the Liberals got 5 seats, the Tories 3, and the SoCreds 9, 1 down from last election.
In British Columbia, the Liberals took 11 seats, the Conservatives 3, and the CCF 4.
And, finally, in the northern territories the Liberals took the sole seat.
In total, the Liberals won 180 seats, the Progressive Conservatives won 55, the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation won 19, and the Social Credit Party won 9, with 3 Independent seats. With a clear majority, Rogers was left unimpeded to pursue his agenda. Sitting in his office on the first day following the election, Rogers penned a letter to Lester Pearson.
 
This is off to a great start. Post-war Canada is a really underused period and I'm quite interested to see where this leads, especially with the unconventional figures you've already chosen to promote. Subscribed!
 
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