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.
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.
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.
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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