TL outline- Canuck Prime Minister Maurice Duplessis

This is the outline of Canadian events only for my upcoming TL "Right Honourable Caesareans" (ETA May!). Next installment of this outline will be 1960-1981.

Mav: This is your sneak preview.

Dec. 12, 1939: Having been soundly defeated 70-14 in the October provincial election, Maurice Duplessis resigns as Unionist leader and announces his intention to run for the federal Conservatives in Trois-Rivieres.

Jan. 24, 1940: Prime Minister Mackenzie King dissolves Parliament for a March 26th federal election.

Mar. 26, 1940: King is returned for a fifth term with 178 of 245 seats, Duplessis trounces the incumbent Liberal.

Nov. 26, 1941: Justice Minister Ernest Lapointe dies of cancer at age 65. Prime Minister King prevails upon Liberal Premier Adelard Godbout to resign and serve as Quebec lieutenant, Justice Minister and heir apparent.

July 8, 1942: Manitoba Premier John Bracken is elected Tory leader, on the condition that the Conservatives rename themselves the "Progressive Conservatives".

June 11, 1945: Prime Minister King is returned for an unprecedented sixth term with 131 of 245 seats.

Nov. 10, 1945: John Bracken resigns as Tory leader and is replaced by Duplessis as Leader of the Opposition.

June 30, 1946: Prime Minister Mackenzie King and President Harry Truman sign the US-Canada Reciprocity Treaty, later succeeded by CAFTA.

Nov. 15, 1948: King resigns after 22 years as Prime Minister, Godbout succeeds him.

Feb. 26, 1949: Parliament is dissolved for an April 9th federal election.

Apr. 9, 1949: The Conservatives win a majority government on the slogan "C'est fini" (It's over), with 165 of 262 seats. Duplessis becomes Prime Minister on April 16th.

Sept. 25, 1950: Sedition Act is passed, requiring all Communists to register with the federal government. Former Communist MP Fred Rose is deported to Poland.

Nov. 5, 1950: Prime Minister Duplessis announces that two additional Canadian brigades will be sent to Germany, but that Canadian defence policy will be henceforth "North American" oriented.

Aug. 21, 1951: Appeals to the UK Privy Council are ended, former Quebec Lieutenant-Governor Hugues Lapointe is appointed the first Canadian-born Governor-General.

Jan. 1, 1952: The PCs revert to the "Conservative Party of Canada" name held previous to 1942. Prime Minister Duplessis had called the PC label "ideologically unsound and a contradiction in terms".

May 16, 1952: Quebec's Unionists return to power under the charismatic Paul Sauve, replacing Georges-Emile Lapalme.

Oct. 10, 1952: Taxation Act of 1952 is enacted, allowing the provinces to collect their own income taxes.

Mar. 28, 1953: Labour Relations Act of 1953 is enacted, banning public-sector strikes and forbidding Defence Ministry employees to unionize.

May 5, 1953: Duplessis is returned for a second term with 171 of 262 seats in the Commons.

Dec. 7, 1953: Prime Minister Duplessis announces severe import quotas on Warsaw Pact goods and 10% tariffs on British goods.

Feb. 26, 1954: CCF activist David Lewis is imprisoned on charges of "anti-government activities" under Section 16A of the Sedition Act.

Apr. 1, 1954: Duplessis announces the National Highway System, to be jointly built by the federal and provincial governments.

Nov. 11, 1954: Deputy Prime Minister Antonio Barrette dies of a stroke, he is replaced by the Minister of Federal-Provincial Relations Daniel Johnson.

Jan. 29, 1955: The former British Majestic-class CVL Powerful is purchased by the RCN, she is named HMCS Bonaventure.

Mar. 16, 1955: A secret MoU is reached between the British and Canadian governments: in return for British participation in the Arrow project, the RAF will make an initial purchase of 90 aircraft for air defence.

May 24, 1955: Prime Minister Duplessis announces Canada's first-ever peacetime conscription, with the first inductions scheduled for Sept. 2nd, the 10th anniversary of V-J Day.

Oct. 7, 1955: Universite de Montreal professor Pierre Trudeau is blacklisted and his works placed under a publication ban due to severe federal and provincial pressure on the university.

Jan. 11, 1956: Faced with declining support and lack of funds, the CCF is dissolved of its own accord. Canada is now a two-party state, and moderate CCFers join the Liberal Party.

May 9, 1956: Liberals narrowly elect veteran foreign affairs critic Paul Martin Sr. leader over former Finance Minister Robert Winters.

June 20, 1956: Social Credit loses power and all their seats in Alberta to the provincial Conservative Party, with the provincial Liberals in second place.

Nov. 19, 1956: Pierre Trudeau is deported to Fulgencio Batista's Cuba, where he would spend his life in exile.

Dec. 9, 1956: Prime Minister Duplessis tells Cabinet he will seek a third term.

May 30, 1957: Duplessis wins a reduced majority of 155 of 262 seats, though increases the Tory popular vote share to 52.2%.

Sept. 19, 1957: The Arrow makes its maiden flight and development continues due to teething trouble with the Orenda powerplant.

Feb. 14, 1958: "Valentine's Day massacre", 14 strikers are killed by the QPP during a sit-down strike. Public outrage forces Quebec Premier Paul Sauve to replace QPP director Hilaire Beauregard with civil-libertarian Montreal chief Albert Langlois.

Apr. 21, 1958: Prime Minister Duplessis suffers a minor stroke. He declines doctors' advice to resign, rather leaving daily domestic affairs in the hands of Daniel Johnson.

Sept. 9, 1958: Prime Minister Duplessis makes a state visit to France to visit with President de Gaulle, and they privately agree on lowered trade barriers which will be enacted by 1960.

Jan. 20, 1959: Prime Minister Duplessis announces a Royal Commission to study the creation of a Canadian flag to replace the Red Ensign. This is denounced by Empire patriots such as George Grant, a leading Liberal intellectual.

Apr. 29, 1959: The Arrow reaches IOC and is delivered to No 414 Sqn at RCAFB Rockcliffe with Defence Minister Gen. George Pearkes and Prime Minister Duplessis in attendance.

Oct. 31, 1959: Arrow deliveries begin to the RAF, with the Mk 1 batch to be completed by 1963.

Apr. 2, 1960: Prime Minister Duplessis dies of a stroke at age 70, he is replaced by Daniel Johnson as Tory leader and Prime Minister.
 
Interesting plans you have for Canada... but if I may ask as a reader of your other TL's, what is your new TL "Right Honourable Caesareans" gonna be about?
 
Without giving away too much, by the 1960s Catholic conservative heads of government, some with authoritarian tendencies, will be firmly entrenched as Western leaders. Their relentless focus on economic development will have far-reaching sociocultural consequences. That's all I'm going to say for now.
 
Bumpity-bump. While the title will be changed, this outline gives a good idea of how my next TL will look. My recent "POTUS Joe Kennedy Sr." DBWI is a hint of how things will going ITTL in the US.
 
Bumpity-bump. While the title will be changed, this outline gives a good idea of how my next TL will look. My recent "POTUS Joe Kennedy Sr." DBWI is a hint of how things will going ITTL in the US.

After reading a Joe Kennedy biography entitled Sins of the Father, I had an idea which is very, very similar to your idea, I guess. It involves Joe avoiding the "Democracy is over" comment, running for and winning the Massachusetts Governorship in '42(as he had planned), being selected as FDR's VP in '44 and finally succeeding him in 45, going on to serve 'till '53. The only thing I've ever actually written though is a segment where the entire Kennedy family travels to Yalta in the Crimea to accompany Joe as he negotiates with Churchill and Stalin (FDR dies a bit earlier).

Please don't tell me that Joe Jr. becomes President in 1960 in your TL, dashing my hopes of ever writing my own TL! Although that probably seems likely. If what I've read about him is correct, he shares his father's antisemitism and Fascist sympathies. After visiting post-Civil War Spain, he wrote some articles praising Franco. Imagine what kind of President he would make! As for Jack, he's appointed Ambassador to England during Joe Senior's term, spends the 50's as Governor of MA, then is appointed by Jr. to be Secretary of State in 1960.
 
Keep in mind that because FDR is no longer around, there will be no Roosevelt-hatred that sparked the 22nd Amendment. As for Joe Jr.: you are correct that he shared his father's views. I'm not going to reveal his plans, but remember that Duplessis is very similar to Joe Kennedy and will be close to him ITTL. Same age, similar culture (Le Chef was of partial Irish descent), same Irish charm. Completely politically dominant in the LBJ fashion.

Now, Joe Jr. served an "apprenticeship" with his father in England IOTL. Who do you think Joe might send to learn some lessons in *pragmatic* governance? ;) From the man whose Padlock Law allowed the Attorney General (Duplessis) to lock up any house with "Communist" propaganda, railed against "Communist" agricultural imports, cooperated closely with the Church, and persecuted Jehovah's Witnesses?
 
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Keep in mind that because FDR is no longer around, there will be no Roosevelt-hatred that sparked the 22nd Amendment. As for Joe Jr.: you are correct that he shared his father's views. I'm not going to reveal his plans, but remember that Duplessis is very similar to Joe Kennedy and will be close to him ITTL. Same age, similar culture (Le Chef was of partial Irish descent), same Irish charm. Completely politically dominant in the LBJ fashion.
If you don't mind giving too much away, what year does Joe Sr. become President in your TL? Is it early enough to prevent American entry into the war?

Now, Joe Jr. served an "apprenticeship" with his father in England IOTL. Who do you think Joe might send to learn some lessons in *pragmatic* governance? ;) From the man whose Padlock Law allowed the Attorney General (Duplessis) to lock up any house with "Communist" propaganda, railed against "Communist" agricultural imports, cooperated closely with the Church, and persecuted Jehovah's Witnesses?
Joe Jr. is sent to Canada to learn from Maurice?
 
Wait and see. But this is a postwar TL for the most part. The prologue will set up the political scenes in Canada and the US during wartime, because the war will not change from OTL and certain things in Canada need an explanation. Joe Sr. becomes POTUS in 1945.

As for the apprenticeship: without giving away any more, Jack isn't interested, obviously. Duplessis remade himself IOTL after nearly dying from alcohol poisoning in 1942- never had another drink for the rest of his life and reverted to Puritanism by sheer willpower alone. Who would be impressed by that...

BTW, to give everyone a sense of the Canadian jumping-off point. That platform will be implemented by King's retirement in 1948. Duplessis won't undo it, but he won't add to it either...
 
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Wait and see. But this is a postwar TL for the most part. The prologue will set up the political scenes in Canada and the US during wartime, because the war will not change from OTL and certain things in Canada need an explanation. Joe Sr. becomes POTUS in 1945.
Does he take the same path to the Presidency as the one I've described in post seven? Succeeding FDR from the VPship like Truman did or does he win the election of '44 in his own right? Because I fear if the former is the case, then that would mean that my idea would be too similar to your TL. Anway, my ideas rarely ever graduate into actual TL's. :( I envy the ease with which you spawn TL's, RB.

As for the apprenticeship: without giving away any more, Jack isn't interested, obviously. Duplessis remade himself IOTL after nearly dying from alcohol poisoning in 1942- never had another drink for the rest of his life and reverted to Puritanism by sheer willpower alone. Who would be impressed by that...
Does that mean Bobby is sent to Canada? :confused:
 
I'll lay out some new sources and characters. Important, especially for non-Canuck readers to know key players in Canada during this period.

Mav: Thanks for the idea about Joe Sr., and you know that you have exclusive rights to POTUS JPK Jr.

Le Devoir/Montreal Star: The newspapers of the French-Canadian and English elites in Quebec, respectively. Le Devoir is owned by the Catholic Church, the Star by J.W. McConnell.

Toronto Telegram: English Canadian opinion, which was not very favourable to Le Chef IOTL.

Le Soleil: Newspaper of the Liberal Party.

Montreal Matin: Official newspaper of the Union Nationale. Anything printed has the same value as a press release.


Canadian characters

J.W. McConnell: Unquestioned leader of the English-Canadian business community, very friendly with both the federal Liberals and Duplessis.

F. Cyril James: Principal of McGill University from 1939-1962 IOTL.

J.M.R. Cardinal Villeneuve: Archbishop of Quebec, Primate of Canada.

Paul-Emile Cardinal Leger: Villeneuve's successor.

Archbishop Joseph Charbonneau: In 1949 Duplessis succeeded in persuading the See to remove him to Vancouver for publicly opposing the government's handling of the Asbestos Strike.
 
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