This is Part Eight of a multi-series detailing the election history of the North Island: Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, Part Five, Part Six, Part 7.
On Dec. 14, 1967, Lester Pearson announced to Canada that he would resign as Prime Minister of Canada at the end of the year.
His popularity had declined, especially since the Progressive Conservatives were ahead in the polls with new leader, Robert Lorne Stanfield, calling the shots. The Liberal Party thought they were facing a possible loss, and Pearson set out to find a successor.
Eventually, Pierre Trudeau emerged as the successor. Trudeau joined the party in 1965 and was elected in the Mount Royal electoral riding in Montreal. Before succeeding Pearson, Trudeau was formerly the parliamentary secretary and was the minister of justice and attorney general, and was responsible for introducing the Criminal Law Amendment Act, which decriminalized homosexuality between consenting adults, new gun ownership restrictions, and the legalization of contraception, abortion and lotteries.
Trudeau was sworn in on April 20, 1968, but it was clear the minority Liberal government would not survive until November 1970, when the next election was scheduled to take place. Instead of waiting it out, Trudeau called an early election for June 25, 1968.
Trudeaumania took to the streets of Canada during his election campaign. Young Canadians involved in counterculture scenes in the 1960s identified with Trudeau, who was laidback and popular with left-leaning citizens, who praised him for his stances on homosexuality, divorce laws, and abortion. He campaigned on making Canada a "Just Society."
One of the more intense parts of Trudeau's campaign was a stop in Montreal during Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day, where, during a parade, Quebec Nationalists threw bottles and rocks at Trudeau, who stayed seated despite his aides trying to get him into cover. His conduct, caught on video by CBC, impressed the Canadian public.
The Liberal Party won a majority government on election day, winning 154 seats. The Progressive Conservatives only won 72, 22 less than the election before. The New Democratic Party won 22, while Ralliement créditiste won 14. The Social Credit Party lost its three seats from the prior election, effectively wiping out the party in English Canada.
The Progressive Conservatives also made some blunders on their trail. Stanfield wanted to introduce an annual income tax, but when it was thought that term was too "socialist," he changed the term to "negative income tax," meanwhile floundering on explaining how much it would cost to implement it, who would be covered, and the minimum income level.
It was also the first federal election to have a leaders' debate.
In the Comox-Alberni riding, a controversy unfolded. NDPer Tom Barnett was declared the victor of the riding by three points. However, the Liberal Party demanded a recount, which gave their candidate, Richard Durante, a victory by a margin of nine points, sending him to the House of Commons. But the drama didn't stop there. Barnett and the riding party association filed a court challenge. The challenge found that 12 Canadian Forces members were ineligible to vote, invalidating the results. The court allowed the Liberals one week to appeal, which they declined, forcing Barnett and Durante to face off in a by-election on April 8, 1969. This time, Barnett won, and Durante never entered the political realm again.
Trudeau's first term as prime minister focused on multiculturalism policies, making French and English equal languages of the federal government and doubling the proportion of Francophone people in the civil service and military. Trudeau was also very immigrant-friendly, allowing thousands of refugees from the Vietnam War into Canada, where ethnic Chinese, Vietnamese and Cambodians fled the Asian continent in makeshift boats, usually from Hong Kong. According to Jack Granatstein and Robert Bothwell's Pirouette Pierre Trudeau and Canadian Foreign Policy, about 44,000 of them, known as boat people, were accepted by Canada by 1980.
A policy paper proposal in 1969 resulted in both Indigenous and non-Indigenous people uniting in opposition. The paper was officially titled Statement of the Government of Canada on Indian Policy, and more popularly known as the 1969 White Paper.
The White Paper proposed that all legal documents, including the Indian Act and all existing treaties with Canada would be abolished, and First Nations people would be considered an equal ethnic group equal to other ethnic Canadian citizens, eliminating Indian status. Additionally, the Department of Indian Affairs would be abolished within five years.
Indigenous rights activists had been growing since 1945, but blossomed in the late 1960s with the Red Power movement, inspired by Malcolm X and the Black Power movement in the United States.
Trudeau and his Minister of Indian Affairs, Jean Chrétien wanted to amend the Indian Act and consulted various regional leaders in Ottawa, after which the White Paper was presented to the House of Commons.
It was not popular.
"I am sure that hon. Members who have followed the developments leading up to the tabling of the white paper are fully aware that this is not the kind of action for which the Indian people have asked. They asked to be enabled to establish their rights and to have assistance to do so. Never at any time have they requested that a commissioner charged with reporting to the Governor in Council in secret be set up to deal with matters concerning them," Barnett said during a private members' motion for the paper in June 1970.
First Nations groups felt the Canadian government was absolving itself from the historic and systematic policies on Indigenous peoples, rather than trying to fix them and that the proposal was exactly the opposite of what First Nations leaders requested during consultations.
Eventually, after public protests, the White Paper was abandoned, with Trudeau acknowledging it as a failure in 1970.
Trudeau won another election in 1972, this time with a minority government. He had won 109 seats, opposed to 107 seats won by the Progressive Conservatives. The NDP, now led by David Lewis, held the balance of power with 31 seats. The Social Credit Party had reemerged as a contender, merged with the Ralliement créditistes, with Réal Caoutte as leader. However, the Social Credit Party only won 15 seats, only relevant in Quebec.
Tom Barnett retained his seat during the election, but retired two years later.
However, an election was called in July 1974 with the Liberal Party hoping to shore up their government with a majority government, instead of relying on the NDP to get their business done. The NDP had already withdrawn their support in May, voting with the Progressive Conservatives due to a Liberal budget proposal that the two parties did not believe helped address inflation.
The Liberals were the only winners of the election, winning a majority government and being the only party to win seats. The other three major parties failed to gain any new seats. Stanfield's party lost 11 seats, while the NDP lost 15, including David Lewis' seat in York South. The Social Credit Party lost four.
Hugh Alan Anderson, a Liberal, was elected in Comox-Alberni.
The Liberals maintained government until the 1979 federal election on May 22, 1979. Trudeau was the party leader still in play. The Progressive Conservatives were led by Joe Clark after Stanfield, who never won an election, was forced to stand down in 1976. Ed Broadbent led the NDP since 1975, after Lewis stood down after he lost his election and retired, secretly battling leukemia. Fabien Roy took control of the Social Credit Party after Caouette stood down after the election, limited by injuries sustained in a snowmobiling accident. He died in 1976, three months after being hospitalized after suffering from a stroke.
