Rogue Tory

by Denis Smith

  Diefenbaker offered no clear cures for Canada’s “intangible sense of disquiet” beyond calling for a spirit of cooperation in economic affairs similar to that in defence. His appeal to the American audience came back again and again to the need for a common defence against communism, the preservation of a “steadfast and undiminished unity … in our great quest to maintain freedom.”70 Be reasonable with us, he insisted, because we face a common enemy. That was both an appeal to America’s higher self-interest and an indication of the limits within which Diefenbaker’s foreign policy would function. Because he believed in the Red Menace, he believed also in the need for American protection from it. Canada could not afford to unsettle the great neighbour too much. Diefenbaker might show more public irritation at the strains of the relationship than his Liberal predecessors had, but he too accepted its benevolence and its necessity, and sought its benefits. The new government’s attitude to the United States revealed, in Basil Robinson’s words, “a suitable blend of goodwill and vigilance.”71

  Advances in military technology and the Cold War had transformed American and Canadian military planning. The North American continent, once safely insulated from direct attack by wide reaches of ocean, was now accessible by long-range bomber, and potentially by intercontinental missile. As the postwar conflict between the Soviet Union and the United States grew more and more tense, the military consulted their polar maps and discovered the vast expanses of northern Canada lying mute between the two great powers. The flashpoints of war might be in Europe, where the forces of East and West confronted each other on the ground. But if war should occur, American cities and industries would, for the first time, be natural targets. Canadian skies offered the shortest routes for Soviet bombers travelling from Russia to the continental United States. As early as 1946 defence planners had begun to consider joint air defence systems on Canadian territory meant to protect American territory. After 1950 preparations intensified, and three successive radar detection networks were approved and constructed, each further north than the last: the Pinetree Network, just beyond the Canadian-American border (completed in 1954); the Mid-Canada Line (completed in 1957); and the Distant Early Warning Line, along the Canadian Arctic coast (completed in 1957). These systems were built on American initiative, which the Canadian government reluctantly seconded. Ottawa skirmished endlessly with Washington over issues of cost, jurisdiction, and sovereign control of the facilities - sometimes in public, more often in private.72 By the mid-1950s, circumstance fed a widespread public sense that Canadian independence was being reduced as the friendly neighbour leaned intrusively into Canadian territory.

  Air defence required interception as well as detection. As the radar networks went up and the possibilities of nuclear war grew more real, the issue of where air battles might be fought came into focus. The American interest dictated that Soviet bombers carrying nuclear weapons should be destroyed as far beyond US air space as possible. Acting on recommendations of the Permanent Joint Board on Defence, the St Laurent cabinet had granted rights of interception over Canada to the United States Air Force, and in one of its first acts the Diefenbaker government had extended the agreement covering the use of American air-to-air nuclear weapons over Canada.

  The United States Air Force sought more: not only joint air defence planning but a fully unified operational command. In the face of hesitation by the Canadian chiefs of staff, a joint military study group on the subject was created, and it recommended a joint command in December 1956. After a short period of negotiation, the American and Canadian military chiefs agreed on all terms. On the expected date of Canadian cabinet approval on March 15, 1957, however, the draft proposal was withdrawn. Canada informed the United States that “it would not now be possible to give formal approval to the paper as it was possible this matter might leak to the press, and as Canada-United States relations could become an issue, it was considered advisable not to have the paper approved until such time as it was not a political issue.”73 Agreement, that is, would await the Canadian election.

  Two days after the election, the Canadian chiefs of staff proposed to the departing Liberal government that the “almost completed international agreement” should be approved “subject to confirmation by the incoming government.” The price of inaction, they suggested, might be a delay of several months under a new government, “quite a serious deterioration in Canada-US military relations,” perhaps some adverse publicity, and the creation of doubts “as to whether international agreements with Canada had continued validity.”74 St Laurent nevertheless told his cabinet the next day that the decision should be left to the new government.75

  Because Diefenbaker and his minister of defence, George Pearkes, left Ottawa for the Commonwealth conference just after they took office, the recommendation for integrated air defence operations did not reach them until mid-July. Pearkes and Diefenbaker both accepted Canada’s place in the Western alliance in principle, and had no desire to challenge the relationship either in North America or Europe. They were easily convinced by the chief of defence staff, General Charles Foulkes, that delay was undesirable and that approval meant implementing a decision already made by the previous government. “Unfortunately I am afraid,” Foulkes told a House of Commons committee in 1963, “we stampeded the incoming government with the NORAD agreement.”76 That was not a judgment admitted by Diefenbaker and Pearkes, but they obviously gave themselves little time to study or reflect on Foulkes’s advice. Pearkes received the documents from his chiefs of staff on July 22 and forwarded them to the prime minister with his recommendation the next day.77 Diefenbaker decided that approval did not require a cabinet decision, and four days later the prime minister indicated his government’s support to the American secretary of state, John Foster Dulles, during his brief visit to Ottawa. On July 31 Pearkes brought to cabinet his recommendation that Air Marshal C.R. Slemon should be appointed deputy commander-in-chief of the new Canada-United States Air Defence Command. The prime minister explained briefly: “An integrated Canadian-United States Air Defence Command was to be created with its operational centre at Colorado Springs. The appointment of a Canadian as Deputy Commander-in-Chief would give Canada a proper measure of responsibility in any decisions that might have to be taken to defend North America against an attack. In a recent conversation with the U.S. Secretary of State, he had emphasized the importance which Canada attached to a voice in any decisions resulting from information obtained from the Distant Early Warning Line.”78

  No background memorandum was given to cabinet, although one had been prepared, and there was no discussion of the prime minister’s announcement. Air Marshal Slemon’s appointment was approved, and the next day the two governments announced the creation of “a system of integrated operational control of … air defence forces … under an integrated command responsible to the Chiefs of Staff of both countries,” with headquarters in Colorado Springs. Joint plans would be developed “for immediate use in case of emergency.” The press statement noted that “this bilateral arrangement extends the mutual security objectives of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to the air defences of the Canada-United States Region.”79 The prime minister may not have been stampeded, but he knew little about the implications of his decision. His own attempts to understand and defend what he had done came only gradually in the months that followed, as the integrated command took shape and questions about it arose in parliament and the press.

  THE PREVIOUS GOVERNMENT HAD INVITED QUEEN ELIZABETH TO OPEN THE NEXT session of parliament on October 14, 1957. John Diefenbaker told his first cabinet meeting that this would be a historic event, the first time a monarch had opened the Canadian parliament. The change of government meant that the timing of the visit might be awkward, since the new cabinet was impatient to proceed even earlier with its legislative business. But the dates - which also included a royal visit to the United States - were fixed and nothing could be done to alter them. Cabinet confirmed the timetable and set to wor
k planning its legislative agenda with that in mind. Ministers recognized the great political bonus to be gained from a royal launching of the Conservative program.80

  The cabinet’s plans for the parliamentary session were ambitious. Ministers were eager to introduce as much attractive legislation as quickly as possible, to prepare the ground for another - and decisive - general election. Then they could settle in for the long haul and the more complex issues of trade, defence, and national development. As summer and autumn passed, cabinet approved further salary increases for civil servants, farm price supports, emergency financing for Nova Scotia collieries, increases in low-cost housing loans, federal aid for New Brunswick power development and Yukon highways, and restrictions on agricultural imports to protect domestic producers: a cornucopia of special benefits reaching into all regions of the country. The flow of announcements made clear that this was a government that cared for its electors - and its potential electors. Much more was promised once the new session had begun.

  THE ASSUMPTION OF POWER AND THE TRIUMPHANT VISIT TO LONDON WERE HEADY events, and Diefenbaker wanted to let people know about the enchantments of office. He reported breathlessly to Elmer and his mother on the Commonwealth conference and his return to Ottawa. “The first thing I must do on landing is to review the guard of honor etc. You will be seeing all this on T.V.” And days later, “Olive and I got back yesterday noon and moved in to the PM’s Home last evening. It’s a fairy place.”81 He corresponded and talked widely with friends in the press, and on the evening of his return from London John and Olive turned up at Patrick Nicholson’s home. John wanted especially to see the two Nicholson daughters before they went to bed. Settled side-by-side on a sofa, he reminded them of fairy stories told by their father and recalled his visit to “a famous old castle” called Windsor where he dined on gold plates with a queen, a tall prince, and “a real fairy princess of great beauty called Margaret.”82

  Diefenbaker kept up the pace of the election campaign, accepting invitations through the summer to open fairs and kick ceremonial footballs, delighting now to be honoured as prime minister. In Saskatoon, “we went to the Fairgrounds with a police escort! What do you know about that!”83 For the autumn, a frenetic schedule took shape. In September there was an address to the Canadian Bar Association, the Dartmouth College affair, quick trips to Quebec City and Charlottetown, and a speech at the United Nations; in October, a McGill degree, the queen’s opening of parliament, and a visit to Washington; in November, a dominion-provincial conference; and in December, a meeting of the NATO Council in Paris - not to mention the continuing marathon of cabinet meetings and lightning trips across the country. The public responded to this human dynamo, turning out in large numbers at his appearances with displays of affection and curiosity. On his sixty-second birthday in September, fellow passengers on an overnight TCA flight from Charlottetown to Ottawa serenaded him boisterously with verses of “Happy birthday, dear John.”84

  Diefenbaker was up by dawn on most mornings, jotting notes to his family and anticipating the day to come. He worried about Olive, who had suffered a painful neck injury when she fell during the flight to England, but he shared her pleasure in her first grandson, born to her daughter, Carolyn, just before the election. Uncle Ed was a puzzle: Diefenbaker wrote to him after the victory, sent him a scarf for his birthday, and asked him to write recollections of the family’s pioneering life; but for months there was no reply. John was offended. Mother was a more serious problem: her doctor reported that she was suffering “spells” in her hospital bed, shouting and accusing the nurses of stealing her belongings, expressing resentment and hostility to everyone, confusing time and place. Diefenbaker wrote and visited frequently, but had trouble deciding what might interest her.85 Family history, the queen, and his own recreations were the staples.

  Last evening I went to Hamilton … I was met there by a reporter from the “Spectator” who advised me that he had found a Diefenbaker wagon that grandfather had made and that arrangements were being made to purchase it for the Museum. I only wish we could find out what happened to the wagon he sent to Father in 1909…

  Day by day the arrangements are being made for the visit of the Queen … The security forces are visiting our residence today to make a full examination in order to protect the Queen during her visit. The house will be searched from top to bottom the morning of the day that she will be there, and again late in the afternoon, and during the day of course guards will be on duty. The Americans can’t understand why I haven’t got anybody guarding me! This morning one of them told me it was very dangerous for me to be around.

  Monday I am going to have some fun. I expect to go to Toronto and intended to have no one know about it, to attend the Ringling Brothers circus, but I see it is in the paper today.86

  In all this rush there was no time to think. “Another heavy day,” Diefenbaker wrote on September 19. “Cabinet all morning; Defence Committee until now (4 pm) - then on to Smith’s Falls to open a Trade Fair. Olive is so busy too she can’t turn around. Weather is hot today but I have a cold that is holding on.”87 As he departed two days later to address the UN General Assembly he told Elmer: “Just leaving for New York and no speech even started… Herewith is a set of stamps for your collection - a first issue.”

  The queen’s visit to open parliament was the grand ceremonial occasion for John Diefenbaker and his new government, and a subject of preoccupation as the day approached. “I am so far behind in a lot of my work,” he told his mother at the end of September, “that I don’t know when I will ever catch up but there are some things that have to be done in the next ten days as the Queen will arrive in thirteen days.”88 Diefenbaker fussed over family plans. “I do hope Elmer can come. The arrangements for the dinner at our home will give him an opportunity to be seated at a table at which there will only be 16 besides the Queen and Prince Philip and her Lady-in-Waiting and his Aide. It should be a wonderful experience.”89

  Elmer arrived in Ottawa on October 13 for the next day’s opening of parliament, joining the Brunts as a guest at 24 Sussex Drive. For the occasion, Diefenbaker had rewarded his most loyal aides, Bill Brunt and Arthur Pearson, with appointments to the Senate. Elmer - whose travels usually took him to fly-specked prairie hotels - was blissful.

  I spent my first night at No 24 Sussex Street last night. It is a fairy castle, surrounded by beautiful grounds and overlooking the beautiful Ottawa River. Just now I am looking through windows on all sides. I was conducted through the entire place last night and that experience in time and things to be seen was unlike [sic] going through a museum.

  There is a large staff of servants, who wait on you hand and knee - so that is something different for me.

  Just now the P.M. with morning coat, top hat, etc., was picked up by the new Buick, Mounted police on guard with the salute and the P.M. will have his cabinet meeting with the Queen present. The valet brought him into the Sitting room & announced, “Gentlemen, the Prime Minister.”90

  The ceremonial meeting of the Canadian Privy Council would be followed by the opening of parliament. Although Diefenbaker opposed the entry of television cameras into the House of Commons on principle, he had suggested to cabinet that the first visit of a reigning monarch might offer a suitable exception to the rule. Ministers agreed, on condition that the CBC would offer “an appropriate commentary on the meaning and significance of the events”; so the lights and cameras were rolled into the Senate chamber for an unprecedented show of Canadian pomp and Conservative advertising.91 In the prime minister’s eyes, this was a kind of restoration: of respect for parliament, the monarchy, and the British connection, a restoration of all those traditions he believed the Liberal Party had let slide towards oblivion.

  Elmer became the family scribe for the occasion, and two days later he recorded it all. “I have seen everything,” he wrote. “Every body has been wonderful and I seem to know everyone.”

  The opening of parliament was a brilliant affair a
nd we were seated in the Governor General’s box, where you could see everything…

  The Queen was beautiful, radiant, and indeed she had a regal appearance. It was a great sight to see her and Prince Philip seated in the Senate Chamber…

  The big event was the Prime Minister’s dinner last night. It was considered a great affair. The beauty of the whole set-up was indeed beyond words.

  It was a tremendous job and it took six hours to set the table. I was shown the 14 pheasants beautiful, fat and plump, before they were roasted … The Queen was most beautiful. She laughed gaily, totally informal and relaxed and the Prince a real man just laughs whole heart’ly. He has a wealth of knowledge and I would say, would stack up on any quiz show. He is just interested in everything.

  Everyone remarks that John and Olive have done a most outstanding job in the carrying out of the plans of the Royal Visit. They made no errors and could not have done any better.92

  It was, as Elmer wrote, a grand day. Thanks to the CBC, the whole country watched as the morning-coated prime minister met the young queen alighting from the royal landau at the steps of parliament. Together they passed under the Peace Tower into the Centre Block while the carillon rang out above and the crowds clapped. The crimson Senate chamber shone with the colours of judicial robes, dress uniforms, and evening dresses as the queen entered to take her seat on the dais with the prince at her side. John Diefenbaker sat to her right. Members of the Commons were summoned according to the ancient ritual and crowded into the entranceway facing the royal couple. The newly elected Speaker of the House, Roland Michener, claimed the “undoubted rights and privileges” of the House of Commons from the queen, and she, through the Speaker of the Senate, granted them. Then she read the speech prepared by her Canadian government.