LITMIR.BIZ

      In 1930 Diefenbaker and Edna were in Toronto for a holiday, so John could relax. His health wasn’t getting any better; in fact, he was still suffering from internal bleeding and stomach pains. The stress of his political life and his numerous trials had taken their toll. It was time to rest.

      Then a telegram from the Conservative association arrived. John read it carefully, his hands shaking. They wanted him to accept the nomination for the federal riding of Long Lake, a riding that was supposed to be an easy win.

      He talked to Edna. He felt the tiredness in his bones. The aching in his stomach. John, who had dreamed of this all his life, was forced to say no. He was too sick. Too tired. He watched sadly from the sidelines as another man won the seat and went to Ottawa.

      The country, and particularly the Prairies, was changing for the worse. The stock market had crashed in 1929. The price of wheat, a major Saskatchewan export, began to drop, and the onset of drought made the amount of wheat available for sale even smaller. Next came mass unemployment and a general disenchantment with politicians. This was a tough time to be a government.

      By 1933 Diefenbaker began once again to dabble in politics. He was elected as the vice-president of the provincial Conservative party. Later that same year he ran for mayor of Prince Albert and lost by forty-eight votes.

      A provincial election was held on June 19, 1934. Diefenbaker didn’t run, but he worked desperately behind the scenes. The Conservatives, squeezed by the Liberals on one side and the new Farmer-Labour party on the other, failed to win a single seat.

      The western world was in the throes of major political change. Across the ocean the Nazi party unfurled its swastikas in Germany. The Depression continued sending dust cloud after dust cloud into the Prairies. And thousands of unemployed men of all ages now hitched rides on the train to look for work.

      In May of 1935 the “On-to-Ottawa” journey was begun from the West Coast. At first there were just a thousand unemployed men packing the freight cars. Then two thousand. Three thousand. The movement gathered steam and support every time the train stopped at a railway station. In Regina the RCMP halted the gathering, and after negotiations and a violent clash that ended with the death of a policeman, the marchers were dispersed. The whole episode made the federal Conservatives, under the leadership of Bennett, look bad.

      Parliament was dissolved a few months later. Diefenbaker declined the nomination in Prince Albert saying, “I think this is a time for us to have a farmer as a candidate.” A farmer was chosen and Diefenbaker, now the president of the provincial Conservative party, did all he could to help the cause. But it was a mishmash of an election: the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) was rising up in the West; Social Credit, an Alberta-based party, was now nominating federally; the brand new Reconstruction party, an offshoot of the Conservatives, appeared; and the Liberals still had their political machine in high gear.

      On October 14th it was a landslide for the Liberals, and after all the other parties took a piece of the pie the Conservatives were left with only forty seats.