Louis St. Laurent

Prime minister of Canada (1948-1957)

• Born: February 1, 1882
• Birthplace: Compton, Quebec, Canada
• Died: July 25, 1973
• Place of death: Quebec City, Quebec, Canada

As the Liberal Party prime minister, St. Laurent helped promote a unified and autonomous Canada with a stake in global politics. His legacy includes an instrumental role in resolving the Suez Canal Crisis of 1956 and his promotion of a bilingual, multicultural Canada.

Early Life

Louis St. Laurent (lwee sahn law-ron) was born in the village of Compton, located in the Eastern Townships, Quebec. Compton was populated by Canadians of both French and English heritage. St. Laurent’s father, Jean-Baptiste Moise St. Laurent, was an eighth-generation Canadian, his ancestors having arrived in Quebec around 1660 from Burgundy, France. Laurent’s mother, Mary Ann Broderick, was the daughter of Irish immigrants. Jean-Baptiste and Mary Ann would have six children. Jean-Baptiste owned a general store, and Mary Ann, a former teacher, instilled a strong Roman Catholic faith and academic discipline in her children.

Louis grew up bilingual in French and English, reflecting the makeup of his family and village, and also the visitors to his father’s store, where he spent hours listening to English-speaking cattle breeders and French-speaking farmers. An outstanding student, he was the first French-Canadian from Compton to go to college, enrolling in the St. Charles Borromee Seminary in Sherbrooke in 1896. Deciding on a career as a lawyer rather than as a priest, St. Laurent graduated first in his class in 1902. In 1905 he received his law degree from Laval University, again with highest honors, and in Quebec City began practicing law in both the French civil code and the British common law. In 1908, St. Laurent married Jeanne Renault, a marriage that lasted fifty-eight years (until Renault’s death). The couple had five children.

Life’s Work

St. Laurent became, in 1930, the first French-speaking president of the Canadian Bar Association. He would often speak, privately and publicly, of his belief in a mature, unified Canada, destined to play a significant role in international relations. By 1941 he had established himself as one of Canada’s most prominent corporate and constitutional lawyers, enjoying a lucrative practice and a comfortable family life.

On December 4, Canadian prime ministerWilliam Lyon Mackenzie King asked St. Laurent to join his cabinet as minister of justice, a request that came unexpectedly. King selected St. Laurent to gain the support of French Canadians for the Canadian Confederation and for the World War II effort, especially with looming controversies over military conscription. Initially reluctant because his family was opposed to the move and because of his advanced age (he was fifty-nine years old), St. Laurent accepted the appointment on December 10 (three days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor) after being urged to do so as a matter of duty.

St. Laurent was elected as a Liberal Party member of the House of Commons from Quebec East on February 9, 1942. He rallied support from the Quebec electorate for the King government and for national unity, despite French-Canadian opposition to conscription. In the spring of 1945, St. Laurent headed the Canadian delegation to the founding conference of the United Nations in San Francisco, California. Returning to Canada, St. Laurent handled the so-called Gouzenko affair, which revealed the existence of a Soviet spy ring operating within the Canadian government.

On September 3, 1946, St. Laurent was appointed secretary of state for external affairs and helped promote the idea of collective security against communist expansion. When King retired, St. Laurent became head of the Liberal Party on August 7, 1948, and then Canada’s second French-speaking prime minister on November 15.

As prime minister, St. Laurent advanced his vision of a unified, independent Canada, contributing to emerging postwar internationalism. On March 31, 1949, Newfoundland joined and completed the Canadian confederation as Canada’s tenth province. St. Laurent made the Supreme Court of Canada, rather than the British Privy Council, the final court of appeal, and he recommended that Canada be allowed to amend its own constitution without the approval of the British parliament. In 1949, Canada sent troops to Korea under United Nations authority and was a founding member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

Domestically, St. Laurent’s Liberal Party won a huge victory in June, 1949, gaining 192 of 260 seats in Parliament, at the time the widest margin of victory in Canadian history. Reflecting his popularity on the campaign trail, Canadians affectionately came to call St. Laurent their Uncle Louis. He advanced the Liberal program of social welfare by, for example, amending the Canadian constitution in 1950 so as to enact federal legislation that granted universal pensions to all Canadians over the age of seventy. St. Laurent also believed the federal government should take the lead in tying together Canada’s vast resources and infrastructure. St. Laurent’s government began three massive federal construction projects: the Trans-Canada Highway in 1949 (completed in 1971), the St. Lawrence Seaway in 1954 (completed in 1959), and the Trans-Canada natural gas pipeline from Alberta to Montreal in 1956 (completed in 1959).

In 1953, St. Laurent was elected to a second term as prime minister, and the following year he undertook a successful world tour in which he cemented relations with other Commonwealth nations, such as India, who also had been coordinating their newfound independence with their British colonial heritage.

The most striking achievement of the St. Laurent government was resolution of the Suez Crisis of 1956. When Great Britain, France, and Israel attacked Egypt on October 29, 1956, in response to Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser’s nationalization of the Suez Canal, Canada was faced with a dilemma. Canadian foreign policy had always followed that of Great Britain, whose monarch remained the sovereign of Canada, but the actions of the British in attacking Egypt clearly violated the charter of the United Nations. However, Canada would not join the host of nations that condemned outright the actions of England and France, Canada’s two mother countries. Instead, St. Laurent worked closely with his external affairs minister, Lester B. Pearson , to fashion a compromise in which the invading forces withdrew to be replaced by a newly established United Nations Emergency Force. The United Nations voted for the plan, which was accepted by all parties; in recognition thereof, Pearson was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1957.

Following the Liberal Party’s mishandling of several bills in the House of Commons in 1955, the Liberals were increasingly perceived as aloof and autocratic. After twenty-two years in power, the Liberal Party lost control of Parliament on June 10, 1957, and St. Laurent left politics. In retirement, he gave occasional speeches emphasizing the “genuine spirit of national unity in Canada” against a rising sovereignist movement in Quebec. In 1966, a Canadian ice-breaker ship was named for him, and in 1967 he was named a Companion of the Order, Canada’s highest honor. In 1973, his Compton birthplace was commemorated as a national historic site. St. Laurent died that same year, on July 25, in Quebec City.

Significance

St. Laurent had been prime minister during a calm and confident period of Canadian history. He adhered to three fundamental principles that were pivotal in the emergence of modern Canada. First, he believed in a unified, confederated Canada, which made him a valuable political commodity as a French-Canadian who was completely bilingual. Second, he believed in a fully sovereign Canada, demonstrating its independence from Great Britain both in its constitution, which he reformed as prime minister, and in foreign relations. Third, St. Laurent believed that a unified and autonomous Canada had a role to play in the global arena.

As prime minister, St. Laurent had a founding role in NATO and contributed to the resolution of the Suez Crisis opposing British foreign policy for the first time in Canadian history. Emphasizing Canadian independence, St. Laurent was able to establish kinship with other Commonwealth nations struggling with their status as former British colonies.

Modern Canada reflects these principles. Its economy and infrastructure are knit together by the three vast projects begun by St. Laurent’s administration the Trans-Canada Highway, the St. Lawrence Seaway, and the Trans-Canada pipeline. The multicultural composition of Canada in the twenty-first century was made possible in part by St. Laurent’s belief in a unified and bilingual society uniquely suited for the international stage.

Bibliography

Louis S. St. Laurent: Two Careers, One Destiny. Ottawa, Ont.: Canadian Heritage, Parks Canada, 1995. A publication authorized by the minister of Canadian heritage, with archival photographs, and information on the Louis S. St. Laurent National Historic Site in Compton, Quebec.

Mann, Susan. The Dream of Nation: A Social and Intellectual History of Quebec. 2d ed. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2002. A sensitive examination of the growth of nationalism in Quebec.

Morton, Desmond. A Short History of Canada. 6th ed. Toronto, Ont.: McClelland & Stewart, 2006. Revised edition of popular narrative history of Canada from its origins with the First Peoples to the twenty-first century. Highlights St. Laurent for his belief that Canada would play an important international role.

Pickersgill, J. W. Louis St. Laurent. Markham, Ont.: Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2001. Part of The Canadians series of short biographies of historic Canadians intended for younger readers. Cabinet Minister Pickersgill summarizes with great admiration St. Laurent’s life and political career.

‗‗‗‗‗‗‗. My Years with Louis St. Laurent: A Political Memoir. Toronto, Ont.: University of Toronto Press, 1975. Pickersgill, St. Laurent’s closest political ally, describes their relationship from 1941 and gives an inside look at St. Laurent’s policies and decisions. Pickersgill assesses St. Laurent as “the greatest Canadian of our time.”

Quinn, Magella, and Claude Marcil. Louis S. St. Laurent, 1882-1973: Jurist, Politician, and Statesman. Ottawa, Ont.: Minister of Supply and Services, 1982. The first Canadian National Historic Parks booklet, with historical photographs, and time lines setting St. Laurent’s career in the context of Canadian and world history.

Thomson, Dale. Louis St. Laurent: Canadian. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1968. More than five hundred pages, the definitive political biography of St. Laurent, not authorized but extremely sympathetic to him. Draws on archives and more than two hundred interviews. Appendix lists all cabinet officials during the span of St. Laurent’s political career.