Wikipedia:Today's featured article/September 8, 2010

The Canadian federal election of 1957 was held on June 10, 1957, to select the 265 members of the House of Commons of Canada. The Liberal Party had won five consecutive elections since 1935. Under Prime Ministers William Lyon Mackenzie King and Louis St. Laurent, the government gradually built a welfare state. During the Liberals' fifth term in office, the opposition parties depicted them as arrogant and unresponsive to Canadians' needs. Controversial events, such as the 1956 "Pipeline Debate" over the construction of the Trans-Canada Pipeline, had hurt the government. The Progressive Conservative Party ran a campaign centered on their new leader, John Diefenbaker (pictured), who attracted large crowds to rallies and made a strong impression on television. The Liberals ran a lackluster campaign, and St. Laurent made few television appearances. Abandoning their usual strategy of trying to make inroads in Liberal-dominated Quebec, the Conservatives focused on other provinces. They were successful; though they gained few seats in Quebec, they won 112 seats overall to the Liberals' 105, with the remaining seats won by other parties. In one of the great upsets in Canadian political history, the Conservatives' plurality in the House of Commons made Diefenbaker Prime Minister and ended 22 years of Liberal rule in Canada. (more...)

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