A Post-War Career in Canadian Politics

When I was in, stationed at Rockcliffe, it was assumed that there would be an election in 1944, because the previous one had been in ‘38, four years prior to that, and parties were nominating candidates for this expected election and somebody thought that they should have someone who was, was in the forces in, nominated at least, at least stand for nomination. And I was approached to do this and I was informed by the official from the Progressive Conservative headquarters that it would be quite simple, it would only take, you know, a five minute speech and that sort of thing and then I’d be free to come back and so on, but... So I agreed to let my name to let my name go up for the dual riding of Queens, in Prince Edward Island, as it was then, and there were seven candidates and much to my amazement I led the poll and myself and Chester MacLure were nominated. And so that started me on a different career entirely. I lost the, in a dual riding you don’t run against a particular person, it’s whoever comes in first and second that are elected. And in the first two elections I ran, I came in a close third each time, which is not good enough, of course, but I was elected in a by-election in 1951 and I was elected nine more times for, Federally, for a total of ten times. Which is, happened to be more often than anyone else from the Island was ever elected to the House of Commons. But then in 1976, I was asked and encouraged and pled with to take on the leadership of the Provincial party here. So I resigned from the House of Commons and, and was picked as the leader of the Conservative party here on the Island and I was elected in 1979, and was premier until 1981, when I decided that I had enough of public life and that I was getting too old, that I should retire from politics, which I did and try to live a normal life for awhile.