Return Of Houde

The rolling baritone of Camillien Houde, talking or singing, is a big thing in Montreal. It made a bombastic, short, 200-lb. French-Canadian a Quebec Province assemblyman at 33, mayor of Montreal at 39. But, like the frog that tried to blow himself up into a bull, Camillien Houde burst himself when he tried to become Premier of the Province three years ago. After foxy old Premier Taschereau had unmercifully beaten him, he could not even get himself re-elected mayor of his own Montreal. He lost his leadership of Quebec's Opposition Party, the Conservatives, and last year he flamboyantly repudiated the Party's leaders. Camillien Houde was far from finished. He was still the darling of bilingual Montreal's French-Canadian citizens and this year he ran for mayor again. Last week, as election day approached, he was talking as usual about defending the Province's biggest city against the overbearing provincial government of Premier Taschereau. Election day was satisfactorily rowdy.

Police arrested over 100 people, subdued many a polling booth ruffian. When the votes were counted, Camillien had been elected by a 36,000-vote plurality, and a 52,000 majority over his nearest opponent, the biggest ever seen in Montreal. His defeated Liberal opponent complained. "The Houdeist forces had prepared a widespread telegraphing [dummy-voting] and ballot-stuffing machine that worked to perfection. The old gang is back." Mayor-elect Houde's first move was to let it be known that he plans to form a new Conservative party of his own to be called the National Autonomist Party "to protect the interests of cities and towns against rural domination."

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