Chaotic Compromise

The jampacked public galleries were sober and attentive. On the floor, Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King and his new Defense Minister, General Andrew G. L. McNaughton, faced a tense House of Commons, summoned to hear the facts about the Army's reinforcements crisis (TIME, Nov. 27 et ante). The Prime Minister picked up a piece of paper. Loudly and clearly, head bobbing, he read an order-in-council.* The Government had decided to compel home-defense draftees ("zombies") to serve overseas.

Parliament and the country were stunned: Mr. King had suddenly abandoned his lifelong opposition to conscription. Only three days before, McNaughton had insisted that the voluntary system of obtaining needed troops should be "given a fair trial." Only one day before, the Prime Minister himself had reiterated: "I do not believe that [conscription] is necessary." Terrific public pressure had forced him to change his mind.

Men Wanted. Out in Vancouver a group of high-ranking Army officers (three of them brigadiers), in an unprecedented breach of the King's regulations, had risked court-martial by telling reporters: the voluntary enlistments simply will network. In Europe General Dwight Eisenhower, asked to comment on the Canadian manpower famine, had replied that there was a job for every man available.

The greatest pressure of all came from rank-&-file members of Mr. King's own Liberal Party. To Ottawa they had brought sobering news from every English-speaking province. In caucus, they told the Prime Minister that the people were outraged. The voters were asking: Does Quebec rule Canada?

More Compromise. Reluctantly, Prime Minister King gave in. He told the House that 16,000 of the Dominion's 60,000-odd zombies would be compelled to go overseas in the next few months. But they would go only to Europe (not to the Pacific war). And only "to the extent necessary." They would not go at all, should sufficient volunteers turn up. Great Compromiser King had compromised again.

This time Mr. King pleased practically no one. The Government had produced another half-measure. Canadians outside Quebec, noting all the "ifs," wondered whether the Government really intended sending any zombies overseas.

But to French Canadians the new order meant conscription.

They reacted vigorously. Air Minister Charles Gavan Power, a shrewd Quebec politician and one of the ablest Cabinet Ministers, submitted his resignation at once. Four French-speaking Liberals (Jean-Franc,ois Pouliot, Wilfrid LaCroix, Charles E. Parent, Maurice Bourget), strode across the floor to join the Opposition. M. LaCroix cried: "Trahison!" (Treason!) at Mr. King as he went.

Only the Beginning. In Quebec draft-age youths paraded, sang A Bas la Conscription! (Down with Conscription!) to the tune of God Save the King, and tore down Union Jacks. But generally, French Canadians heeded the timely and wise admonition of Quebec's Premier Maurice Duplessis: ". . . Have respect for the laws." There were some disturbances elsewhere. In six British Columbia towns, drafted troops of the Pacific Command paraded noisily and shouted: "This is only the beginning. Blame the Government!" They had just learned they were to be among the first to go overseas. At Vernon, B.C., the soldiers mauled a captain who tried to interfere. Canadians shiveringly recalled the bloody conscription riots of World War I.

The real Canadian crisis was obviously not resolved by the Prime Minister's change of front. The breach between French and English Canada was wider than ever. And French Canada, which had voted solidly for Mr. King's policy for a quarter-century, would not soon forget or easily forgive his sudden conversion to conscription. The 69-year-old Prime Minister would probably survive a vote of confidence in the House of Commons. But his new policy might prove politically costly in the long run. A Dominion election must be held soon. Unless he could somehow regain the support of Quebec, Mr. King's chances of returning to office as Prime Minister appeared slim indeed.

* U.S. equivalent: executive decree

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