Head Tory

In three brisk, businesslike days in convention Canada's Tories last week made two fateful decisions. They stood pat on their historic Conservative policies, ignoring the "Progressive" in the party's name. To head the party they picked a dynamic leader: George Alexander Drew, Ontario's Premier.

When the 1,268 delegates and a couple of thousand party workers swarmed into the bleak Coliseum in Ottawa's Lansdowne Park, the party had still to slough the ill-fitting skin worn during six years of John Bracken's bumbling leadership. In his farewell address, pedestrian John Bracken argued that to get anywhere, the Tory party must become "a crusading party dedicated to the welfare of the ordinary man and woman." That was not the mood of the convention. Said Acting Chairman M. Grattan O'Leary (of the Ottawa Journal), as he shut off the polite applause for Bracken: "Ladies & gentlemen, we come back now to the hard realities of the business before us."

The Men. Throughout the leadership race, hard realities had been the sole concern of George Drew and his backers. Drew's first and most potent backers were the big businessmen: Toronto's "Bay Street Boys" and their allies from Montreal's St. James Street. But Candidate Drew had not depended wholly on them. With smiling charm and political skill he had lined up the leaders from eight provinces before the convention opened. The one exception: Saskatchewan, pledged to Favorite Son John Diefenbaker, champion of a Bill of Rights for Canada.

At convention time, only a few of Drew's Bay Street backers were around his headquarters in the Chateau Laurier, and fewer still were at the Coliseum. The tall, well-tailored figure of Edward William Bickle, an investment broker and Drew's best friend, caught a bit of the limelight. Notably out of the limelight was another Drew crony and constant adviser, George McCullagh. One of the most powerful Canadian publishers (the Toronto Globe & Mail), McCullagh stayed away from Ottawa lest he scare off Drew supporters who still leaned a bit toward John Bracken's "ordinary man" position.

The Machine. At the controls of the Drew machine was Alexander D. McKenzie, a Toronto lawyer with cold blue eyes, a hard jaw and a nice sense of timing. Under McKenzie's direction, Drew workers exerted no visible pressure. But the invisible pressure was irresistible. It built up gradually day by day as McKenzie carefully organized "spontaneous" gatherings of delegates, then called in Drew to radiate charm and say nothing.

"Gorgeous George" looked his best in a grey double-breasted suit. At his side stood his handsome, smartly tailored wife Fiorenza (TIME, June 7), who said over & over: "I leave the issues to George." George took good care of the issues. His own man, Frederick G. Gardiner (another Toronto lawyer), was running the platform committee.

The Method. The platform builders' main concern was to make free enterprise, now fenced around by Liberal compromises, free in its historic sense. Its five main proposals:

Removal of exchange controls, to let Canada's dollar seek its own level (which would be well below U.S. par).

A general reduction of income taxes, along with an increase in exemptions.

Restoration of free trading in wheat and coarse grains, implying revival of the Winnipeg Grain Exchange.

Establishment of a free market for Canadian gold.

Elimination of "all abnormal trade barriers which have recently been imposed by way of license and embargo."

When the convention had adopted George Drew's platform, there was nothing left for it to do but adopt George Drew. On the first ballot Drew got 827 votes, to 311 for Diefenbaker, and 104 for earnest M.P. Donald Fleming, a rival from Drew's own Ontario bailiwick.

As his first move toward effective leadership, Drew must get himself elected to Parliament from a safe Ontario constituency. Then the Liberal Prime Minister-to-be, Louis St. Laurent, will face a new and vigorous leader of the loyal opposition. And a newly purposeful Tory machine will be driving with the throttle wide open toward the next election.

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