Acadian Winner

The Liberal Party of Canada last week scored its second victory in a row in provincial elections--much to the dismay of federal Prime Minister John Diefenbaker and his ruling Progressive Conservatives. Five days after Liberals won the big French-speaking province of Quebec, Liberal Louis Joseph Robichaud led his party to victory over the eight-year-old Conservative regime in New Brunswick. Starting with just twelve seats in the old assembly (the Tories had 33), Robichaud's Liberals got 31 of the seats, 53% of the popular vote.

The decision surprised nearly everyone. In Ottawa, Liberal Chief Lester Pearson, who leads the Opposition to Diefenbaker's Tory government, confessed: "I didn't think we would win." Apprehensive shudders ran through the government benches in Ottawa's House of Commons; defeats for federal governments are customarily heralded by provincial defeats.

When he is sworn into office next week, the New Brunswick winner will be, at 34, the youngest premier in Canada. Stocky, earnest Louis Robichaud is the descendant of an habitant who settled in the province in 1609. He is the first Acadian to be elected to the job, although New Brunswick (pop. 650,000) is now nearly half French Canadian. A fiery lawyer who spoke no English before he was 20, Robichaud took over the party's leadership in 1958. He traveled widely through the province while the Tory premier ran an overconfident, immobile campaign. Robichaud's major issue was his opposition to a Tory-instigated plan for compulsory hospital insurance (cost: $50 for a family, $25 for an individual). In a province where the per capita income is only 64% of the national average of $1,460, Robichaud argued that the burden was too much, promised to pay for the insurance out of revenues.

Robichaud's province gets its basic wealth from farming, lumbering and fishing--poorly paid, seasonal occupations. Sometimes unemployment reaches 20% of a 200,000 work force; rarely does it drop below 8%. In the past three years Tory Flemming wangled some $64 million in loans, grants and subsidies from the federal government, but failed to lure job-creating new business.

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