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John Diefenbaker
John George Diefenbaker was the 13th prime minister of Canada, serving from 1957 to 1963. He was the only Progressive Conservative party leader between 1935 and 1979 to lead the party to an election victory, doing so three times, although only once with a majority of the seats in the House of Commons.
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politics · Prime Minister of Canada from 1957 to 1963 · politician · lawyer · diplomat · also John Diefenbaker, John G. Diefenbaker, Diefenbaker
Born 18 September 1895 · Died 16 August 1979 · Q128614
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2026· 1 entry
2020· 1 entry
National Post: Historic house where former PM John Diefenbaker was born in southwestern Ontario up for sale
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2013· 2 entries
Toronto Star: John Diefenbaker fathered two boys, families believe
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Claims were made that he fathered at least two sons out of wedlock, based a DNA test which, according to the test conductor, a 99
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1993· 1 entry
Saskatoon renamed its airport the Saskatoon John G
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1979· 3 entries
Died 1979-08-16.
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Two months after Joe Clark became the first Progressive Conservative prime minister since Diefenbaker
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Career landmark: member of the House of Commons of Canada (1979–1979).
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1978· 2 entries
Diefenbaker announced that he would stand in one more election, and under the slogan "Diefenbaker—Now More Than Ever", weathered a campaign the following year during which he apparently suffered a mild stroke, although t
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“Diefenbaker—Now More Than Ever”
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1976· 1 entry
But as Clark had supported the leadership review, Diefenbaker held a grudge against him
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1974· 1 entry
Career landmark: member of the House of Commons of Canada (1974–1979).
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1972· 2 entries
Career landmark: member of the House of Commons of Canada (1972–1974).
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And Diefenbaker was asked if he had kind words for his old rival
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1968· 1 entry
Career landmark: member of the House of Commons of Canada (1968–1972).
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1966· 1 entry
The Liberals began to make an issue of the Munsinger affair—two officials of the Diefenbaker government had slept with a woman suspected of being a Soviet spy
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1965· 2 entries
Career landmark: member of the House of Commons of Canada (1965–1968).
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In the expectation of receiving a majority, Diefenbaker ran an aggressive campaign
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1963· 2 entries
NATO Supreme Commander General Lauris Norstad visited Ottawa, in one of a series of visits to member nations prior to his retirement
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Career landmark: member of the House of Commons of Canada (1963–1965).
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1962· 2 entries
Diefenbaker's government eliminated race discrimination clauses in immigration laws
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Career landmark: member of the House of Commons of Canada (1962–1963).
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1961· 1 entry
Verwoerd formally applied for South Africa to remain in the Commonwealth
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1960· 4 entries
South Africa's white voters decided to make the country a republic
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Dominion Day, he introduced the Canadian Bill of Rights in Parliament
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However, the South Africans sought to maintain membership in the Commonwealth even if South African white voters chose to make the country a republic in a referendum scheduled for later that year
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His government extended voting rights to all native people
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1959· 3 entries
The Cabinet decided to cancel the Avro Arrow, following an earlier decision to permit the United States to build two Bomarc missile bases in Canada
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Diefenbaker's government cancelled the Avro Arrow project, and in 1962, it eliminated racial discrimination in immigration policy
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The Diefenbaker government cancelled the development and manufacture of the Avro CF-105 Arrow
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1958· 6 entries
Election won: 1958 election.
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The Tories won what is still the largest majority (in terms of percentage of seats) in Canadian federal political history, winning 208 seats to the Liberals' 48, with the CCF winning 8 and Social Credit wiped out
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Four days after becoming the Liberal leader
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Campaign: 1958 election.
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Career landmark: member of the House of Commons of Canada (1958–1962).
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Recalled the gathering, "When he had finished that speech, as he was walking to the door, I saw people kneel and kiss his coat
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1957· 3 entries
Only one Progressive Conservative MP, Earl Rowe, had served in federal governmental office, for a brief period under Bennett in 1935
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Career landmark: Prime Minister of Canada (1957–1963).
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Career landmark: member of the House of Commons of Canada (1957–1958).
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1955· 1 entry
The RCAF stated it would need only nine squadrons of Arrows, down from 20, as originally proposed
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1953· 3 entries
Career landmark: member of the House of Commons of Canada (1953–1957).
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Diefenbaker married Olive Palmer (formerly Olive Freeman), whom he had courted while living in Wakaw
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Even as the Tories suffered a second consecutive disastrous defeat under Drew
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1952· 1 entry
A redistricting committee dominated by Liberals abolished Lake Centre entirely, dividing its voters among three other ridings
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1951· 1 entry
Gained national attention by accepting the Atherton case, in which a young telegraph operator had been accused of negligently causing a train crash by omitting crucial information from a message
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1949· 1 entry
Career landmark: member of the House of Commons of Canada (1949–1953).
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1948· 4 entries
Diefenbaker announced his candidacy
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“s backers, principally financiers headquartered on Toronto”
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He] would have been free to flounder before the political strength of Louis St
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Lake Centre was redistricted to remove areas which strongly supported Diefenbaker
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1945· 1 entry
Career landmark: member of the House of Commons of Canada (1945–1949).
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1942· 1 entry
Might have taken the place of John Bracken on his six-year march to oblivion as leader of a party that had not changed itself enough to follow a Prairie radical
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1941· 1 entry
Approached former prime minister Meighen, who had been appointed as a senator by Bennett, about becoming party leader again
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1940· 2 entries
Diefenbaker made his maiden speech in the House of Commons, supporting the regulations, and emphatically stating that most Canadians of German descent were loyal
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Career landmark: member of the House of Commons of Canada (1940–1945).
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1934· 1 entry
When the Crown prosecutor for Prince Albert resigned to become the Conservative Party's legislative candidate, Diefenbaker took his place as prosecutor
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1925· 1 entry
“there was no position in the province which would not be open to him.”
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1924· 1 entry
Diefenbaker moved to Prince Albert, leaving a law partner in charge of the Wakaw office
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1923· 1 entry
Newell was diagnosed with tuberculosis, and Diefenbaker broke off contact with her
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1921· 2 entries
Moved with her family to Brandon, Manitoba, and the two lost touch for more than 20 years
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Had been elected as secretary of the Wakaw Liberal Association while absent in Saskatoon, and had returned to find the association's records in his office
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1919· 2 entries
Was called to the bar, and the following day, opened a small practice in the village of Wakaw, Saskatchewan
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The first student to secure three degrees from the University of Saskatchewan
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1917· 1 entry
Diefenbaker returned to Saskatchewan where he resumed his work as an articling student in law
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1915· 1 entry
And his Master of Arts the following year
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1912· 1 entry
Diefenbaker entered the University of Saskatchewan
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1911· 1 entry
But he decided to stand in that riding for the 1953 election and was successful
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1910· 1 entry
When he sold a newspaper to Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier, in Saskatoon to lay the cornerstone for the university's first building
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1906· 1 entry
William claimed a quarter-section, 160 acres (0
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1903· 3 entries
For William Diefenbaker to accept a position near Fort Carlton, then in the Northwest Territories (now in Saskatchewan)
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His family migrated west to the portion of the North-West Territories that would soon become the province of Saskatchewan
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Four, including his son, John, served as Conservative MPs in the 19th Canadian Parliament beginning in 1940 (the others were Robert Henry McGregor, Joseph Henry Harris, and George Tustin)
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1895· 3 entries
Born 1895-09-18.
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In Neustadt, Ontario, to William Thomas Diefenbaker and Mary Florence Diefenbaker, née Bannerman
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“s views on this issue: There must be no compromise with Canada”
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