The Canadian federal election of 1957 was held on June 10, 1957, to select the 265 members of the House of Commons of Canada. The Liberal Party had won five consecutive elections since 1935. Under Prime Ministers William Lyon Mackenzie King and Louis St. Laurent, the government gradually built a welfare state. During the Liberals' fifth term in office, the opposition parties depicted them as arrogant and unresponsive to Canadians' needs. Controversial events, such as the 1956 "Pipeline Debate" over the construction of the Trans-Canada Pipeline, had hurt the government. The Progressive Conservative Party ran a campaign centered on their new leader, John Diefenbaker (pictured), who attracted large crowds to rallies and made a strong impression on television. The Liberals ran a lackluster campaign, and St. Laurent made few television appearances. Abandoning their usual strategy of trying to make inroads in Liberal-dominated Quebec, the Conservatives focused on other provinces. They were successful; though they gained few seats in Quebec, they won 112 seats overall to the Liberals' 105, with the remaining seats won by other parties. In one of the great upsets in Canadian political history, the Conservatives' plurality in the House of Commons made Diefenbaker Prime Minister and ended 22 years of Liberal rule in Canada.
Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_federal_election%2C_1957
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1331:
Stefan Uroš IV Dušan of the House of Nemanjić was crowned King of Serbia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stefan_Uro%C5%A1_IV_Du%C5%A1an_of_Serbia
1504:
David, a marble sculpture by Michelangelo portraying the biblical King David in the nude, was unveiled in Florence, Italy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_%28Michelangelo%29
1514:
Muscovite–Lithuanian Wars: The combined forces of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of Poland defeated the larger army of the Grand Duchy of Moscow in Orsha, present-day Belarus. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Orsha
1966:
The American science fiction show Star Trek premiered on the NBC television network, launching a media franchise that has since created a cult phenomenon and has influenced the design of many current technologies. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek%3A_The_Original_Series
1974:
Watergate scandal: U.S. President Gerald Ford gave recently resigned U.S. President Richard Nixon a full and unconditional, but controversial, pardon for any crimes he committed while in office. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Ford%23Pardon_of_Nixon
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
scot-free (adv): 1. (colloquial) Without consequences or penalties. 2. (archaic) Free of scot, free of tax http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/scot-free
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
What voice revisits me this night? What face
To my heart’s room returns?
From the perpetual silence where the
grace
Of human sainthood burns Hastes he once more to harmonise and heal? I know not. Only I feel
His influence undiminished And his life’s work, in me and many, unfinished. --Siegfried Sassoon http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Siegfried_Sassoon