Those of you who had Tony Clement as the first to drop out of the CPC leadership race, come on down:
In an ironic twist, this morning
Forum came out with a poll that had him in second place...which just goes to show a) never trust Forum, and b) never trust a leadership poll.
St. Laurent is the unsung hero among Canadian PMs. He governed like he was born to the job, and oversaw a lengthy period of prosperity and institution-building. And few have been as skilled at foreign policy.
That considerably understates King's accomplishments. Number one, he led the country through World War II and, unlike Borden, managed to largely maintain national unity. He laid the early groundwork for the modern welfare state (the bigger work was definitely done by St. Laurent and Pearson, but it started with him), as well as other major national institutions. His two terms in the 1920s were seminal moments for Canadian independence -- indeed, nobody was more responsible for the 1931 Statute of Westminster than King. He created separate Canadian citizenship. And a bunch of other stuff.
Diefenbaker's time as PM was erratic as hell (he had no real managerial skill), but he deserves plenty of credit for his record as a civil libertarian. Equal political rights for First Nations people, at last, and his Bill of Rights was well-intentioned, if ultimately inadequate. And his almost solitary stand against the Japanese-Canadian internment while a rookie MP in 1942 was heroic.
1) I don't think St. Laurent was a bad PM, just that he was a fairly benign figure. It probably doesn't help his image that the big foreign policy victories of his era were NATO (which probably would've happened regardless of who was leading our country) and the Suez Crisis (for which Pearson got all the credit). Reading his Wikipedia page, I can see why you'd think so highly of him, but I also don't think there's an argument he could be moved up on those rankings, whereas you could argue that Mulroney and Chretien belong above him.
2) I never knew about Mackenzie King and the Statute of Westminster. Between that and King-Byng, he definitely deserves credit for furthering our independence. And he deserves to be ranked over Borden for maneuvering through WWII relatively unscathed. But over Pearson/MacDonald/Laurier? No way.
I have one of the survey's authors as a prof, and his theory for WLMK performing so well is that King kept a diary that he left for historians, and none of his opponents did. That basically meant he wrote Canada's history, which naturally made him look pretty good.
3) Totally agree with your assessment of Dief. Well-intentioned, did a lot for civil rights, but a disaster in other areas, especially in terms of our relationship with the U.S.
