Oldal 173 [173]
OCR
THE ENEMY OF MY ENEMY: THE MAKING OF FRED ROSE, M.P. sympathizers after June 1941. The LPP in Cartier were “spending even more money even more lavishly than the Liberal Party on meetings, radio and literature” and “their organization was good, with plenty of volunteer workers” (The Canadian Forum, September 1943, 126). The “Victory” clubs contrasted the LPP and CCF on the conscription issue, where the LPP was for it, whereas CCF policy, decided by M.J. Coldwell in 1943, called “for the conscription of the nation’s wealth as the necessary prelude to any further conscription of manpower” (Young 231). Additionally, Lewis was a new candidate who had not lived in the riding for 12 years. Though the CCF were successful in having large mass meetings in support of Lewis, to win the riding as some expected at the beginning of the campaign (including King) “would have required a well-trained, well-financed and numerous bands of workers” which the CCF did not have (The Canadian Forum, September 1943, 126-127). The CCF also had bad luck late in the campaign of losing support due to the fear of Paul Masse. “His presence, with the threat that Cartier might be represented by an anti-semitic, anti-war isolationist...frightened some ofthe Jewish vote into support of Phillips as the government candidate...” (Ihe Canadian Forum 126). Foreign events in the final days of the campaign aided Rose too. The war news seemed hopeful on the Eastern Front with the Soviet Red Army winning a string of victories against Germany. The front-page headlines in The Gazette before the vote read like this: RUSSIANS CAPTURE OREL AND BELGOROD IN DOUBLE TRIUMPH (August 6); and RUSSIANS ENVELOPING KHARKOV CUT BRYANSK RAIL LINK (August 9). The Gazette also permitted a large House of Seagram (a distiller of Canadian whisky) ad to appear in their newspaper on election day entitled “HOW LONG IS 3 WEEKS, IVAN?” The ad showed a friendly Red Army soldier lighting his pipe and smiling at the reader, with the advertisement full of praise for soldiers like Ivan (The Gazette, August 9, 1943, 2). The fact the LPP was for the Soviet Union and conscription meant they could also bask in this praise for ‘Ivan’ as voters went to the polls. As for The Gazette endorsement of the Liberals, it was rather lackluster and hardly mentioned them at all. It was basically a rant against the CCF, recounting the sins of CCF leader, M.J. Coldwell and David Lewis for their prewar pacifism, using Coldwell’s remarks in 1937 that “young Canadians should be ready to go to jail before enlisting in any future European war,” then stating in the final paragraph, “We cannot convince ourselves that a great Montreal division such as Cartier wants Socialism or will tolerate socialization” (The Gazette, August 4, 1943, 6). The final four lines of the editorial asked the voters of Cartier to do their duty “by voting for Mr. Phillips” and giving an “emphatic reprobation of everything that is offered or implied in the candidature of Mr. Phillips’ principal opponent [i.e. Lewis]” (Ihe Gazette, August 4, 1943, 6). The Gazette likely focused more on the CCF than LPP because they thought the CCF could actually win. ¢ 171°
