CANADA: Pere de Famille

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After his children were married, St. Laurent's big house on the Grande Allée became a different place. Most of the week it seemed deserted, but on Sundays and an occasional evening it was more crowded than ever. Sons, daughters, in-laws and grandchildren gathered for regular sessions en famille. Madame St. Laurent cooked a tremendous turkey. Grandfather Louis bought a stack of funny papers and read to the new generation, which insisted on addressing him as tu instead of the vous his own children had been taught to use. After dinner, all hands assembled in the big, comfortable living room to sing French Canadian folk songs, with Père St. Laurent joining the refrain.

Today, whenever he can get away from Ottawa, St. Laurent makes a beeline for Quebec and the family house in the Grande Allée. It gives him a chance to surround himself with his family, of whom he never tires. (On a New Brunswick holiday this summer, the St. Laurent party totaled 27 —sons, daughters, in-laws and grandchildren.) In Quebec St. Laurent also finds time for golf (over 100), his only sport except flyfishing. At the Royal Quebec Golf Club one day this summer, St. Laurent went out without a caddy. Said one of the pros, who might also have been summing up St. Laurent's political career: "Why does M'sieu St. Laurent need a caddy? He is always right down the middle. He knows where he is going."

Test No. 1. St. Laurent's first big test in public life came in 1944 when his own French Quebec lined up against conscription for overseas service. Although most politicians thought he was committing political suicide, St. Laurent came out for the draft. In the next election, he astounded everybody by posting a record majority in his Quebec riding (Quebec East, once held by Laurier).

The same kind of courage was shown six months later when Igor Gouzenko, a Russian cipher clerk, fled from the Soviet embassy in Ottawa with evidence of a Communist spy ring in Canada. Prime Minister King, who was trying to stay neutral in the cold war, dreaded the Russians' reaction to a spy scandal. St. Laurent, who had refused to listen to Gouzenko when he first came to his office with the spy data, saw it differently. He ordered 14 suspects locked up and held incommunicado while a secretly appointed Royal Commission dug up the facts. St. Laurent's political opponents rapped him hard for carrying out the spy probe under a secret order in council. Said St. Laurent later: "I was satisfied it was the right thing to do and I was prepared to take the consequences."

When the war ended, Louis St. Laurent wanted to get out of politics. His living expenses were more than his ministerial income ($10,000 as minister, $6,000 as an M.P., $2,000 car allowance), and he had even had to give up some insurance policies.* But Prime Minister King had other plans.

One day in 1946, he called St. Laurent.

St. Laurent went with his resignation ready. When he came home, Madame St. Laurent asked what kind of an impression he had made. Said St. Laurent: "Too good, I'm afraid." He had agreed to stay on as Secretary of State for External Affairs, a cabinet job that Mackenzie King had handled along with the Prime Ministry.