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On sober second thought, many Quebeckers thought that Duplessis had won too much power. Until the next election there would be only one check on him. The Legislative Council (upper house), whose 24 members are appointed for life, has 17 Liberals.
How Did It Happen? The torrid, six-week campaign, in which razzle-dazzle obscured any real issues, had been right up the Duplessis alley. He promised bridges, schools, roads, and other local vote-catchers. He hammered away hardest of all on provincial autonomy, French Canadian nationalism, the menace of Communism.
While dignified Secretary St. Laurent bored listeners with scholarly discussions, Duplessis ranted like Huey Long. While the Liberals spent around $500,000, the Union Nationale ladled out at least $2,500,000.
Even cagey old opportunist Mayor Camillien Houde of Montreal jumped on the Duplessis bandwagon, just in time. He kissed and made up with his archenemy, then set out to top Duplessis in headline catching. Houde howled that the inclusion of. Newfoundland as the Dominion's tenth province was a foul plot to bring in 350,000 British votes to drown out French Canada, that Prime Minister King started World War II by "provoking Hitler," that Louis St. Laurent was a discredited leader of the French Canadians and should resign. When it was all over, jubilant Union Nationale supporters paraded Godbout in effigy through Quebec City streets.
The Vanquished. In Quebec's gloomy Reform Club, provincial Liberals surveyed their shattered organization, at its lowest ebb in 50 years. Duplessis' victory had pushed any hopes of dominion-provincial tax agreement off into the dim future. Along with Tory George Drew's recent victory in Ontario and Drew's open bid for national leadership, it gave the Drew-Duplessis axis a new and potent meaning.
His voice choked with emotion, softspoken, honest Adelard Godbout told a radio audience that he "bowed to the decision." He would retire from politics to his Frelighsburg farm. Almost everyone was sorry to see him go, even those who thrilled to the name-calling that Duplessis reveled in. As Adelard Godbout put it privately: "This business is too dirty for me."
The Duplessis victory threw this week's Liberal Convention in Ottawa wide open. Many a Liberal still figured that Louis St. Laurent-was the man to swing waning Quebec Liberal strength back into line. Not so Quebecker and onetime Air Minister Charles Gavan ("Chubby") Power, who had managed the Liberal campaign in Quebec, and seen St. Laurent in action. At week's end Chubby Power announced that he would be available for the Liberal leadership himself.