A life of elections starting with Dief & Mike in Georgetown, Ontario, 1958: reflections in the wake of the general election of April 28, 2025
Some of my earliest memories are of a family life infused with periodic political bile.
My father loved to agitate the fecal matter and took no end of delight in antagonizing erstwhile friends and hapless relatives during discussions of the events of the day.
Elections have seared my mental landscape, the first being the memorable 1958 contest pitting John “Dief the Chief” Diefenbaker and Lester B. “Mike” Pearson, when Dief won a historically decisive majority, reducing Mike’s party to a rump, much to my dad’s bitter chagrin.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1958_Canadian_federal_election
As a six-year-old child, I was fascinated by the name “Diefenbaker” as it was bandied about by the “adults in the room.”
I thought that this jowly “baker” fellow must concoct very unusual cakes, and was deeply puzzled by the fact that his adversary, whose name was Lester, was always referred to as Mike.
Soon after Dief triumphed, the Avro Arrow cancellation shook our hometown, as many aeronautic workers were abruptly terminated, a significant contingent of Georgetown residents among them. Overnight, more than 14,500 people, many of them highly skilled, lost their jobs in nearby Malton, Ontario. Cancelling the Arrow program also instantly put out of work another 15,000 workers employed by the program’s 650 subcontractors.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avro_Canada_CF-105_Arrow
Anguish and consternation, not Britannia, ruled the political waves in Georgetown in those days, and the Arrow of community suffering pierced my tender, vulnerable heart.
Your friend,
Robert
https://robertmcbrydeauthor.com/
