Louis St. Laurent

Louis Stephen St. Laurent (French: [lwi sɛ̃ lɔʁɑ̃]; February 1, 1882 – July 25, 1973) was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 12th prime minister of Canada from 1948 to 1957.

Born in Compton, Quebec, St. Laurent was a prominent lawyer and supporter of the Liberal Party of Canada. In 1941, he entered politics as minister of justice under Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King, and in 1942 he won a by-election in the riding of Quebec East. In 1946, St. Laurent became secretary of state for external affairs and served in that post until two years later, when he became leader of the Liberal Party and prime minister, succeeding King who had retired. St. Laurent led the party to back-to-back landslide majority governments in the federal elections of 1949 and 1953.

St. Laurent was the second French Canadian to serve as prime minister after Wilfrid Laurier. He expanded the Canadian welfare state through the creation of equalization payments, the introduction of the registered retirement savings plan (RRSP), and the establishment of the Hospital Insurance program; the latter an early form of Medicare. His government also initiated major public works projects, including the Trans-Canada Highway, the St. Lawrence Seaway, the Canso Causeway, and the Trans-Canada Pipeline. In 1953, his government authorized the High Arctic relocation, which resulted in the forced displacement of 92 Inuit to modern-day Nunavut. In foreign policy, St. Laurent's government oversaw Canada's entry to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and committed the third largest overall contribution of troops, ships, and aircraft to the Korean War. In 1956, St. Laurent's secretary of state for external affairs, Lester B. Pearson, helped resolve the Suez Crisis by proposing the United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF), for which Pearson received the 1957 Nobel Peace Prize.

St. Laurent earned the nickname "Uncle Louis" as he was popular among the general public throughout his tenure, and the popularity of his government led many to predict that he would easily win the 1957 federal election. However, his decision to rush the 1956 debate on the Trans-Canada Pipeline by invoking closure led some to believe that the Liberals had become arrogant from their two decades in power. In an upset, the party was narrowly defeated by John Diefenbaker's Progressive Conservatives, ending nearly 22 years of Liberal rule. Shortly after his defeat, St. Laurent retired from politics and returned to his law practice. He is ranked highly in rankings of Canadian prime ministers. According to historian Donald Creighton, St. Laurent was "eminently moderate, cautious...and a strong Canadian nationalist."