John Diefenbaker by Arthur Slade

Author:Arthur Slade
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook, book
Publisher: Dundurn Press Limited
Published: 2010-11-06T04:00:00+00:00

This brief meeting became a turning point in John’s life: “Sir Wilfrid inspired me with the idea that each of us, no matter who he is or what his upbringing, or however humble his parentage and home, can rise to any position in this country, provided we dedicate ourselves.”

And so John set to dedicating himself. How do you become a politician? How do you become leader of the land? He read biographies and soon recognized there were two things he had to master to achieve his goal of getting into politics: public speaking and the law.

He was especially drawn to the law because he had read the biography of Abraham Lincoln, who had started as a small town lawyer and had risen to become the president of the United States. It seemed the obvious path to take.

John graduated from Saskatoon Collegiate in June of 1912. By September he was in his first year at the University of Saskatchewan, studying history, political science, and economics. He got a taste of politics by taking part in the university’s mock parliament and the first provincial Boys Parliament in Regina. In his second year he became the leader of the Conservative party in mock parliament and leader of the Opposition in the Boy’s Parliament.

By his third year the graduation issue of The Sheaf predicted that in forty years, in 1955, Diefenbaker would be the leader of the Opposition in the Canadian House of Commons. They were only off by one year.

But soon, John felt the call of war. Britain and the Commonwealth, including Canada, were locked in a deadly struggle against Germany in the fields of France. World War One had been underway for two years and John believed it was the duty of every able-bodied citizen to sign up.

In March of 1916 he enlisted. By May he received his commission as Lieutenant in the Infantry of the Active Militia, and on September 23rd, he boarded the SS Lapland and sailed for England.

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