Editing C. D. Howe (section)

==== St. Laurent government's second mandate ====
[[File:TransCanada pipeline.png|thumb|left|alt=See caption|Map showing the Trans-Canada pipeline (in green)]]

Beginning in 1954, Howe planned for pipelines to take Alberta's [[natural gas]] to market. There were US-backed proposals to build pipelines directly to the United States; Howe wanted a route passing north of the [[Great Lakes]] which could supply Toronto and Montreal.{{sfn|Bliss|1994|pp=527–528}} Two rival groups contended for the approval which Howe had the power to grant; Howe forced the groups to work together on the route he wanted.{{sfn|Bothwell|Kilbourn|1979|pp=283–285}}

In March 1955, St. Laurent tabled legislation to make the Department of Defence Production permanent and extend the extraordinary powers of the Minister.{{sfn|Thomson|1967|pp=396–397}} Fearful of another damaging confrontation between Howe and the Opposition, the Cabinet agreed that St. Laurent would guide the bill through, but after the first day of debate St. Laurent, who was prone to depression, absented himself.{{sfn|Bothwell|Kilbourn|1979|p=299}} Tory frontbencher [[Donald Fleming]] contended that the extension could make the minister "the virtual dictator of the economy".{{sfn|Thomson|1967|pp=396–397}} With St. Laurent absent (or when present, silent), Howe took charge of the bill, and according to his biographers, [[Robert Bothwell]] and [[William Kilbourn]], "utterly failed to perceive that the bill and his manner of defending it were a godsend to the opposition".{{sfn|Bothwell|Kilbourn|1979|pp=299–300}} When Howe alluded to the Avro Arrow project and that he "was out on a limb for $30 million", which gave him "the shudders", the Opposition met the statement with jeers and cries of "What's a million?"{{sfn|Bothwell|Kilbourn|1979|p=301}} In early July, Howe left town for a long weekend, after asking St. Laurent and Minister of Finance [[Walter Edward Harris|Walter Harris]] to maintain his stand while he was gone, although he gave Harris the authority to do as he saw fit. Without informing Howe, St. Laurent contacted Drew, and the two men agreed that the minister's powers would expire in 1959 unless sooner renewed. The amended bill passed the Commons in Howe's absence, and when he returned, he furiously accused Harris of making a deal behind his back. However, when Howe was told that it had been the Prime Minister's decision, he accepted it.{{sfn|Thomson|1967|pp=401–403}} Howe had earlier turned down an Opposition offer to agree to a three-year extension of his ministerial powers, saying "That would mean coming back to Parliament in three years, and I've more to do with my time than amusing Parliament."{{sfn|Newman|1963|p=37}} The extension was allowed to expire in 1959, although by then, Howe had left office.{{sfn|Newman|1963|p=37}}

The pipeline project was wracked with financing difficulties. The pipeline company wanted the Government to guarantee the loans needed to build what would become known as the [[Trans-Canada Pipeline]], but Cabinet refused, fearful of the political implications of giving a large sum of government money to a US-dominated corporation. Howe was embittered by this decision, and grumbled that he was now part of "a government which has fallen into the hands of children".{{sfn|Harbron|1980|pp=55–56}} A solution was proposed by Howe's deputy minister, [[Mitchell Sharp]]:  the Government and the province of Ontario would themselves build the most expensive part of the route, in Northern Ontario, to be reimbursed by Trans-Canada once the pipeline was open for business. This was approved by both governments. By 1956, however, further difficulties had arisen: until the US government granted formal approval for a part of the route which connected to US pipelines, Trans-Canada could not raise enough money to build its portion. The approval was a matter of routine, but the delay would mean that construction on the pipeline could not begin until the spring of 1957.{{sfn|Harbron|1980|pp=55–56}}

Howe was determined that the pipeline not be delayed, and proposed that the government advance money to the pipeline company to ensure construction in 1956. He emotionally pleaded with his Cabinet colleagues, who agreed with both to the proposal and to the use of rarely used [[cloture|closure]] to limit the debate.{{sfn|Thomson|1967|p=424}} Closure had not been applied in the House since 1932.{{sfn|Bothwell|Kilbourn|1979|p=312}} The issue was attractive to the Tories and CCF with an election due within two years; it would allow them to portray Howe as an arrogant dictator, and play to those citizens who disliked the American involvement in the pipeline project.{{sfn|Thomson|1967|p=420}} If the bill did not receive [[Royal Assent]] by 7 June 1956, options that Trans-Canada held for steel pipe would expire.{{sfn|Bothwell|Kilbourn|1979|p=316}}

Bothwell and Kilbourn describe Howe's speech opening the [[Pipeline Debate]] as "probably the best of his career".{{sfn|Bothwell|Kilbourn|1979|p=309}} He told the Commons that waiting a year would be imprudent, given the worldwide shortage of steel pipe, and unfair to those who owned natural gas wells in western Canada, which were presently capped. Howe told the House he believed this to be a great project, "of truly national scope, which we must either launch now or see languish for years to come."{{sfn|Bothwell|Kilbourn|1979|pp=309–311}}{{sfn|Bliss|1994|p=483}} He completed his address by giving notice that the following day, the Government intended to invoke closure.{{sfn|Bothwell|Kilbourn|1979|pp=309–311}} Social Credit, with many members from Alberta, supported the bill, while the Tories and CCF engaged in weeks of bitter debate and parliamentary wrangling.{{sfn|Roberts|1957|pp=218–220}} This culminated on 1 June, dubbed by the Tories "Black Friday", when [[Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada|Speaker]] [[Louis-René Beaudoin|René Beaudoin]] reversed a ruling he had made the previous evening which would have allowed the Opposition to continue the debate past the deadline. The Opposition accused the Speaker of yielding to Government pressure.{{sfn|Thomson|1967|pp=434–436}} The bill passed within the deadline, and construction on the pipeline began immediately.{{sfn|Harbron|1980|p=56}} Howe wrote, "I should not like to face a general election at this moment. Fortunately we do not have to."{{sfn|Bothwell|Kilbourn|1979|p=317}}

In mid-1956, Drew fell ill and resigned as Tory party leader. The leadership convention's choice of Diefenbaker as Drew's replacement prompted delight in some Liberal circles. Diefenbaker had long been a maverick within his party, was little known in eastern Canada, and many deemed him unelectable.{{sfn|Thomson|1967|p=493}} Although Defence Minister Claxton and the RCAF remained firm supporters of the Arrow program as costs continued to rise, in 1957 the Cabinet's defence committee proposed elimination of the Arrow, a decision that was to be reviewed after [[1957 Canadian federal election|the forthcoming election]] and which was supported by Howe.{{sfn|Bothwell|Kilbourn|1979|pp=266–267}}