Editing C. D. Howe (section)

==== 1957 election ====
{{main|1957 Canadian federal election}}

After the election was called in April 1957 for 10 June, Howe raised sufficient money to enable the Liberals to heavily outspend their opponents.{{sfn|Bothwell|Kilbourn|1979|p=327}} As there were few Liberal ministers from western Canada, Howe was called upon to make appearances throughout the region. He found that the Manitoba Farmers Union was organizing opposition to the Liberals; at some meetings Howe had difficulty getting heard at all. At other meetings, Howe engaged in well publicised conflicts with audience members. On 19 May in [[Morris, Manitoba]], Howe told one man demanding to speak that when his own party held a meeting, he could ask all the questions he wanted; the man was the head of a local Liberal association. When asked why he did not answer Mackenzie's question, Howe replied, "Look here, my good man, when the election comes, why don't you go away and vote for the party you support? In fact, why don't you just go away?"{{sfn|Bothwell|Kilbourn|1979|pp=324–325}}{{sfn|Newman|1963|p=55}} At another meeting, Howe was asked why he did not care about the farmers's economic plight. He responded, "Looks like you've been eating pretty well under a Liberal government" and poked the questioner in the midsection.{{sfn|Bothwell|Kilbourn|1979|p=325}}

Diefenbaker used the Pipeline Debate as a major theme in the campaign, one which he mentioned more than any other issue.{{sfn|Meisel|1962|p=59}} In Vancouver, he told the largest political crowd in the province since 1935, "I give this assurance to Canadians—that the government shall be the servant and not the master of the people&nbsp;... The road of the Liberal party, unless it is stopped—and Howe has said, 'Who's going to stop us?'—will lead to the virtual extinction of parliamentary government. You will have the form, but the substance will be gone."{{sfn|''The Vancouver Sun''|24 May 1957}}

Howe was opposed in his riding by CCF candidate [[Doug Fisher (politician)|Doug Fisher]], a local high school teacher. Fisher's campaign was well financed, with support from his party, the unions, and a number of corporate enemies Howe had made throughout his political career. Fisher was able to buy up the key time on the local television station to explain his opposition to the Liberals and his party's proposals—Howe initially scheduled no television appearances. Called back to his riding after the remainder of his disastrous [[Prairie provinces|Prairie]] tour was canceled, Howe found that Fisher's appeals had caused defections among Liberals. Howe managed to get TV time just before the election and according to Bothwell and Kilbourn "treated his viewers to the sight of a tired, harsh old man, telling them that the nice young fellow that they had been seeing on television for the last couple of months was, if not a communist himself, then associated with the communists. No one believed him."{{sfn|Bothwell|Kilbourn|1979|p=328}} Fisher defeated Howe by over a thousand votes.{{sfn|Bothwell|Kilbourn|1979|pp=328–329}} Howe was gracious in defeat, shaking Fisher's hand at the television station, and assuring the member-elect's mother, long a Howe admirer, that there were many things for him to do.{{sfn|Bothwell|Kilbourn|1979|pp=328–329}} In the general election, the Tories took the greater number of seats, 112 to 105 for the Liberals.{{sfn|Bothwell|Kilbourn|1979|p=329}} St. Laurent could have remained in office until Diefenbaker and the Tories defeated him in the House, but chose not to—a course with which Howe agreed. The Liberals left office on 21 June 1957,{{sfn|Bothwell|Kilbourn|1979|p=330}} with Howe the only remaining minister of those sworn in with Mackenzie King in 1935.{{sfn|Roberts|1957|pp=7–8}}