Editing C. D. Howe (section)

=== Second World War ===
[[File:C.D. Howe and Gen. Pearkes.jpg|thumb|left|alt=Three men standing in front of a building named "Wolfe Garage"|L–R: [[George Pearkes|Major-General G. R. Pearkes]], VC and Howe, during memorial service for General James Wolfe, 1 January 1941.]]

On 1 September 1939, Germany invaded Poland, starting WWII. Mackenzie King recalled Parliament into session beginning 7 September; during this session, [[Canadian declaration of war on Germany|Canada declared war on Germany]] and created a [[Department of Munitions and Supply]].{{sfn|Roberts|1957|pp=63–64}} It was some months before the department was established; in the meantime Howe supervised the War Purchasing Board. Howe worked to persuade many of his business contacts to work for him or for other government departments. Roberts suggests that no "political minister" could have done that, as many of Howe's recruits were Conservatives.{{sfn|Roberts|1957|pp=72–73}} According to historian and author [[Michael Bliss]], "[f]or Howe and other entrepreneurial spirits interested in the creative uses of government power, the war was a kind of ultimate megaproject, a great development job. Money didn't matter, production did."{{sfn|Bliss|2004|p=165}}

In [[1940 Canadian federal election|the 1940 election]], Howe had little trouble being re-elected, and 184&nbsp;Liberals were returned to Ottawa, the greatest total by any party to that point.{{sfn|Bothwell|Kilbourn|1979|pp=126–127}} Mackenzie King appointed Howe as [[Minister of Munitions and Supply]]. Liking his job at Transport, Howe was reluctant to move, but the Prime Minister persuaded him.{{sfn|Bothwell|Kilbourn|1979|pp=128–129}} The function of the new department was the complete mobilization of all Canadian resources to support the war effort.{{sfn|Harbron|1980|p=37}} Howe initially retained the Transport portfolio as well; on 8 July 1940, he turned over responsibility for that portfolio to [[Arthur Cardin]], although Howe retained control of the CBC and Trans-Canada Air Lines.{{sfn|Roberts|1957|p=80}}

[[File:CD Howe first tank.png|thumb|right|Three men, including the Hon. C. D. Howe and Brigadier [[Kenneth Stuart]], inspecting the first Canadian-built [[Valentine tank]] at Angus Shops of the [[Montreal Locomotive Works]] (MLW), 27 May 1941.]]

Howe's department was assisted by "[[One-dollar salary|dollar-a-year]] men", top managers in Canadian business{{sfn|Stewart|1998|p=43}} loaned to the government by their companies for a token payment of one dollar a year while their firms maintained them on their payrolls.{{efn|The "dollar-a-year club was also derisively known as "Howe's Boys". The [[Order of the British Empire]] (OBE) was bestowed on 13 of "Howe's Boys" in 1946.{{sfn|Stewart|1998|p=43}}}} Even before the department was formally established, Howe's representatives were surveying the country for essential war needs, with the department accumulating huge reserves of [[strategic material]]s.{{sfn|Roberts|1957|p=85}} During the [[World War II|Second World War]], Howe established 28&nbsp;Crown Corporations of various responsibilities including secret projects and manufacturing the machine tools the rest of Canadian industry needed to continue operations. These corporations were responsible to Howe and Parliament received no word of their activities unless Howe mentioned them.{{sfn|Roberts|1957|pp=82–83}}

With Canadian industry reorganized to supply the British war effort, Howe decided he needed to journey to Britain to discuss matters with the customers. He embarked on the S.S. ''Western Prince'' in December 1940. This was an intensely dangerous trip; Germany was attempting to blockade Britain and there were many German submarines in the North Atlantic. One of those submarines sank the ''Western Prince'' on 14 December. Howe survived the sinking and eight hours in a lifeboat. [[Gordon Wallace Scott|Gordon Scott]], his aide, was killed trying to climb from the lifeboat to the rescuing ship. Howe professed coolness in the incident, but later told the [[The Guardian|Manchester ''Guardian'']] that he considered every hour that he lived from that day onwards to be borrowed time.{{sfn|Harbron|1980|pp=44–45}}

While on tour of British industrial plants, Howe was shown the [[Avro Lancaster]] four-engined heavy bomber, which he subsequently championed for Canadian production.{{sfn|Stewart|1991|pp=23–24}} On his return, Howe expropriated the troubled [[National Steel Car|National Steel Car Ltd.]] plant which was beset with management problems, setting up [[Victory Aircraft|Victory Aircraft Limited]] as a Crown corporation, removing the executives and installing [[J. P. Bickell]], one of Howe's "dollar-a-year club" as the new president and chairman of the board.{{sfn|Stewart|1991|p=24}} Victory Aircraft recovered its momentum and went on to become one of Howe's greatest industrial successes, producing Avro aircraft under license, including the Lancaster.{{sfn|Stewart|1991|p=14}}

[[File:C.D. Howe in aircraft factory.jpg|thumb|left|alt=A man and a woman looking at a piece of machinery|Howe speaks to a worker at an aircraft factory, March 1941]]

According to Roberts, "What Howe started in 1940 was an Industrial Revolution, so widespread that most Canadians were unaware of its extent or of its penetration into the country's economy."{{sfn|Roberts|1957|p=87}} Although there had been increases in production throughout the first three years of the war, the minister's efforts truly bore fruit in 1943, in which Canada had the fourth-highest industrial production among the Allies, trailing only the US, [[Soviet Union|USSR]], and Britain. By 1944, Canada had produced over 600&nbsp;ships for the war effort, 1,100&nbsp;aircraft, and over half a million cars and trucks, of which 31,000 were armoured. According to Roberts, Howe's actions swung Canada's economy from agriculture-based to industrial, a change that became permanent.{{sfn|Roberts|1957|p=119}}

==== "What's a million?" ====
During the debate on Howe's war spending estimates in 1945 (which totalled $1.365&nbsp;billion), Howe answered an Opposition question on whether such a large sum could be reduced: "I dare say my honourable friend could cut a million dollars from that amount, but a million dollars from the War Appropriations Bill would not be a very important matter."{{sfn|Roberts|1957|p=155}} Saskatchewan Tory MP [[John Diefenbaker]] spoke the following day, and alleged that Howe had said, "We may save a million dollars, but what of it?"{{sfn|Bothwell|Kilbourn|1979|p=240}} Howe angrily denied the quote, accusing Diefenbaker of being "a past master of distortion"—language he was forced to withdraw as [[Unparliamentary language|unparliamentary]]. Diefenbaker sharpened the anecdote over time, and it emerged in its final form as Howe saying, "What's a million?" Even Liberals who knew that Howe had made no such statement agreed that it was just the sort of thing he could have said.{{sfn|Bothwell|Kilbourn|1979|p=240}} In the years to come, "What's a million?" would be a mocking Tory attack on the Liberals, most often directed at Howe.{{sfn|Smith|1995|p=165}}