Goodbye, Uncle Louis

Ever since John Diefenbaker's Progressive Conservatives bulldozed into power last June for the first time in 22 years, Canada's defeated Liberal Party has yearned nervously for new leadership. Liberal bigwigs were too fond of defeated Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent, 75, to dethrone him abruptly. But others were less solicitous: the liberal Toronto Star hammered away with Louis-must-go editorials; the Ontario Young Liberals Association breathed fire against "our latter-day leaders." Last week, with the tacit approval of his political intimates, "Uncle Louis" announced that he would step down as Liberal chief, explained: "I no longer have the vigor and energy to lead the party through an election."

Liberal Party custom dictates that a Protestant English Canadian and a Roman Catholic French Canadian alternate the party's leadership. The only Protestant of English ancestry prominent enough to succeed Louis St. Laurent is Lester Bowles ("Mike") Pearson, 60, boyish, bow-tied, onetime (1945) Ambassador to the U.S. and External Affairs chief throughout the St. Laurent regime. In that office he gave Canada (pop. 16.5 million) a great say in Western affairs; e.g., the U.N.'s Middle East police force was a result of a Pearson resolution. His only serious political trouble occurred at home, when he was charged, after the suicide of Diplomat Herbert Norman (TIME, April 15 et seq.), with covering up Norman's Communist connections--a factor in the Liberals' electoral defeat. Mike Pearson is a proven vote getter in his own riding, is better known than any other Liberal except St. Laurent. He should easily capture the leadership at the Liberal convention at year's end.

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