Liberal Defeat

Canada's Liberal Prime Minister Lester Pearson, 69, who has built a large part of his effort to unify English and French Canada by cooperating with the government of Quebec's Liberal Premier Jean Lesage, got a rude jolt last week. Lesage, 54, who had even been mentioned as a possible Pearson successor, was drummed out of power in one of the biggest election upsets in recent Canadian history.

Riding a farm protest against the city-oriented Liberal regime and Quebec's rising cost of living, the conservative Union Nationale, headed by Daniel Johnson, 51, won 55 seats in Quebec's 108-seat Parliament, compared with 51 for the Lesage Liberals, and returned to power for the first time since Lesage ended their 16-year rule in 1960.

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