Saint Laurent studied at St. Charles College (Sherbrooke) and at Laval University (Quebec). He was called to the bar in 1905 and became one of Canada's leading lawyers, serving two terms as president of the Canadian Bar Association. In 1914 he was appointed professor of law at Laval University. In 1941 he was asked by Prime Minister W.L. Mackenzie King to enter public life.
As a member of the Liberal Party, Saint Laurent was elected to the Canadian House of Commons from Quebec East in 1942 and was reelected in all subsequent elections until his retirement. King appointed him minister of justice and attorney general and later secretary of state for external affairs (acting in 1945, regular 1946). Saint Laurent was deputy chairman of the Canadian delegation to the United Nations Conference on International Organization in San Francisco in 1945 and served as leader of the delegations at the UN General Assembly sessions in London and New York City in 1946–47.
He was persuaded to accept the leadership of the Liberal Party in 1948 and succeeded King as prime minister. Under Saint Laurent's leadership Newfoundland became a part of the dominion; his government supported UN intervention in Korea (1950–53) and in Suez (1956); and Canada helped to keep India and Pakistan as members of the Commonwealth. He endeavoured to unify and develop the country by equalizing provincial revenues, by expanding social security and university education, and by establishing a council for promoting arts and letters. He led his party to great victories in the general elections of 1949 and 1953, but the Liberals were narrowly defeated in 1957. Although personally reelected, he announced his retirement and was succeeded in 1958 as the leader of the opposition by Lester B. Pearson. He withdrew from public life in 1960 and resumed his law practice.
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