Who was Louis St. Laurent?

Louis Stephen St. Laurent (February 1, 1882 to July 25, 1973) was Canada's 12th Prime Minister, serving from November 15, 1948 to June 21, 1957. St. Laurent was a Liberal and led the Liberal Party from 1948 to 1958. Born in Compton, Quebec, he had a distinguished career as a corporate lawyer and as Justice Minister and External Affairs Minister under Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King before succeeding King as Liberal leader.

St. Laurent's government oversaw the entry of Newfoundland into Confederation as the 10th province on March 31, 1949 after two close referendums. His government also led Canada's entry into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) on April 4, 1949 (Canada was a founding member, signed at Washington), Canadian participation in the Korean War (1950 to 1953, with 26,000 Canadians serving and 516 killed), and the Trans-Canada Highway Act of 1949 (authorising the 8,030-kilometre highway, completed in 1962).

Domestically, St. Laurent's government built the modern Canadian welfare state. The federal Old Age Security Act of 1951 introduced universal old-age pensions for Canadians 70 and older. The Hospital Insurance and Diagnostic Services Act of 1957 began the federal-provincial cost-shared hospital insurance system that evolved into Medicare. The federal Equalization programme was introduced in 1957 (now constitutionally entrenched in section 36(2) of the Constitution Act, 1982). The Canada Council for the Arts (1957) provided federal arts funding for the first time.

St. Laurent was sometimes called 'Uncle Louis' for his approachable manner. Vincent Massey was appointed the first Canadian-born Governor General in February 1952 during St. Laurent's tenure. The Canadian Bill of Rights was developed under St. Laurent and Justice Minister Stuart Garson but was passed under his successor John Diefenbaker in 1960. St. Laurent's government lost the 1957 federal election (to Diefenbaker's Progressive Conservatives) over the Trans-Canada Pipeline debate, in which the Liberals had imposed closure on the House of Commons to expedite passage of the federal pipeline bill. St. Laurent retired in January 1958 and died in Quebec City in 1973.