In further Diefence: Part Three, Diefending Canadian Soverignty or, "You're not in Massachussets anymore Mr. President."

John Diefenbaker, 20th century Canada's greatest Prime Minister, was well noted for standing up to the United States not simply by pursuing a different economic policy, which is comparatively easy, but rather, by challenging the American perception that Canada would kow-tow when it came to American leadership on NATO-Communist relations. Diefenbaker fully supported his agriculture Minister Alvin Hamilton in successful negotiations to sell surplus Canadian wheat to Communist China, a bold move considering the country wasn't even recognised by most western nations at the time. Because many shipping companies operating out of British Columbia's ports were subsidiaries of American companies, the US government invoked the Trading with the Enemy Act to prevent ostensibly Canadian companies from the exercise of what was, in Canada, a legal market perogative. Kennedy raised the grain issue with Diefenbaker to which the PM responded with the aforementioned quotation.

When it came to accepting nuuclear weapons on Canadian soil to arm the Bomarc air defence complexes, Dief balked, having accepted the Bomarc II the US and Liberalsx argued that Diefenbaker had agreed to accept the nuclear warheads that they had been designed to carry. However Diefenbaker argued against the acceptance on two points: Invoking the Canadian anti-nuclear weaponry precedent, and further, citing the high explosive warheads that were developed for the first Bomarcs, stated that similar warheads could easily be designed, the problem being that the Americans would refuse to do so should they think that such a refusal held out any prospect of Canadian aquiescence. So Diefenbaker did what he had to do to ensure that Canadians would not act as an extension of the American nuclear battery, he held firm. And Pearson, accused Diefenbaker of flip flopping. Pearson then proceeded to repudiate his party's anti-nuclear stance and announced that as PM he would accept the nuclear warheads.

This led one NDP candidate in 1963 to sneeringly refer to Pearson as, "the defrocked priest of peace." Unfortunately, Pierre Trudeau was unsucssesful in his election bid that year. Though 21 years later he saw the last of the warheads leave Canadian soil for good.

Diefenbaker, willing to publicly disagree with the Americans on defence policy during the cold war. That about does it for me.