The Pipeline Debate (May 8 to June 6, 1956) was one of the pivotal moments in the history of the Parliament of Canada. Although it appeared to be only a minor procedural problem at the time, the controversy surrounding it eventually led to the downfall of the Liberal Party government of Louis St. Laurent.
The debate was focussed on the construction of a pipeline to run from Alberta to Ontario and Quebec to provide a market for Alberta's natural gas. Although there was public support for the concept, St. Laurent's minister of trade and commerce, C.D. Howe, developed a plan to allow the pipeline to be built by a consortium with majority American ownership. The Canadian government would lend the consortium money for the start up costs.
Throughout Canadian history, there has been opposition to foreign ownership of key Canadian assets. Although the Canadian Pacific Railway was built primarily with American and British capital, the threat of American ownership of the line was one of the factors that brought down the government of Sir John A. MacDonald during the Pacific Scandal. Eventually, the CPR was built with Canadian management, although most of its shares were eventually owned by Americans.
The opposition Progressive Conservative Party and Co-operative Commonwealth Federation planned to delay the plan with a filibuster, a lengthy parliamentary debate. The Conservatives were opposed to the majority American ownership, even though it appeared to be temporary. The social democratic CCF wanted the pipeline to be owned by the government as it was sure to be profitable given the demand for gas in Eastern Canada. The opposition parties were aware that parliamentary approval of the plan had to be obtained by a particlur date in order to get the necessary financing in place in time for the pipeline to be started by July 1, as the Liberal government had promised. The opposition belived that if the Liberals missed this deadline, the plan might fall apart under its own weight, and a new all-Canadian consortium or a Crown Corporation might be put together at a later date.
In order to counter the opposition tactics, the Liberals attempted to force closure - a vote suspending debate on the pipeline issue and forcing a final vote. However, on the day before the deadline, the Speaker of the House of Commons René Beaudoin, a Liberal, allowed the opposition to debate a procedural matter. He ruled at the end of the day that debate on this issue would continue the following day, effectively allowing the opposition parties to debate the issue past the deadline.
However, overnight, the Speaker reversed his position on the procedural motion, and ruled that debate on the issue was over, allowing the closure motion to proceed. The opposition parties strongly objected to the reversal. They claimed that the Prime Minister and Howe had put pressure on the Speaker to change his mind. This may have been unfounded, as the original decision to allow the procedural debate was arguably incorrect in the first place. As a result of the Speaker's reversal, Howe and St. Laurent were able to push through the loan guarantee legislation on June 6.
The victory was short lived as the Progressive Conservatives and their populist leader, John Diefenbaker, used the pipeline issue to show that the Liberals had become arrogant during their long time in power. At the time of the debate, the Liberals had been in office with a majority government for 21 consecutive years under William Lyon MacKenzie King and St. Laurent. In the 1957 election, the Conservatives won a minority government, and in the 1958 election, Diefenbaker won the largest majority in Canadian history. The Liberals did not win another majority government until 1968 under the leadership of Pierre Trudeau.