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Politics

To his contemporaries it was evident that our dad was a staunch supporter of and worker for the Liberal party. Because of this, politics was very much a lively topic in our household. Conservatives were to be tolerated, but it was clear that they were a notch lower on the intellectual scale than were the Grits. Yet, despite his bias, Dad seems to have made few enemies with members of the opposing side and in general found much enjoy- ment from the political goings on. He was in Charlottetown for the visits of Laurier and King and until retirement age seldom would he miss a federal nominating convention there for Queens. For many of the latter he and several Liberal allies frequently engaged Marty Griffin, Dad’s cousin and staunch Conservative, for rides to the city. Just as frequently, it would appear, they got cast by the wayside on the way in or out of town by a flat tire, empty gas tank, headlight failure or other me- chanical malfunction. However, when the dust had settled, these awkward outings became fodder for humorous anecdotes in his story telling.

On the federal scene he was a great admirer of Jimmy Larrabee, a merchant from Eldon who was elected MP for Queens in 1935. Before making it to the House of Commons, however, Larrabee resigned his seat to make an opening for Charles A. Dunning, former premier of Saskatchewan, who had just been appointed MacKenzie King’s minister of finance. At the convention that fall in the Strand Theatre it was Dad Who seconded Dunning’s nomination. This honor was never talked