Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1962-06-17

speech on wednesday, suggest
ing that "A great many Ameri-
cans want this Government de-
feated (because) they don't
want us to trade with Commu-
mist China"
If the Prime Minister is cor
rect in his assessment of the
American attitude towards the
Canadian election, then a great
many observers of the two
month campaign would rate
prospects Of realization of these
American hopes as good.
The Gallup poll, based on a
voter sampling taken a week
ago, gave the Liberal Party led
by Lester B. Pearson a lead of
2 percentage points over Mr.
Diefenbaker's Conservative ad-
IniniStration. Surveys of the in
dividual constituencies or dis
tricts that will vote Monday
for the election of 264 members
Of the new House of Commons
also indicate that both Mr..
Diefenbaker and Mr.. Pearson
have about an equal chance
of being prime minister after
Monday.
In fact, It is possible neither
the Conservative government
nor the Liberal Party will
emerge with a clear majority
In the House Of Commons.
This would leave the balance
of power in the hands of two
splinter groupS-the new Dem
ocratic and Social Credit par
ties - since their cooperation
would be necessary for the for
nation Of a government.
DevaluatiOn at Issue
The major issue Of the cam
paign was provided by the gov
eminent on May 2, when it
further devalued the Canadian
dollar and pegged it at a for
eign exchange rate of 921a Us
cents. This represented a fall
in the external value Of the
dollar of about Is cents in less
than a year.
Devaluation, declared Mr..
Pearson, had hurt Canadians
in purse and PRIDE. The Lib
erals commended the govern
ment had been forced to de-
valuation and pegging after
losing $500 millions in a vail
effort to hold the dollar at 95
US cents, and that the action
would result in higher retail
prices and a lower standard of
living.
Mr.. Diefenbaker has defended
devaluation as an act Of eco
nomic craftsmanship that will
enable Canadian industry to
increase its export sales, thus
providing more jobs. The
Americans, he said Wednesday,
are "howling" because devalu-
lation has opened the United
Estates market to more Cana
dian goods. And he points out
that, a few months ago, the
Liberals themselves were adj
vocating devaluation to 30 USI'
cents. 81 t5u Il
Not Many Issues
To hammer home what the
government has done to your
dollars" the Liberals flooded
the country with ''Diefen dol
lars" - caricatures Of the Ca
madam dollar that stated the
Bunk of Canada" would pay
92-h cents to the holder.
Hundreds of them were hurled
on the stage at Mr.. Diefen-
bakers feet in Vancouver on
May 80 when organized heck
lers and agitators howled him
down as he tried to address a
crowd Of 5000.
Actually the campaign, in
which both leaders hoped
across Canada time and again
in their chartered planes, suf-
fered from a paucity of prime
tissues. Mr.. Diefenbaker cam
paigned largely on the de-
fensive as his opponents de-
nounced his record as ~eco-
nomic stagnation." /
In addition to the dollar is
sue, Mr.. Pearson castigated
heavy unemployment, govern
ment deficits, opposition to
Britain's entry into the Eur
opean Economic Community
and the administrations failure
to lay down a firm policy on
luCledr weapons 1Or CanaQ1an |
defense forces.
More Prosperity Pledged
Mr.. Diefenbaker promised a
second "five-year plan" of eco
nomic development and in
crease prosperity. Mr.. Pearson
appealed for a mandate "tn oet |
Canada moving forward again.
But the lack of emotional |
issues to fire the hastings
turned the campaign into a
contest of personalities-on the
one hand the polished politi-
clan appealing for a third term,
and on the other hand the
liberal leader criticizin0 apd