Former Tory prime minister John Diefenbaker's name has been attached to a coast guard icebreaker, a human rights award and a university research centre. Now, the government is naming Ottawa's old city hall after Canada's 13th prime minister.
Ottawa’s former city hall will know be known as the John G. Diefenbaker Building in honour of the former Progressive Conservative leader.
“Prime Minister Diefenbaker’s passion and dedication to all Canadians has helped make this country a nation we can all be very proud of,” Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said in a statement Monday.
The building, located at 111 Sussex Dr., was home to Ottawa city council for more than four decades until 2000.The Diefenbaker Building will now house staff from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Public Works and Government Services Canada.
Diefenbaker was first elected prime minister in 1957, moving into nearby 24 Sussex Dr. – the prime minister's residence – shortly before the city building opened.
"Dief the Chief," as he became known, governed until 1963 and championed measures to aid farmers and boost human rights in Canada and abroad, including the Bill of Rights, the precursor to Liberal Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau's Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
But Diefenbaker's government became bogged down by high unemployment and public disapproval over the cancelling of the Avro Arrow program. His Tories lost the 1963 election to the Liberals, led by Lester B. Pearson. Pearson’s name adorns the foreign affairs department headquarters, a short walk from the new Diefenbaker building.
Diefenbaker, a Red Tory, has become something of an icon for the government of Stephen Harper as it works to tie the Conservative brand to national institutions.
Like Diefenbaker, Harper made Canada's North a theme of the current government — a homage reflected in the naming of an icebreaker after Diefenbaker. The Tories have named several government initiatives after Diefenbaker, and Harper frequently mentions him in speeches.