PARTY POLITICS IN CANADA

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27407, 21 July 1954, Page 7

PARTY POLITICS IN CANADA

CONSERVATIVES IN BITTER DISPUTE l (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) ! (Rec. 8 p.m. VERNON (British Columbia), July 19. A bitter wrangle between provincial and federal bodies of the Pro- : gressive Conservative Party in British . Columbia came to a head during the , week-end with a vote of no-confidence in the party’s national leader, Mr George Drew. The party’s provincial association executive approved the no-confidence motion by a 40-24 vote, after a stormy ; session lasting all day. The party is in opposition to the governing Social Credit Party in British Columbia. After the vote, the 24 dissenting delegates, led by British Columbia’s three Progressive Conservative members of Parliament, walked out of the ’ meeting. • In St. John’s, Newfoundland, Mr George Hees, national president of the party, said the vote by the British Columbia Association did not repre- ; sent the opinion of the Conservative Party in the other nine provinces. The vote brought into the open the ' unrest that has undercut party politics in British Columbia for more than a year over the question of jurisdictional rights between federal and provincial factions. It also marked a clear-cut victory ! for the provincial leader, Mr Deane Finlayson, in his fight with Mr Drew for a greater say in the running of the party’s British Columbia affairs.