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In Canadian honours, PC ranks ahead of CH Tags: Manual revert Mobile edit Mobile web edit Advanced mobile edit |
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Diefenbaker continued practising law. In 1951, he gained national attention by accepting the ''Atherton'' case, in which a young telegraph operator had been accused of negligently causing [[Canoe River train crash|a train crash]] by omitting crucial information from a message. Twenty-one people were killed, mostly Canadian troops bound for Korea. Diefenbaker paid $1,500 and sat a token [[bar exam]]ination to join the [[Law Society of British Columbia]] to take the case, and gained an acquittal, prejudicing the jury against the Crown prosecutor and pointing out a previous case in which interference had caused information to be lost in transmission.{{sfn|Smith|1995|pp=185–189}}
In the mid-1940s Edna began to suffer mental illness and was placed in a private psychiatric hospital for a time. She later fell ill from [[leukemia]] and died in 1951. In 1953, Diefenbaker married [[Olive Freeman|Olive Palmer]] (formerly Olive Freeman), whom he had courted while living in Wakaw. Olive Diefenbaker became a great source of strength to her husband. There were no children born of either marriage.{{sfn|Bliss|2004|p=202}} In 2013, claims were made that he fathered at least two sons out of wedlock, based on
Diefenbaker won Prince Albert in 1953, even as the Tories suffered a second consecutive disastrous defeat under Drew. Speculation arose in the press that the leader might be pressured to step aside. Drew was determined to remain, however, and Diefenbaker was careful to avoid any action that might be seen as disloyal. However, Diefenbaker was never a member of the "Five O'clock<!-- Capitalized in source! --> Club" of Drew intimates who met the leader in his office for a drink and gossip each day.{{sfn|Smith|1995|p=199}}{{efn|name=One Canada}} By 1955, there was a widespread feeling among Tories that Drew was not capable of leading the party to a victory. At the same time, the Liberals were in flux as the aging St. Laurent tired of politics.{{sfn|Smith|1995|p=200}} Drew was able to damage the government in a weeks-long battle over the [[TransCanada pipeline]] in 1956—the so-called [[Pipeline Debate]]—in which the government, in a hurry to obtain financing for the pipeline, imposed [[cloture|closure]] before the debate even began. The Tories and the CCF combined to obstruct business in the House for weeks before the Liberals were finally able to pass the measure. Diefenbaker played a relatively minor role in the Pipeline Debate, speaking only once.{{sfn|Smith|1995|pp=201–203}}
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