Léon Balcer

Léon Balcer, one of the most senior Quebec Progressive Conservative MPs and a former cabinet minister under John Diefenbaker, left the PC caucus in 1965 over what he saw as the party's neglect of Quebec and French-Canadian interests. Balcer had been Minister of Transport and was one of the few PCs with a strong base in French Quebec. He clashed bitterly with Diefenbaker over bilingualism, Quebec representation in the party, and the direction of Canadian conservatism. After Diefenbaker's leadership was challenged but not replaced at the November 1966 leadership review, Balcer concluded the party was unreformable from within.

Balcer sat as an Independent and did not seek re-election. His departure was symptomatic of the Conservative Party's chronic inability to build a lasting base in Quebec — a problem that lasted from Diefenbaker through Joe Clark and Brian Mulroney and into the Stephen Harper era. Each generation of Quebec Conservatives eventually left in frustration.