During John Diefenbaker's leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party, Balcer was his Quebec lieutenant and Deputy Leader of the PC Party.[2]
A few months before the 1965 election, he left his party and sat as an independent, saying, "there is no place for a French Canadian in the party of Mr. Diefenbaker."[3] In 1964, he had led a small group of PC MPs who broke with Diefenbaker and supported a new flag of Canada during the flag debate championed by the Liberal prime minister, Lester B. Pearson. He did not run for re-election in that year.
1The department was eliminated in 1993 when the government was reorganized. The position of Secretary of State for Canada was not legally eliminated until 1996 when its remaining responsibilities were assigned to other cabinet positions and departments, particularly the newly created position of Minister of Canadian Heritage.
