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The Secret Life of Canada. S6, EP 21. Crash Course: The Sex Scandal & The Spy

Hosts: Leah-Simone Bowen and Falen Johnson

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: Hey, Falen.

FALEN JOHNSON: Hey, Leah.

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: So today I want to dive into our country's first sex scandal. It involves the Cold War, an alleged spy, and boring politicians who got shamed not for the sex, but having sex with an alleged spy.

FALEN JOHNSON: Always close your classified files before sexual encounters, people.

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: Exactly. So this whole thing started in the late '50s during the Cold War era when Canadians were on high alert and really wary of Russia and its allies.

[music]

FALEN JOHNSON: Right. And we did an episode on the Cold War in season four called The Fruit Machine. It was called the Cold War because it was thought to be a war fought through intelligence and information, even though there was a lot of actual combat and death. But anyway, if you want to know more about that, you can listen to that episode.

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: So between 1958 and 1961, Pierre Sévigny, associate minister of national defense under John Diefenbaker, had an affair with Gerda Munsinger, a glamorous German immigrant. This became known as The Munsinger Affair.

FALEN JOHNSON: Gerda Munsinger sounds like a cheese. [Leah-Simone laughs] Anyway. So, who was she?

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: Well, she wasn't a cheese. [Falen chuckles] She was a human woman.

FALEN JOHNSON: I would have-- I would have an affair with cheese. [laughs] Just putting it out there.

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: As would I! And a cheese shaped in the likeness of a woman? Yes. But no, Gerda Munsinger was born in Russia. Her life before she immigrated was really filled with loss and violence, including her account of being held captive in a prison camp and sexually assaulted. In 1949, she was arrested in Germany by American intelligence for espionage. She tried to immigrate to Canada in 1952, but was denied because of security concerns. But she did make it three years later under a different last name.

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: She came here as a part of a program for domestic servants, working first as basically an indentured servant for a doctor and his wife near Montreal. Gerda eventually became a waitress and hostess. She really dreamed of a glamorous life as a model. She was quite striking. So she had some professional photos taken and began frequenting nightclubs. She was drawn to the allure of, you know, elegant fashions, sparkling jewelry and romantic adventures. Eventually, she became a high-end call girl. Her social life became the stuff of whispers and speculation. She was known for her frequent liaisons. And she described one lover poetically, comparing him to Canada itself. Falen, can you read this quote of how she described her lover, please?

FALEN JOHNSON: [reading] "Rough and hard and in the evenings, when the cold wind blew from the mountains, as tender as the strings of the guitars of the lumberjacks." ...Uh, that's evocative. [laughs]

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: It is... birling down and down the white water. Literally.

FALEN JOHNSON: Yeah, exactly, right? [laughs]

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: Yeah, totally. So for years it was Ottawa's really worst kept secret that a bunch of different ministers and people in Ottawa were enjoying time with Gerda.

FALEN JOHNSON: Ministers -- so more than one.

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: Oh, yeah. Gerda was a sex worker, and I assume was making a great income off of all the boring politicians that were taking up space in Parliament in the late '50s and '60s.

FALEN JOHNSON: I mean, I hope she was making a great income. [LEAH-SIMONE: I hope so.] Have you seen some of those guys?

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: Yes! That's why I'm saying I hope she [FALEN: Yeah.] charged a premium. Because that's, that's work.

FALEN JOHNSON: Yes.

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: Okay. And everything was fine. She eventually moved back to Germany, got engaged and was living her life, until Tory opposition leader John Diefenbaker, who was once the PM, stood up in question period and chastised the current justice minister -- his name was Lucien Cardin -- for mishandling national security matters. Well, Lucien Cardin was not having it and said, I'm paraphrasing here, but said to John Diefenbaker, 'No girl, please do not try calling me out for not being good at national security when a bunch of your ministers have been sleeping with an East German spy!'

FALEN JOHNSON: Yeah, a real Housewives of Parliament. [laughter]

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: It really-- it was, it was. Yeah, and it was amazing. And John Diefenbaker was all like, 'Uhhhhhh, okay, let me check on the-- I didn't know-- [coughs].' You know, and just kind of like toddled off. [cross-talk]

FALEN JOHNSON: Yeah, yeah, yeah. [cross-talk]

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: Was completely in shock.

FALEN JOHNSON: So how did Justice Minister Lucien Cardin find out about the affairs? I mean, I guess, was it like written on a bathroom wall? This is what I imagine.

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: I mean... Well, it was a rumour, but American sources actually tipped off the RCMP that Munsinger might be a sex worker who was a potential security risk because she was East German. But it was a big scandal, especially off the top, since Cardin specifically didn't name which one of the ministers were sleeping around with her. Falen, can you please read the report of the reaction of the ministers in Parliament from this Time magazine piece from 1966?

FALEN JOHNSON: [reading] "Since Cardin had named no cabinet names, his accusations put all of Diefenbaker's former ministers under suspicion of hankie-panky. After a tea party for parliamentary wives, former Tory defence minister Douglas Harkness stormed into the House to demand that Cardin prove his 'statements, insinuations and allegations' or resign. 'Let him go home to his wife and family and endure what we have to endure,' chimed in another Tory." [Falen chuckles]

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: I just love that.

FALEN JOHNSON: Yeah, me too.

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: I love that because it's just like, they were all obviously cheating on their wives and then paranoid about getting in trouble about it.

FALEN JOHNSON: Yeah. Yes.

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: Our historian Andrea told me that John Diefenbaker phoned the director of the Women's caucus of the Conservative Party at the time because he was worried that people would also think that he had an affair with Munsinger. And a woman by the name of Dorothy Downing, one of the caucus members, responded with, quote, "Nobody around Toronto would ever entertain the slightest thought that you might be involved with her -- you of all people, John." [laughs]

FALEN JOHNSON: Ouch!

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: And then John Diefenbaker was really insulted that they obviously thought he had no sex appeal. And he responded with, "I don't know whether I like the implications of that or not."

FALEN JOHNSON: Oh, my God.

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: So he, like, ended up being really upset that nobody thought he was...

FALEN JOHNSON: That nobody was asking him to be in like a parliamentary, like, calendar. Like a fireman calendar. [laughs]

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: Yeah, exactly.

FALEN JOHNSON: Ugh. [laughs]

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: Exactly.

FALEN JOHNSON: Okay, so what about Gerda?

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: Well, she was eventually linked to two main guys -- George Hees, who served as minister of trade and commerce and minister of veteran affairs, and Pierre Sévigny, the associate minister of defence. They both couldn't deny involvement with her because in 1960, they co-sponsored her application for citizenship to Canada.

FALEN JOHNSON: And like, the minister of defence? Like, the minister of defence. That's, that seems like, you know, um... [laughs]

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: Yeah.

FALEN JOHNSON: What were they thinking? Like, come on!

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: You know what they were thinking with.

FALEN JOHNSON: Yeah. I do.

[music]

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: So when she was interviewed about it, actually, Gerda said, you know, I have no problem admitting that I'm linked to these ministers. But she denied that she was a spy and said:

FALEN JOHNSON: [as Gerda] "I want to return to Canada as soon as possible to clear my name of the slanderous accusations that I was ever a spy."

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: A parliamentary inquiry was called to investigate both the affairs and Munsinger’s alleged spying and concluded that there were no security leaks. They didn't go as far to say that she wasn't a spy, though. Gerda continued to live in Munich with her new husband.

FALEN JOHNSON: Okay, so what happened to the ministers? Did they all get divorced?

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: Well, I'm sure there were some divorces, actually. [Falen laughs] But I mean, not much. Sévigny was reprimanded but stayed in cabinet, and George Hees just decided not to run again. The interesting thing is, one of the people who got the most heat was Lucien Cardin. He was making the accusation in the first place. After the inquiry, Cardin was quoted as saying:

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: [as Lucien] "I think I'm at the end of an era which has not been very edifying. I'll be happy, very happy to go home."

[music]

FALEN JOHNSON: So the lesson is: if it's the '60s, don't call out a bunch of male politicians for having an affair, because guess what? It was the '60s...

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: They were all having affairs?

FALEN JOHNSON: And yes, exactly.

LEAH-SIMONE BOWEN: [laughs] Yeah, exactly.

[Episode closing music]

TRANSCRIPT: The Secret Life of Canada, Season 6: The Sex Scandal & The Spy

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