Munsinger Affair

The Munsinger Affair was Canada's first national political sex scandal. It focused on Gerda Munsinger, an alleged East German prostitute and Soviet spy living in Ottawa who had slept with a number of cabinet ministers in John Diefenbaker's government.

Most noted amongst these was the Associate Minister of National Defence, Pierre Sévigny, who had seen her since 1958 and had even signed Munsinger's application for Canadian citizenship. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) discovered her background, however, and informed Justice Minister E. Davie Fulton of her activities. She was deported to Germany in 1961. The matter was dealt with behind closed doors and Sévigny resigned in 1963.

After the Gouzenko affair, matters of Canadian national security were not usually made subject of public debate. In 1966, however, the Liberal government came under attack for a security breach involving two Soviet diplomats and George Victor Spencer, a Vancouver mail clerk, who had been caught collecting information for the Soviet Embassy. On March 4, John Diefenbaker called Liberal Justice Minister Lucien Cardin "a dwarf in giant's clothing" for his handling of the Spencer case. Cardin rebutted the Tories by bringing up Munsinger's name in the House of Commons. Cardin believed Munsinger was dead, but aimed to criticize Diefenbaker's handling of the case five years earlier.

Munsinger was not dead, however, and was tracked down and interviewed in Munich by Toronto Daily Star reporter Robert Reguly. She freely admitted her numerous affairs with government officials to the Canadian media. The story dominated the media for weeks and was followed with rapt attention across the country. It became a massive distraction and all but shut down all other parliamentary activity for some weeks.

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