Editing Louis St. Laurent (section)

== Retirement and death (1957–1973) ==
[[File:St Laurent house.jpg|right|thumb|201 Grande-Allée, residence of St. Laurent in Quebec City for sixty years]]
After a short period as [[Leader of the Opposition (Canada)|leader of the Opposition]] and now more than 75 years old, St. Laurent's motivation to be involved in politics was gone. He announced his intention to retire from politics. He was succeeded as Liberal Party leader by his former secretary of state for external affairs and representative at the United Nations, [[Lester B. Pearson]], at the party's [[1958 Liberal Party of Canada leadership election|leadership convention]] in January 1958.

St. Laurent preferred law over politics. In a 1961 interview with the [[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation|CBC]], he stated, "One can be more outspoken, frank and sincere before the courts than he could be before the public audience in a political campaign."<ref>{{cite web |title=Louis St-Laurent: the reluctant politician |url=https://www.cbc.ca/archives/entry/louis-st-laurent-the-reluctant-politician |website=CBC |access-date=14 October 2021}}</ref> In that same interview, St. Laurent acknowledged that the Pipeline Debate played a major role in his 1957 loss, stating, "Perhaps I didn't say as much as I should have; people do make mistakes you know. I did my best and, as a matter of fact, we had become accustomed to carry on as a board of directors and that displeased a part of the Canadian public." St. Laurent admitted that it took a while to resume his good mood after a sudden electoral loss.<ref>{{cite web |title=St-Laurent returns home |url=https://www.cbc.ca/archives/entry/st-laurent-returns-home |website=CBC |access-date=2 November 2021}}</ref>

After his political retirement, he returned to practising law and living quietly and privately with his family. During his retirement, he was called into the public spotlight one final time in 1967 to be made a Companion of the [[Order of Canada]], a newly created award.

St. Laurent was appointed a Companion of the [[Order of Canada]] on July 6, 1967. His citation reads:<ref name="archive">{{cite web|url=http://archive.gg.ca/honours/search-recherche/honours-desc.asp?lang=e&TypeID=orc&id=2308 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120609115550/http://archive.gg.ca/honours/search-recherche/honours-desc.asp?lang=e&TypeID=orc&id=2308 |archive-date=2012-06-09 |url-status=dead |title=Order of Canada|access-date=8 April 2015}}</ref>
<blockquote>Former Prime Minister of Canada. For his service to his country.</blockquote>

[[File:Louis St. Laurent grave site.jpg|thumb|St. Laurent's grave site|alt=Large rectangular grey granite stone inscribed with names, birth years, and death years, of St. Laurent and his wife]]

Louis Stephen St. Laurent died from heart failure on July 25, 1973, in [[Quebec City]], [[Quebec]], aged 91 and was buried at [[St. Thomas Aquinas Cemetery|Saint Thomas d'Aquin Cemetery]] in his hometown of [[Compton, Quebec]].<ref name="Parks_Grave">{{cite web | url=http://www.pc.gc.ca/eng/clmhc-hsmbc/Sepulture-gravesiteindx/listesepulture-listgravesite/stlaurent.aspx | title=Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada – Former Prime Ministers and Their Grave Sites – The Right Honourable Louis Stephen St. Laurent | author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> | date=20 December 2010 | website=Parks Canada | publisher=Government of Canada | access-date=11 March 2014 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131019032229/http://www.pc.gc.ca/eng/clmhc-hsmbc/Sepulture-gravesiteindx/listesepulture-listgravesite/stlaurent.aspx | archive-date=19 October 2013 }}</ref>