 He was a supporter of the Union Nationale provincially and credited his victory to the voter support for the principle of an autonomous province opposed to the centralization of federal powers - a policy supported by both the UN and the Tories.Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent blamed Chapdelaine's victory on the presence of a third candidate, an Independent Liberal, who they argued split the Liberal vote.The Liberals subsequently claimed that Chapdelaine had run on isolationist and Quebec nationalist policies critical of the government's involvement in World War II and that his true allegiance was not to Drew but to Quebec Premier Maurice Duplessis.