sentences:  This was the first election the Liberals had fought after the death of their longtime charismatic leader, Angus L. Macdonald.Public Health Minister Harold Connolly became interim leader and premier following Macdonald's death in 1954, but was defeated at a leadership convention by Education Minister Henry Hicks.The convention exposed a sharp religious divide in the Liberal Party; Hicks was a Protestant and Connolly was a Catholic.