Canada experienced many of the same developments as
the United States in the postwar years. For twenty-five
years after World War II, Canada realized extraordinary
economic prosperity as it set out on a new path of industrial
development. Canada had always had a strong export
economy based on its abundant natural resources.
Now it also developed electronic, aircraft, nuclear, and
chemical engineering industries on a large scale. Much of
the Canadian growth, however, was financed by capital
from the United States, which resulted in U.S. ownership
of Canadian businesses. While many Canadians welcomed
the economic growth, others feared U.S. economic
domination of Canada and its resources.
Canada’s close relationship with the United States
has been a notable feature of its postwar history. In addition
to fears of economic domination, Canadians have
also worried about playing a subordinate role politically
and militarily to their neighboring superpower. Canada
agreed to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in
1949 and even sent military contingents to fight in Korea
the following year. But to avoid subordination to the
United States or any other great power, Canada has consistently
and actively supported the United Nations.
Nevertheless, concerns about the United States have not
kept Canada from maintaining a special relationship
with its southern neighbor. The North American Air Defense
Command (NORAD), formed in 1957, was based
on close cooperation between the air forces of the two
countries for the defense of North America against mis-
sile attack. As another example of their
close cooperation, in 1972, Canada and
the United States signed the Great
Lakes Water Quality Agreement to regulate
water quality of the lakes that
border both countries.
After 1945, the Liberal Party continued
to dominate Canadian politics
until 1957, when John Diefenbaker
(1895–1979) achieved a Conservative
victory. But a major recession returned
the Liberals to power, and under
Lester Pearson (1897–1972), they created
Canada’s welfare state by enacting
a national social security system (the
Canada Pension Plan) and a national health insurance
program.
The most prominent Liberal government, however,
was that of Pierre Trudeau (1919–2000), who came to
power in 1968. Although French Canadian in background,
Trudeau was dedicated to Canada’s federal union.
In 1968, his government passed the Official Languages
Act, creating a bilingual federal civil service and encouraging
the growth of French culture and language in Canada.
Although Trudeau’s government vigorously pushed
an industrialization program, high inflation and Trudeau’s
efforts to impose the will of the federal government
on the powerful provincial governments alienated voters
and weakened his government.
For Canada, the vigor of the U.S. economy in the
1980s and 1990s was a mixed blessing, for the American
behemoth was all too often inclined to make use of its
power to have its way with its neighbors. Economic recession
had brought Brian Mulroney (b. 1939), leader of
the Progressive Conservative Party, to power in Canada
in 1984. Mulroney’s government sought to privatize
many of Canada’s state-run corporations and negotiated
a free trade agreement with the United States. Bitterly resented
by many Canadians as a sellout, the agreement
cost Mulroney’s government much of its popularity. In
1993, the ruling Conservatives were drastically defeated
in national elections, winning only two seats in the
House of Commons. The Liberal leader, Jean Chrétien,
took over as prime minister with the charge of stimulating
the nation’s sluggish economy.
The new Liberal government also faced an ongoing
crisis over the French-speaking province of Quebec. In
the late 1960s, the Parti Québécois, headed by René
Lévesque, campaigned on a platform of Quebec’s secession
from the Canadian confederation. In 1970, the party
won 24 percent of the popular vote in Quebec’s provincial
elections. To pursue their dream
of separation, some underground separatist
groups even used terrorist bombings
and kidnapped two prominent
government officials. In 1976, the Parti
Québécois won Quebec’s provincial
elections and in 1980 called for a referendum
that would enable the provincial
government to negotiate Quebec’s
independence from the rest of Canada.
But voters in Quebec rejected the plan
in 1995, and debate over Quebec’s status
continued to divide Canada as the
decade came to a close. Provincial elections
held in April 2003 delivered a
stunning defeat to the Parti Québécois and a decisive victory
to federalist elements.
World History
