The history of Canada (1960–1981) refers to the period immediately following the prosperous 1950s until the new constitution of 1982, the Canada Act.
The Canada Act 1982 is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which was passed at the request of the Parliament of Canada, to "patriate" Canada's constitution, ending the power of the British Parliament to amend the Constitution of Canada. The act also formally ended the "request and consent" provisions of the Statute of Westminster 1931 in relation to Canada, whereby the British parliament had a general power to pass laws extending to Canada at its own request.
In 1960, Prime Minister John Diefenbaker's government decided to permit all Status Indians to vote in federal elections. Since 1950, Status Indians had been allowed vote on the condition that they gave up their treaty rights and Indian status, defined in the Indian Act as "enfranchisement", or if they had fought in the First or Second World Wars. The Inuit and Métis were already able to vote at the time.[1]
John George Diefenbaker was the 13th prime minister of Canada, serving from June 21, 1957 to April 22, 1963. He was the only Progressive Conservative party leader after 1930 and before 1979 to lead the party to an election victory, doing so three times, although only once with a majority of seats in the House of Commons of Canada.
The Indian Act is a Canadian act of Parliament that concerns registered Indians, their bands, and the system of Indian reserves. First passed in 1876 and still in force with amendments, it is the primary document which defines how the Government of Canada interacts with the 614 First Nation bands in Canada and their members. Throughout its long history the Act has been an ongoing subject of controversy and has been interpreted in different ways by both Aboriginal Canadians and non-Aboriginal Canadians. The legislation has been amended many times, including "over twenty major changes" made by 2002.
The Inuit are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic regions of Greenland, Canada, and Alaska. The Inuit languages are part of the Eskimo–Aleut family. Inuit Sign Language is a critically endangered language isolate used in Nunavut.
The "Act to Amend the Canada Elections Act", which removed the discriminatory parts of Section 14, was made into law on March 31, 1960. The 1968 election would make Leonard Marchand the first Status Indian to serve as a member of parliament. Status Indians would not be legally allowed to vote in all provincial elections until Quebec enfranchised them in 1969.[2]
The Canada Elections Act is an Act of the Parliament of Canada which regulates the election of members of parliament to the House of Commons of Canada.
Leonard Stephen "Len" Marchand, was a Canadian politician. He was the first person of First Nations status to serve in the federal cabinet, after being the first Status Indian elected and serving as a Member of Parliament. He served as Parliamentary Secretary, Minister of State, Minister of the Environment and Senator.
Quebec is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is bordered to the west by the province of Ontario and the bodies of water James Bay and Hudson Bay; to the north by Hudson Strait and Ungava Bay; to the east by the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the province of Newfoundland and Labrador; and to the south by the province of New Brunswick and the U.S. states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York. It also shares maritime borders with Nunavut, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia. Quebec is Canada's largest province by area and its second-largest administrative division; only the territory of Nunavut is larger. It is historically and politically considered to be part of Central Canada.
Diefenbaker was succeeded by Lester B. Pearson in 1963, at a time of increasing political unrest in much of the Western world. In Canada the largest crises involved provincial rights, especially in Quebec, where nationalism had been increasing and was on the verge of violent explosion. Pearson recognized Quebec to be a "nation within the nation". One attempt at pacifying Quebec, and moving Canada away from the old British imperialism, was creating a new flag.
Lester Bowles "Mike" Pearson was a Canadian scholar, statesman, soldier, prime minister, and diplomat, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1957 for organizing the United Nations Emergency Force to resolve the Suez Canal Crisis. He was the 14th prime minister of Canada from 22 April 1963 to 20 April 1968, as the head of two back-to-back Liberal minority governments following elections in 1963 and 1965.
Lester Pearson's preferred choice for a new flag was nicknamed "the Pearson Pennant".
The old Red Ensign no longer reflected Canada's place in the world, and Pearson believed a new flag would help unite French and English Canada with truly Canadian symbols. After lengthy debates over numerous designs, the current maple leaf flag was adopted in 1965 and was somewhat quickly embraced by the public. Veterans of the First Two World Wars felt as though this change was wrong, as they and many of their friends and family members fought and died under the old flag. By the end of Lester B. Pearson's term, most of the controversy had ended, although some people remained upset. Famously, Diefenbaker, a staunch proponent of the Red Ensign, had both the Red Ensign and the Maple Leaf version on his casket following his death in 1979.[3]
The flag of Canada, often referred to as the Canadian flag, or unofficially as the Maple Leaf and l'Unifolié, is a national flag consisting of a red field with a white square at its centre in the ratio of 1:2:1, in the middle of which is featured a stylized, red, 11-pointed maple leaf charged in the centre. It is the first specified by law for use as the country's national flag.
Fifteen years before, Quebec had replaced the British provincial flag with the current flag of Quebec, which was quickly embraced by Quebecers.
The flag of Quebec, called the Fleurdelisé represents the province of Quebec. It was adopted by the government of Quebec during the administration of Maurice Duplessis. It was the first provincial flag officially adopted in Canada, first shown on January 21, 1948, at the Parliament Building of the National Assembly in Quebec City. Quebec's Flag Day commemorates its adoption each year, though for some time it was celebrated in May. At least one parade marked the flag's 60th anniversary in January 2008.
This article is erroneous!![4] I vividly remember chasing small parachutes, hundreds of them, which were dropped from the Peace Tower in Ottawa on July 1st, 1967. Each chute had suspended a small sample flag of about half a dozen different variants of PROPOSED designs for Canada's new flag! Therefore on July 1st 1967 Canadians had not YET decided upon a new design.
The Quiet Revolution (or Révolution tranquille) began in Quebec when Jean Lesage became premier in 1960. It was, essentially, a peaceful nationalist movement to transform Quebec into a modern secular state. It was characterised by rapid secularization, the creation of a welfare state, and the transformation of the national identity among Francophone Quebecers (from Canadien français to the term Québécois).
In 1967, the World's Fair was held in Montreal, Quebec, coinciding with the first Canadian Centennial. The fair opened April 28, 1967, with the theme "Man and his World" and became the best attended of all BIE-sanctioned world expositions until that time. Expo 67 raised the international profile of Montreal and Canada, and instilled a sense of hopefulness and national pride in many Canadian citizens.[5] Canadian nationalists like Pierre Berton would later refer to 1967 as Canada's "Last Good Year" before the country became divided over economic problems and Quebec sovereignty.
Pierre Elliott Trudeau, himself a French Canadian, came to power in 1968. Quebec also produced a more radical nationalist group, the Front de libération du Québec, who since 1963 had been using terrorism in an attempt to make Quebec a sovereign nation. In October 1970, in response to the arrest of some of its members earlier in the year, the FLQ kidnapped James Cross and Pierre Laporte, later killing Laporte. Trudeau invoked the War Measures Act, declaring martial law in Quebec, and by the end of the year the kidnappers had all been arrested.
Trudeau and the 1970s
Trudeau was a somewhat unconventional Prime Minister; he was more of a celebrity than previous leaders, and in the 1960s had been the centre of "Trudeaumania".[6] He also did not blindly support the United States without consideration, especially over the Vietnam War and relations with the People's Republic of China and Cuba. Richard Nixon particularly disliked him.[citation needed]
Domestically, Trudeau had to deal with the aftermath of the October Crisis. The separatist movement was not aided by the violent Front de libération du Québec (FLQ), yet it still existed in a less radical form under Premier René Lévesque (1976–1985). Lévesque came to power as leader of the Parti Québécois, which wanted to make Quebec at least an autonomous society in Canada and at best an independent nation. A step towards this was taken in 1977 with the adoption of Bill 101, making French the only official language in the province.
While Canada had participated extensively in the Korean War, it was officially a non-participant in the Vietnam War. Setting itself apart from America's Truman and Eisenhower Doctrines, Canada was involved in diplomatic efforts to discourage escalation of the conflict, and set conditions that required a much greater level of multilateralism than existed for it to join the SEATO military pact and commit troops.
The war was generally unpopular among the public and the counterculture of the day had strong ties with American organizations like Students for a Democratic Society. Canadian anti-war activists encouraged American draftees to head north, offering them extensive counsel and assistance. Draft dodgers were generally accepted as immigrants by Canadian authorities, and as many as 125,000 Americans moved to Canada due to their opposition to the War. At least half of them are believed to have stayed permanently. This influx of young people helped Canada recover from the "brain drain" of the 1950s, and while in many ways the draft dodgers assimilated into Canadian society, they are considered to have had significant and lasting effects on the country.
Meanwhile, several thousand Canadians joined the U.S. military and served in Vietnam. Many of them became naturalized American citizens after the war, while those who returned to Canada never received official recognition from the Canadian government or military as veterans. Canada did deploy some peacekeeping troops to monitor ceasefire agreements during the conflict, and also sold a great deal of matériel to the United States. After the fall of Saigon in 1975, many Vietnamese refugees moved to Canada, establishing large communities in Vancouver and Toronto.
In 1973, world oil prices quadrupled due to the OAPEC oil embargo following the Yom Kippur War. Canada's province of Alberta had substantial oil reserves, whose extraction had long been controlled by American corporations. Elements of the government of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and the opposition New Democratic Party felt that these corporations geared most of their production to the American market, and sent their profits south. As a result, they believed, little of the benefit of rising oil prices went to Canadians. This view was not widely shared in the oil-producing province of Alberta.
A bill to create a publicly run oil company was introduced by the New Democratic Party in 1973, Trudeau's Liberals were then in a minority government and dependent upon the support of the NDP to stay in power. The idea also fit with Trudeau's economic nationalism. The NDP and the Liberals passed the bill over the opposition of the Progressive Conservative Party (PC) led by Robert Stanfield. Petro-Canada was given $1.5billion in start-up money and easy access to new sources of capital. It was set up in Calgary, despite the hostility of that city's population and existing oil firms. The PCs, now led by AlbertanJoe Clark, were opponents of the company, and advocated breaking it up and selling it. The Tories were unable to proceed with these plans during their brief time in power in 1979–1980, however.
The company became popular outside Alberta as a symbol of Canadian nationalism. The federal government and Petro-Canada tried to re-inforce this popularity nationwide (but especially in Calgary) through its prominent sponsorship of the city's successful 1988 Winter Olympics bid. It quickly grew to be one of the largest players in the traditional oil fields of the west as well as in the oil sands and the East coast offshore oil fields.
The Liberals returned to power in 1980, energy policy was an important focus, and the sweeping National Energy Program was created. This expanded Petro-Canada, but it was detrimental to Alberta's economy. Inflation was out of control and interest rates were through the roof. Unemployment was epidemic in the eastern provinces where the Trudeau government had much of its political support.[7] The NEP was designed to promote oil self-sufficiency for Canada, maintain the oil supply, particularly for the industrial base in eastern Canada, promote Canadian ownership of the energy industry, promote lower prices, promote exploration for oil in Canada, promote alternative energy sources, and increase government revenues from oil sales through a variety of taxes and agreements.[8] The NEP's Petroleum Gas Revenue Tax (PGRT) instituted a double-taxation mechanism that did not apply to other commodities, such as gold and copper.
It is estimated that Alberta lost between $50 billion and $100 billion because of the NEP.[9] The rationale for the program weakened when world oil prices began to decline in the early 1980s, leading to the start of a phased shutdown by the new Minister of Energy, Mines and Resources Jean Chrétien. In the 1984 election the government of Brian Mulroney was elected with the support of western Canada after campaigning against the NEP. However, Mulroney did not eliminate the last vestiges of the program until two and a half years later at which time world oil prices had dropped below pre-1980s levels (as adjusted for inflation). This was a contributing factor to the creation of western Canada's Reform Party of Canada.
In 1980, the Parti Québécois launched a referendum on the question of sovereignty. The question actually asked whether Quebec should negotiate for sovereignty, not whether Quebec should simply declare independence, but it was vaguely worded and confused many voters. Trudeau, although it was not a federal referendum, supported the "no" side, promising constitutional reform. The "no" side won by a margin of 60% to 40% when the question was put to the voters on the 20th of May.
Three years after losing his right leg to cancer at age 18, Terry Fox decided to run from coast to coast in order to raise money for cancer research. In creating the Marathon of Hope, his goal was to raise $1.00 from every Canadian citizen. The young athlete began by dipping his artificial leg in the Atlantic Ocean at St. John's, Newfoundland on April 12, 1980. He aimed to dip it again in the Pacific Ocean at Vancouver, British Columbia. His plan was to run an average of 42.195 kilometres (26.219mi) a day, the distance of a typical marathon. Unfortunately, Fox could not finish his run. The cancer had spread to his lungs, and he was forced to abandon the course on September 1, 1980, just northeast of Thunder Bay, Ontario after 143 days. He had run 5,373km (3,339 miles, or around 23.3 miles per day) through Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Quebec, and Ontario. However, Fox was hailed as a national hero, made a Companion of the Order of Canada and his efforts have raised millions around the world for cancer research with Terry Fox Run events that have continued long after his early death.
Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau, often referred to by the initials PET, was a Canadian statesman who served as the 15th prime minister of Canada. He was the third longest-serving prime minister in Canadian history, having served for 15 years, 164 days.
The Quiet Revolution was a period of intense socio-political and socio-cultural change in the Canadian province of Québec, characterized by the effective secularization of government, the creation of a state-run welfare state (état-providence), and realignment of politics into federalist and sovereigntist factions and the eventual election of a pro-sovereignty provincial government in the 1976 election. The Quiet Revolution typically refers to the efforts made by the Liberal government of Jean Lesage, and sometimes Robert Bourassa, though given the profound effect of the changes, most provincial governments since the early 1960s have maintained an orientation based on core concepts developed and implemented in that era.
The politics of Quebec are centred on a provincial government resembling that of the other Canadian provinces, namely a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy. The capital of Quebec is Quebec City, where the Lieutenant Governor, Premier, the legislature, and cabinet reside.
The National Energy Program (NEP) was an energy policy of the Government of Canada from 1980 to 1985. It was created under the Liberal government of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau by Minister of Energy Marc Lalonde in 1980, and administered by the Department of Energy, Mines and Resources.
This section of the Timeline of Quebec history concerns the events between the Quiet Revolution and the patriation of the British North America Act.
Petro-Canada is a retail and wholesale marketing brand of Suncor Energy. Until 1990, it was a crown corporation of Canada, headquartered at the Petro-Canada Centre in Calgary, Alberta. In August 2009, Petro-Canada merged with Suncor Energy, with Suncor shareholders receiving approximately 60 percent ownership of the combined company and Petro-Canada shareholders receiving approximately 40 percent. The company retained the Suncor Energy name for the merged corporation and its upstream operations. It continues to use the Petro-Canada brand nationwide, except in Newfoundland and Labrador, for downstream retail operations.
The Canadian federal election of 1968 was held on June 25, 1968, to elect members of the House of Commons of Canada of the 28th Parliament of Canada. The Liberal Party won a majority government under its new leader, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau.
Horace Andrew (Bud) Olson, was a Canadian businessman, politician, and the 14th Lieutenant Governor of Alberta. He also served as a Member of Parliament, Senator, Minister of Agriculture, and Minister of Economic and Regional Development. He was also a farmer and rancher, and president and operating officer of Farmer's Stockmen's Supplies in Medicine Hat and Lethbridge, Alberta.
Joseph Pierre Albert Sévigny, PC, OC, CD, VM, ED was a Canadian soldier, author, politician, and academic. He is best known for his involvement in the Munsinger Affair.
Jean Marchand, was a French Canadian public figure, trade unionist and politician in Quebec, Canada.
Marc Lalonde, is a Canadian retired politician and Cabinet minister.
It is not entirely evident who first used the branch plant economy concept; however, it has been extensively used in Canadian and UK literature since the 1970s. This concept broadly describes the negative consequences on the growth of the regions whose economies are primarily composed of branch plants that belong to multi-plant firms. Since the position of branch plants within the command chain is low, the regions that host these branch plants tended to be remotely controlled by the plant headquarters, which are usually located distantly. Authors at that time thought that branch plants might create a short-term boom in the regional economies when initial investments were deployed, or when they performed well owing to external factors such as the sector's expansion. That boom, however, did not sustain itself over the long term.
Alberta separatism is a movement that advocates the secession of the province of Alberta from Canada either by forming an independent nation, by creating a new union with one or more of Canada's western provinces, or by joining the United States.
In Canadian politics, Western alienation is the notion that the Western provinces – British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba – have been alienated, and in extreme cases excluded, from mainstream Canadian political affairs in favour of the central provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Western alienation claims that these latter two are politically represented, and economically favoured, more significantly than the former, which has given rise to the sentiment of alienation among many western Canadians.
Canada has access to all main sources of energy including oil and gas, coal, hydropower, biomass, solar, geothermal, wind, marine and nuclear. It is the world's second largest producer of uranium, third largest producer of hydro-electricity, fourth largest natural gas producer, and the fifth largest producer of crude oil. Only Russia, the People's Republic of China, the United States and Saudi Arabia produce more total energy than Canada.
Eldon Mattison Woolliams, was a Canadian politician and lawyer. Wooliams served as a Progressive Conservative party member of the House of Commons of Canada.
The Québécois nation motion was a parliamentary motion tabled by Prime Minister of Canada Stephen Harper on Wednesday, November 22, 2006 and approved by the House of Commons of Canada on Monday, November 27, 2006. The English motion read:
↑ Bell, Jennifer (2016). "4". In Lee, Katja; York, Lorraine. Celebrity Cultures in Canada. Waterloo, ON: Wilfred Laurier University Press. pp.79–80. ISBN9781771122221.
↑ Susan Dando (Producer & Director) (January 10, 2005). Uncertain Country. Canada: A People’s History. Toronto: CBC Television.
↑ Vicente, Mary Elizabeth. "The National Energy Program". Alberta Online Encyclopedia. Heritage Community Foundation. Archived from the original on April 24, 2005. Retrieved April 23, 2017.
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