Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-j824f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-03T05:18:25.683Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

11 - Liberalism Ascendant, 1945–1984

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 August 2022

Margaret Conrad
Affiliation:
University of New Brunswick
Get access

Summary

This chapter chronicles Canada’s emergence as a middle power on the global stage and as a champion of peacekeeping in the Cold War environment. Canadians meanwhile embraced a range of human rights legislation, engaged in an unprecedented outpouring of cultural expression; adopted a series of welfare state measures culminating in Medicare (1968); legislated bilingualism (1969) to accommodate the “Quiet Revolution” in Quebec; and implemented a policy of multiculturalism (1971) to integrate the influx of immigrants. The postwar liberal consensus began to fall apart with the 1973 OPEC oil crisis, which blunted economic growth. The Parti Québécois won the 1976 Quebec election, promising to hold a referendum on independence; Indigenous peoples vigorously challenged centuries of settler oppression; corporate agendas began to trump all other concerns; oil-rich Alberta mounted vigorous opposition to the 1980 National Energy Policy; and environmental degradation called into question the very survival of life on Earth. With the support of Quebec, Liberal governments remained in office federally for most of this period and Pierre Elliott Trudeau cemented his place in history in 1982 by “pratriating” the Constitution, which included a popular Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Quebec refused to sign the Constitution Act leading to a decade of fruitless constitutional negotiations.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×