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Toronto’s business district: Canada’s financial capital
A medical researcher
Your Canadian Citizenship
Study Guide
Modern Canada
24
Trade and economic growth
Postwar Canada enjoyed record prosperity and
material progress. The world’s restrictive trading
policies in the Depression era were opened up
by such treaties as the General Agreement on
Tariffs and Trade (GATT), now the World Trade
Organization (WTO). The discovery of oil in
Alberta in 1947 began Canada’s modern energy
industry. In 1951, for the first time, a majority of
Canadians were able to afford adequate food,
shelter and clothing. Between 1945 and 1970,
as Canada drew closer to the United States and
other trading partners, the country enjoyed one
of the strongest economies among industrialized
nations. Today, Canadians enjoy one of the
world’s highest standards of living—maintained
by the hard work of Canadians and by trade with
other nations, in particular the United States.
As prosperity grew, so did the ability to support
social assistance programs. The
Canada Health
Act
ensures common elements and a basic
standard of coverage. Unemployment insurance
(now called “employment insurance”) was
introduced by the federal government in 1940.
Old Age Security was devised as early as 1927,
and the Canada and Quebec Pension Plans in
1965. Publicly funded education is provided by
the provinces and territories.
International engagement
Like Australia, New Zealand and other countries,
Canada developed its autonomy gradually with
a capacity to make significant contributions
internationally.
The Cold War began when several liberated
countries of eastern Europe became part of a
Communist bloc controlled by the Soviet Union
under the dictator Josef Stalin. Canada joined
with other democratic countries of the West
to form the North Atlantic Treaty Organization
(NATO), a military alliance, and with the United
States in the North American Aerospace Defence
Command (NORAD).
Canada joined international organizations such
as the United Nations (UN). It participated in
the UN operation defending South Korea in the
Korean War (1950
–
53), with 500 dead and 1,000
wounded. Canada has taken part in numerous
UN peacekeeping missions in places as varied
as Egypt, Cyprus and Haiti, as well as in other
international security operations such as those
in the former Yugoslavia and Afghanistan.
Canada and Quebec
French-Canadian society and culture flourished
in the postwar years. Quebec experienced an era
of rapid change in the 1960s known as the Quiet
Revolution. Many Quebecers sought to separate
from Canada. In 1963 Parliament established
the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and
Biculturalism. This led to the
Official Languages
Act
(1969), which guarantees French and English
services in the federal government across
Canada. In 1970, Canada helped found
La
Francophonie
, an international association of
French-speaking countries.
The movement for Quebec sovereignty gained
strength but was defeated in a referendum in
the province in 1980. After much negotiation, in
1982 the Constitution was amended without the
agreement of Quebec. Though sovereignty was
again defeated in a second referendum in 1995,
the autonomy of Quebec within Canada remains
a lively topic—part of the dynamic that continues
to shape our country.