For the Trudeau government one of the biggest, if not the biggest, provincial priority for the federal government was the issue of Quebec sovereignty. This becomes readily apparent in Peter Gossage and J.I. Little 's An Illustrated History of Quebec and while it focuses on Quebec provincial history from a Quebec perspective, Gossage and Little, describe the relations between the provincial Quebec government, under Premiers Jean-Jacques Bertrand and Robert Bourassa, and Trudeau. Gossage and Little point out as well that despite the fact that Quebec had a larger, and more urban, population than the prairie provinces, the fact that Trudeau himself was from, and educated in, Montreal, meant that he was naturally predisposed to deal with issue that concerned Quebec. Trudeau had good reason to be concerned. With the Quiet Revolution 's
Finally, the impact of the October Crisis of 1970 dictated the ongoing political struggle for Quebec nationalism, which had gained greater autonomy by the combination of political and militant methods against the federal government. The October Crisis served as a grim reminder of the uncooperative and intolerant Anglophone government that refused to make greater concessions with the Francophone population in Quebec. Certainly, the tensions created by the FLQ and Trudeau’s policies show the inability to understand and comprehend the massive cultural and economic divide between these two factions in the wake of the October Crisis:
Many people to this day still do not have a collective agreement on what is the Canadian identity? Depending whom you ask you may get a wide variety of answer spanning the spectrum of possibilities, more so now, than at any point of the history of our nation. This essay will investigate how Pierre Elliott Trudeau found himself as a Canadian, and will demonstrate how it is his surroundings in which he immersed himself that shaped who he became. It is only later in his life that he truly discovered himself as well as his identity. Through the use of John English's biography as our primary reference we will investigate the development in Trudeau's character as he becomes older and experiences turning points in his life.
There are many more examples of conflicts between Trudeau's thoughts and his actions. For instance, Trudeau has always been uncomfortable with excessive state intervention in the economy. For this reason he has consistently opposed the imposition of price and income controls. But this did not stop him from deciding, in 1975, that a lack of responsibility on the part of business and labour necessitated the introduction of a controls system. Trudeau has spoken of the need for a shift of emphasis in Canadian society from consumption to conservation. And yet, he allowed energy-conservation measures in Canada to fall far behind those of the United States. More than a few times, Trudeau has insisted that it is our moral obligation as Canadians to share our wealth with poorer nations. Nevertheless, he still reduced foreign-aid spending and even put a protective quota on textile imports from developing countries. Trudeau has written about the importance of consensus in government. But again, this did not prevent him, on more than a few occasions, from entirely disregarding the consensus of his cabinet ministers on a given issue, preferring instead to make the decision on his own.
This study will define the importance of the cultural institution of Canadian federalism and the political leadership of Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau during the late 1960s. Under PM Trudeau’s leadership, the Quiet Revolution failed to break apart Canadian federalism due to the unifying cultural aspects of language that he promoted through the Official Languages Act of 1969. Trudeau was a loyal Quebecker in terms of political power, yet he chose to unite Quebec and Ottawa in unity through a mutual respect for Anglophile and Francophile interests. Language was the primary barrier to national identity in Canada, which provide a political platform for PM Trudeau to implement a multicultural political solution to declare English and French
The term ‘Canadian political culture’ is often used by political scientists as an umbrella term to describe our political landscape and history. But what really is Canadian political culture? Nelson Wiseman, a political science professor at the University of Toronto, seeks to answer this question in his book In Search of Canadian Political Culture. Through statistics, history and observation he explores the hills and valleys of our political landscape and comes up with two conclusions; Modern Canadians are more alike now than ever before, and regional differences are becoming more entrenched (Wiseman, p. 271-272). According to Wiseman, these contradictory conclusions speak to the nature of our political culture where we seek to cultivate a national identity while at the same time emphasising our regional differences.
The time of the October Crisis was one full of contention. The newly elected Trudeau coupled with an inactivity of terrorist movements in Canada created an egregious situation. The actions taken by the Canadian Government were supported largely by the citizens of Canada, but were based upon dubious factual evidence, thus the legitimacy of the implementation of the War Measures Act during a time of peace is put into question. This decision created a stain upon the Trudeau administration as he had little to base his position on. Although the motion to enact the War Measures Act was democratically passed, Canada itself became a nation ruled in despotic manner: democracy had taken a step backwards as civil liberties were tarnished and national security took precedence.
Our Canadian federal political system is predicated on the existence of a variety of parties which operate under their respective ideologies. There are the Conservatives, the Liberals, the NDP, the Greens, the Marxists and a number of smaller parties. Arguably, this multi-party system is helpful to voters in determining for whom to cast their ballots. Our system allows us to vote for the group that most aligns with the ideology that we have developed as a result of our values and beliefs. Oxford Dictionaries defines ideology as a “system of ideas and ideals, especially one which forms the basis of economic and political theory and policy.” Ideology forms a foundation for understanding the world and deciding what our priorities are as a society. The Harper Government operates with a Neoconservative ideology that supports limited government involvement in regulating the economy, limited social welfare, maintenance of traditional values and strong law and order. Though all parties operate from an ideological foundation, the Harper Government seems to be especially focused on dogma that is not amenable to change; this, however, is based on the idea that if social change should happen, it must be slow. This is not very practical in leading a diverse and changing electorate but does resonate with a fair portion of Canadians and, thus, translates to success in Canadian politics. Wente points out how Conservatives are more successful in politics by appealing to a large number of God-fearing Canadians who believe in loyalty, authority and punishment rather than harm-reduction and fairness. About 25% of the Canadian population, based on the federal Conservatives’ nearly 40% share of the approximately 60% of eligible citizens who v...
Canada has gone through and continues to go through a dramatic and systematic change with regards to its political, societal and economical aspirations. This change is not just domestic but also global in its scope, brought on by the advent of a paradigm shift from Keynesianism to that of neoliberalism. Although I believe that this transition has been largely beneficial to the world, there are others, namely unions, some feminists and religious groups that dispute this based on diametrically different perspectives, to that of my own. I will however conclude that these different perspectives are the result, of the relative nature of paradigms. For a new paradigm may solve problems susceptible to the old paradigm, but may also cause problems that were once solved (Browett 1985 p. 790). In this regard I can agree that the transition to neoliberalism from Keynesianism has indeed affected some social classes more than others. Thus the groups that are affected may see neoliberalism as detrimental, causing these individuals to miss the old Keynesian paradigm, referring to that particular period as a “golden age” compared to the neoliberal era, which seems to be characterized as the equivalent to the medieval dark ages.
Canadian identity, when defined by French-English Relations, changed negatively from 1982 and onwards due to the Constitutional Act. After a referendum was held in Quebec during the 1980s in order to figure out whether Quebec should be an independent state apart from Canada. Previously, Prime Minister Trudeau promised a new constitution that would favour the Quebecers demands for more control over their province and more political representation, if the referendum failed. The referendum ended up being a 60% vote of No to separation. PM Trudeau wanted the constitution to be Canadian and be able to be changed by Canadians to suit its needs. Therefore when the referendum in Quebec failed he saw it as an opportunity to bring forth his new idea.