Scott W. See. The History of Canada. Second Edition

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beleaguered Expos, which never drew large numbers of fans to its

home games, played their final game in 2004 and the franchise moved

to Washington, D.C. The Canadian Football League struggled to

compete for fans who increasingly preferred the National Football or

American Football leagues. Strikingly, the CFL developed expansion

teams in American cities such as Shreveport and Las Vegas. Canada

enthusiastically hosted the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, the

1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, and the 2010 Winter Olympics in

Vancouver. Canadians eagerly play and watch sports as varied as

curling, swimming, ice skating, hockey, soccer, softball, baseball,

lacrosse, and wrestling. Whether their devotion to sports makes

Canadians more “American” or “global” is a question that will no

doubt continue to be the subject of lively debate for the foreseeable

future.

Canada and the Twenty-First Centur y

Questions addressing the survival of Canadian culture make an

appropriate transition to a few concluding thoughts on the country at

the close of the first decade of the twenty-first century. It is well

known that professional historians, while comfortable in assessing

the past, are notoriously inept at mapping the future. Most are

reluctant to make predictions. Nonetheless, history provides many

clues to determining the paths that Canada’s thirty-four million

diverse inhabitants might take.

Well-established patterns continue to shape the country’s

political, economic, social, and cultural dynamics. A francophone-

anglophone duality undeniably has been a key factor in determining

the Canadian past, although it has increasingly become a deficient

model for understanding the country’s development. Regionalism, a

powerful phenomenon since the colonial era, is still quite pro-

nounced. Regional distinctions, coupled with the tendency for

provinces and states to seek north-south connections, make it

difficult for nationalists to provide a political glue strong enough to

keep Canada intact and moving forward. An essential contest

between the federal government and the provinces has also accounted

for much of Canadian history. The most contentious struggle might

have been the question of Quebec’s separation, but as events since

260 Canada and the Twenty-First Century

Confederation illustrate, the arenas for power clashes have been

located in all of the provinces and territories. Moreover, Canada truly

does have a mosaic of peoples. The popular image of groups that are

peacefully allowed to keep their cultural identity remains debatable.

Yet certainly Canadians, both those with deep family roots and recent

immigrants, have constructed a successful country that has withstood

periodic clashes and persistent divisions.

The scenarios for Canada’s future are as varied as the imagination

can conjure. Only a few, however, are plausible. A brief discussion of

these images on a scale from the bleakest to the most optimistic seems

the most appropriate way to close this book. The most sensational

possibility is political dismemberment created by Quebec’s with-

drawal from Confederation. This could prompt a number of events,

none of them pleasant to envision except by confirmed separatists.

Quebec separation could lead to a reformulation of the remaining

provinces and territories, despite the obvious problem of having the

Atlantic region physically removed from the rest of Canada. Another

possible model, one that Canadians have long discussed, greatly

feared, and rarely embraced, is continental reconfiguration. Existing

transnational regions might build stronger trading connections and

perhaps create political zones in the event that Quebec leaves Canada.

More linkages could materialize between the Atlantic Provinces and

New England, Ontario and the Midwest, the provinces and states of

the prairies, and British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest.

Political connections, if any, would no doubt be the subject of

protracted discussions. Finally, the most dramatic possibility would

be the formal coupling of Canada’s remaining provinces and

territories with the United States. While this prospect might bring a

smile to closet American imperialists, it is not likely to happen.

The most compelling view of Canada’s future is the one that most

closely follows the patterns of its past. History is never linear, despite

our best efforts to bring order to a jumble of events, so trying to keep

our thoughts concerning the country’s future firmly set on the rails of

the past would be folly. Nonetheless, Canadians will most assuredly

continue their relationship. Political, social, and cultural bonds have

been strained, sometimes to the point of breaking, but they have

proved exceptionally resilient. Canada in the twenty-first century

should maintain its sovereignty in a complex and interconnected

world. For Canadians, survival has been a way of life for centuries, so

Canada and the Twenty-First Century 261

there are powerful reasons to believe that the country will continue to

flourish. Given the sweeping majesty of the land and the determina-

tion of its peoples, it would be most appropriate to end with the

observation that the current century should be promising for one of

the world’s most intriguing countries.

262 Canada and the Twenty-First Century

Notable People in the

History of Canada

Borden, Sir Robert Laird (1854–1937).Primeminister.TheCon-

servative leader Borden defeated Sir Wilfrid Laurier in 1911 on the

reciprocity issue. Prime minister during World War I, his government

passed the War Measures Act, controlled the country’s economy,

developed conscription, and met regularly with other British Empire

countries. He created a Union government in 1917 by inviting Liberals

to join his party’s war efforts. Borden pursued a distinctively Canadian

agenda during the peace negotiations in 1919. To his supporters,

Borden was a strong leader who successfully led Canada through a

difficult war; to his critics, he was the architect of conscription and the

Union government.

Bouchard, Lucien (1938– ). Premier of Quebec and Bloc Québécois

leader. Trained in law, Bouchard held cabinet positions in Brian

Mulroney’s Conservative government. He became ambassador to

France in 1988. Bouchard left the Conservatives to form the Bloc

Québécois in 1990, a party designed to send members to Parliament to

work in conjunction with the Parti Québécois to seek Quebec’s

separation. He successfully led the BQ opposition in Parliament in

1993. During the second Quebec referendum campaign in 1995,

Bouchard took a leading role. He resigned his BQ position in 1996

and became PQ premier of Quebec. After becoming premier, Bouchard

focused his energies on Quebec’s troubled economy and postponed

Notable People in the History of Canada 263

another referendum on separation. Bouchard was an immensely

popular leader among Québécois, who saw him as the guiding force

behind modern separatism. His detractors considered him a political

opportunist. He resigned as premier in 2001, but he returned to

prominence in 2010 when he controversially proclaimed that Quebec

should no longer seek sovereignty and focus instead on the economy

and education.

Bourassa, Henri (1868–1952). Journalist and politician. The grand-

son of Louis-Joseph Papineau, Bourassa was elected to Parliament as

a Liberal in 1896. He entered Quebec politics in 1907 and three years

later helped to found Le Devoir, Canada’s most influential French-

language newspaper. Bourassa was an articulate and persistent

opponent to British imperialism, the Boer War, the development of

the Canadian navy, World War I, and conscription. He returned to

Parliament from 1925 to 1935. Bourassa was not a separatist, but his

ideas were used as beacons by French-Canadian nationalists. He

believed that Canada should protect the integrity of French and

English and act independent of both Britain and the United States.

Brown, George (1818–1880). Publisher and politician. The Scots-

born Brown founded Toronto’s Globe. A political reformer, he

supported the Clear Grits and advocated popular representation by

population and opposed close linkages between church and state.

Brown entered the “Great Coalition” with John A. Macdonald and

George-Étienne Cartier in 1864 and helped to design the terms of

Confederation. Distrustful of French-Canadian power in the new

government, he championed western development. Brown became a

major figure in the developing Liberal party. He was appointed

senator in the 1870s and remained active in Ontario politics. As the

most powerful newspaper editor of his era, Brown promoted broader

political representation and Canada’s expansion into the West.

Cartier, Sir George-Étienne (1814–1873). Politician and Father of

Confederation. As a young man Cartier was a patriote and active in

the Rebellions of 1837–1838. He retreated to the United States, but

later returned to Canada and became a politician and railroad

promoter. As a Bleu leader, he formed an important ministry with

John A. Macdonald and George Brown. Cartier was one of the most

active French-Canadian politicians in the Confederation debates and

264 Notable People in the History of Canada

a strong advocate of linking Canada with the Grand Trunk Railway

and later the Canadian Pacific Railway. He served in Macdonald’s

government as minister of militia. Cartier is widely considered

Canada’s most influential French-Canadian political figure of the

Confederation era who worked with Macdonald to improve the

design of cooperative leadership.

Cartier, Jacques (1491–1557). Explorer. A French mariner who

engaged in three significant trips to the New World from 1534

to 1542, Cartier explored the coast of Newfoundland and the

St. Lawrence River system. Taking possession of the region for France,

he quickly fell into troubled relations with the Iroquoian peoples he

encountered. He took a group of Iroquois to France, including the chief

Donnacona; they never returned. He failed to establish a settlement at

Quebec and returned to France with “riches” that turned out to be

worthless quartz and iron pyrite—fool’s gold. One of Canada’smost

important and controversial of early explorers, Cartier helped to

establish a foothold and give French place names in the New World.

Casgrain, Thérèse (1896–1981). Politician, feminist, and reformer.

One of the most important female politicians and activists of the

twentieth century, Casgrain worked tirelessly to advance women’s

rights in Quebec. She was active in the League for Women’s Rights

from the late 1920s until the early 1940s, and played a central role in

winning the battle to have women receive the Quebec provincial

franchise in 1940. After switching from the Liberal Party, she rose to

prominence in the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF)

after the Second World War. When she became the leader of the CCF

in Quebec, Casgrain achieved notoriety for being the first woman to

lead a major political party in Canada. She was a dedicated advocate

of civil rights organizations, including Voice of Women, a pacifist

group that opposed nuclear proliferation and the Vietnam war.

Appointed a Senator in 1970, she served less than a year because of

the mandatory age retirement. The title of Casgrain’s autobiography

was well chosen: A Woman in a Man’s World.

Champlain, Samuel de (1570–1635). Explorer and founder of New

France. A skilled cartographer and energetic explorer, Champlain

took many trips to the New World in the early seventeenth century.

He attempted to found a colony in Acadia in 1604. Four years later,

Notable People in the History of Canada 265

he established a French settlement at Quebec. On various occasions

he explored the St. Lawrence River system, Lake Champlain, and

parts of Lakes Huron and Ontario. Champlain helped to establish

trade with various Native peoples but also fought regularly with

Iroquoian groups. He left detailed accounts and descriptions of his

travels, elaborate drawings, and perhaps most important accurate

maps of the eastern part of North America. Earlier generations called

Champlain the Father of New France, a heroic image that masked a

complex man. Yet undeniably his devotion to settling and exploring

territory in the New World was extraordinary and of critical

importance to France.

Charest, Jean (1958– ). Politician. Educated as a lawyer, the Quebec-

born Charest became the youngest cabinet member in Canadian

history when he served in Brian Mulroney’s administration in a

number of positions, the most important of which was the Minister

of the Environment. Charest was one of only two Conservative

members of Parliament who survived the crushing Liberal victory in

1993. Remarkably, the popular Charest later agreed to assume the

leadership role in Quebec’s Liberal Party in a gambit to counteract the

Parti Québécois’s sovereignty-association agenda. Charest has served

as Premier of Quebec since 2003. He has been a vocal backer of

environmental reforms, although the actions of his government often

suggest otherwise. Charest supports Quebec’s recognition as a

distinct society in Canada, and his government has actively promoted

Quebec’s connections to the international community. His detractors

view him as a political opportunist, while his supporters claim that his

temperate leadership has enabled Quebec to improve its relationship

with Canada.

Chrétien, Jean (1934– ). Prime minister. Born in Quebec of working-

class roots, Chrétien was trained in law at Laval University. First

elected to Parliament in 1963, he served in Lester Pearson’s and Pierre

Trudeau’s cabinets. He held many positions, such as the minister of

Indian Affairs, led the federalist forces against Quebec’s referendum

in 1980, and promoted the new Constitution in 1982. He became

prime minister in 1993, a position that he retained after winning a

third majority government in 2000. Much criticized for his belated

opposition to the second Quebec referendum in 1995, Chrétien

nonetheless led a strong Liberal party in the 1990s. His government

266 Notable People in the History of Canada

was scandal ridden, and few Canadians seemed to embrace his folksy

yet cagey political style of leadership. Critics and supporters alike

attributed his continued leadership to the general prosperity of the

1990s rather than to his initiatives.

Currie, Sir Arthur (1875–1933). Soldier. Currie began his career as

a businessman and real estate speculator in British Columbia. He

was active in the provincial militia, so when the First World War

broke out he was positioned to move into a position of leadership.

He took command of a division of the Canadian Corps when it was

created in 1915, and as a result of several campaigns along the

Western Front, Currie became the first Canadian to become a full

general. Currie was given credit for molding a professional and

efficient fighting force, and he was known for resisting the practice of

offering promotions for political reasons. After his participation in

the Canadian victory at Vimy Ridge in 1917, Currie was appointed

commander of the Canadian Expeditionary Force. Following the

war he became president of McGill University. Unfortunately, his

reputation was somewhat tarnished in the 1920s when he was

accused of endangering the lives of his men to advance the interests of

his career and the nation during the war. Nonetheless, he successfully

defended himself against libel in a 1927 trial. Considered by many

contemporaries and historians to be one of the most talented

commanders on the Western Front, Currie’ s biography is a classic

example of the citizen-soldier in Canadian history.

Diefenbaker, John George (1895–1979). Prime minister. Ontario

born, Diefenbaker moved to Saskatchewan and became a respected

defense lawyer in the 1920s. After experience in provincial politics,

he was elected to Parliament in 1940. He became leader of the

Progressive Conservative party and was elected prime minister from

1957 to 1963. Diefenbaker promoted the ideal of “One Canada,”

passed the Canadian Bill of Rights, sought northern development,

and supported the Commonwealth. Economic issues plagued his

administration, and poor relations with the United States during

critical moments of the Cold War such as the Cuban missile crisis

helped to lead to his defeat. After losing to Lester Pearson, he

remained in Parliament as an effective opponent to the Liberals.

Diefenbaker’s political style and insistence on creating a unified and

mostly anglophone country, closer to the Commonwealth than to the

Notable People in the History of Canada 267

United States, divided Canadians who disagreed on the direction the

country should take in the postwar era.

Douglas, Thomas C. (1904–1986). Premier of Saskatchewan and

social reformer. The Scots-born Douglas became a Baptist minister

and engaged in the social gospel movement of Christian activism to

improve society. As a socialist politician he was an original member of

the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF). A CCF member

of Parliament from 1935 to 1944, he resigned to run for premier of

Saskatchewan. An activist premier from 1944 to 1961, Douglas

implemented social services and created a plan for socialized medicine

that the federal government used as a model in the 1960s. The leader

of the left-leaning New Democratic party after its creation in 1961

until 1971, Douglas championed pension plans for Canadians and

improved rights for civil servants. Douglas pioneered programs for the

modern welfare state. Not surprisingly, Canadians are deeply divided

in their opinions of his political and social contributions.

Duplessis, Maurice (1890–1959). Politician. Trained as a lawyer,

Duplessis gravitated to politics as a young man. He helped to form the

Union Nationale party and served as Quebec’s premier from 1936 to

1939 and from 1944 until his death in 1959. His leadership style and

political programs made him one of the most controversial politicians

of the twentieth century. Known as “le chef” because of his reliance on

patronage, he fiercely opposed leftist organizations and the attempts

of the federal government to conscript soldiers during the Second

World War. Duplessis’s agendas included creating a favorable business

environment for the province, encouraging American investment,

and developing a comprehensive rural electrification program. His

detractors, including union organizers, complained of his autocratic

behavior and pointed to his government’s corrupt practices. His legacy

remains the subject of some debate. Some highlight his passionate

defense of Quebec’s interests and modernization schemes; a greater

number refer to his time in office as “la grande noirceur” (the great

darkness). However, virtually everyone agrees that his death set the

stage for Quebec’s Quiet Revolution in the 1960s.

Groulx, Lionel-Adolphe (1878–1967). Roman Catholic priest and

historian. Trained for the priesthood, Groulx became professor of

Canadian history at the University of Montreal in 1915. Throughout

268 Notable People in the History of Canada

a long and celebrated career, he maintained that French Canadians

had survived repeated attempts by the British and anglophone

Canadians to subordinate or assimilate them. He edited the journal

Action française and a group of the same name. Groulx is justifiably

considered one of the intellects behind modern Quebec nationalism.

He was not a Quebec separatist, but he did mount a spirited defense

of francophone ideals and implored his people to remember their

struggles to survive since the era of New France.

Howe, Joseph (1804–1873). Journalist and premier of Nova Scotia.

The editor of the influential Novascotian, Howe engaged in a long

career as a political reformer. He helped to institute responsible

government in Nova Scotia in the late 1840s and became premier from

1860 to 1863. Howe was one of Canada’s most persistent opponents

to Confederation, which he called a “Botheration Scheme.” After

failing to convince the British to let Nova Scotia immediately withdraw

from Canada after 1867, he became a federal minister in John A.

Macdonald’s government. In his extensive writings and speeches,

Howe effectively gave voice to the regional interests of Maritimers and

raised questions about the wisdom of establishing a Canadian nation.

King, William Lyon Mackenzie (1874–1950). Prime minister. The

grandson of rebel William Lyon Mackenzie was initially elected to

Parliament in 1908. Interested in workers, he served as Wilfrid

Laurier’s labor minister and wrote Industry and Humanity.He

became the prime minister in 1921, two years after becoming the

leader of the Liberals. After briefly being out of office in 1926 and

engaging in a constitutional struggle with Lord Byng, the governor

general, he remained in power until 1930. Defeated by the Conser-

vatives as the Great Depression deepened, he returned in 1935 and

served as prime minister until his resignation in 1948. Canada’s

longest-serving prime minister at almost twenty-two years, King

was known for his conciliatory behavior and attempts to prevent

divisions between Quebec and the rest of Canada. His domestic

programs included a pension plan, unemployment insurance, and

the Family Allowance Act. During World War II, he reluctantly

moved to conscription. A spiritual and withdrawn bachelor, he was

poorly understood by contemporaries. Historians are fond of claiming

that his greatest contribution was that he divided Canadians the

least.

Notable People in the History of Canada 269