Word: pearsons
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1960-1969
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...separatist bombings in a wealthy English-speaking district of Montreal, and in an atmosphere of crisis, the new Prime Minister announced the formation of a Royal Commission to investigate French-English relations in Canada. The Commission presented its recommendations a month ago, after more than four years of study. (Pearson's successor will decide on their implementation..) The climax of the Sixty Days came when Pearson's Finance Minister, Walter Gordon, presented a budget so unworkable and confused that its main features were eventually withdrawn altogether...
Gordon was to provide more problems for Pearson in the next few years, as he became the spokesman for Canadian economic nationalism. Gordon declared that increasing American investment was reducing Canada to colonial status, and he campaigned noisily within the Pearson government for sharp curbs on American ownership. Pearson tried, mainly by doing nothing, to find a middle course between the nationalists and the internationalists. Meanwhile his Cabinet began to polarize over the issue. Gordon, apparently defeated, resigned in November, 1965, but returned to the Cabinet a year later in a new post, and quickly embarrassed his P.M. again with...
Canada's position is that its membership on the International Control Commission demands her continued neutrality, and Pearson is undoubtedly sincere in his belief that neutrality is essential if Canada is to contribute to any settlement of the Vietnam war. But the timidity of Canada's position on Vietnam has a less obscure basis--a well-founded respect for American power in the Canadian economy. Pearson has nonetheless made an occasional foray into the debate over Vietnam, notably in a Philadelphia speech in April, 1965, when he called for a halt in U.S. bombings of North Vietnam. He met with...
...fall of 1965, Pearson was persuaded to call another general election in the hope of bolstering his government's weak parliamentary position. The campaign was devoid of issues. Unable to campaign on their brief record (of which the highlight was adoption of a national flag in February, 1965), the Liberals argued that their legislative programs could not be implemented without a Parliamentary majority. The electorate, unconvinced and bored, failed to give them one. The Pearson government was narrowly returned to office, with its Parliamentary strength increased by only three seats. Pearson was disappointed and humiliated...
Despite its tendency toward political misadventure, the Pearson government has compiled a surprisingly solid legislative record. It has built up a progressive social security system, and has begun to introduce the principle of the guaranteed annual income. It successfully managed the difficult task of unifying Canada's Army, Navy and Air Force into a single force designed largely for United Nations peace-keeping missions. Most recently it effectively abolished capital punishment in Canada...