The Canadian political system is based entirely on democracy. As a democracy it has the duty “to protect itself against the forces of dissolution as soon as they [appear]” (Pierre Trudeau 133). Few people would disagree with the government’s decision to invoke the act. Surely because of the apprehension, almost everybody in the nation was feeling during the violent insurrection in Quebec. Resulting from “seven years of terrorist assaults in Montreal and Ottawa” (130) in which “resulted in six deaths” (Eric Kierans 181). As a country previously experiencing peace and prosperity to experiencing the “gravest disaster in national history” (Action: The October Crisis of 1970) Prime Minister Trudeau has to make a decision due to the unrest of the populace. The decision to invoke the War Measures Act would be the correct one since it has a ‘just’ cause behind invoking it, enacting the act “was almost …show more content…
The police clearly were undermanned and unprepared for such an insurrection. On the other side, the FLQ were arming themselves with stolen weapons and “dynamite from construction sites” (Dominique Clément 164). Without the War Measures Act invoked the FLQ would just continue to spread fear in the Quebec populace and continue to arm themselves unless military personnel with equal and or better armaments appear to take control of the situation. Therefore, with a defeated police force the War Measures Act would help support the local police into bringing back the law and order. All things considered, the decision to implement the War Measures Act would be the correct one for the situation. With Prime Minister Trudeau invoking the War Measures Act at this point, the crisis would be diffused without any more kidnappings or
1. What legislation did the provincial government propose? Why did it invoke the notwithstanding clause? The provincial government proposed the sexual sterilization Act which enabled the Alberta Eugenics Board to sterilize 2822 wards in order to “improve” the human race through parent selection.
The Prime Minister, the Senate, the House of Commons—these are people who we Canadian citizens depend on to make educated and reasonable decisions for the future of Canada. Being in such positions of power, such politicians must think on behalf of all Canadians; we trust them not to abuse their authority for selfish personal desires. However, this has not always been the case throughout history. World War I required militaries to appoint many individuals to take power in order to face the sudden state of total war; since these decisions were made rashly, numerous officers proved to be egocentric individuals who abused power for their own desires. Through the use of irony, both Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front and Kubrick’s Paths of
The tension between provincial and federal government is a continual struggle for power in Canadian politics. On April 16th, 1981, the highly debated April Accord was signed by the Gang of 8 and proposed to Trudeau as an amending formula for the Constitution. On the surface, it appeared to demonstrate a united front within the provinces in the Gang of 8. However, there is much controversy over whether the accord was an authentic solution to the amending formula or a way to stall negotiations since Trudeau would not approve it. Thus, the April Accord represents the political tension between the Gang of 8 and Prime Minister Trudeau.
It takes a lot of courage and manpower to run a country especially such a big one like Canada. William Mackenzie-King was born 1874, he served as prime minister from 1921-30 and 1935-48. Considering he served for twenty-three year and he served as the longest standing Canadian PM through the great depression and a world war, he made few mistakes mostly not recognizing and acting during the depression. William Lyon Mackenzie King was a semi-successful prime minister considering the economic and military conflict that was present in Canada at the time of his reign. He had a close friendship with the American prime minister, Franklin Roosevelt ultimately helping the Canadian and british war effort.
The War Measures Act gave power to the military to arrest and detain anyone who is “suspected” to be one of the members of the FLQ. In addition many officers they abused these powers, one of the French-Canadians said “my friend was taking a picture of one of the officers and he came up to him and arrested him”. When the death of Pierre Laporte happened it affected many Canadians from coast to coast bringing up the issue more. Moreover, the military were determined to find out where James Cross is before the same situation happens to him. Pierre Trudeau he was interviewed while he was going to work and his response was “Well there are a lot of bleeding hearts who just don’t like to see people with helmets and guns”.
Canada continued to have many peacekeeping/making missions, such as in the Korean War and the Suez crisis. Later the Canada view of peacekeeping was most notably damaged by the Somalian scandal where, according to the Canadian Encyclopedia “two Canadian paratroopers serving in Somalia beat and tortured a local teenager to death. A dozen more Canadian soldiers had been aware of the beating but did nothing to intervene” This scandal embarrassed Canada and hurt its reputation for peacekeeping. Canada’s history of peacekeeping has shaped it by helping build its reputation as a strong middle power, a player in the UN. Along with that it helped bolster national pride World War One, Two and peace have been defining themes in Canada’s history.
Canada is now known to be a diverse, multicultural, bilingual and inclusive nation largely as a result of his work. Pierre Elliott Trudeau also believed in an equal Canada for all, he is primarily the one to introduce rights and freedoms to the citizens of Canada. While some view Pierre Trudeau as impulsive, for enforcing the War Measures Act, Trudeau enacted this for the protection of Canadian citizens against radical extremist and his actions were more rational than impulsive for the situation that had suddenly occurred. Pierre Trudeau was one of Canada’s greatest Prime Minister’s, who’s impact fundamentally changed the course of the nation by introducing multiculturalism, for introducing the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and for paradoxically upholding democracy by strong action during the October Crisis.
To call this era of drastic change the ‘Quiet Revolution’ is a vivid, and yet, paradoxical description. The Quiet Revolution was a time of intense socio-political and socio-cultural change in Quebec, which extended beyond Quebec’s borders because of its influence on contemporary Canadian politics. As a result of the effects of the changes that occurred during this Quiet Revolution, most Quebec provincial governments since the early 1960s have maintained political and social orientations based on the core concepts developed and implemented during the Quiet Revolution. As such, there is no doubt that the Quiet Revolution had a significant impact in Canadian History. This impact can be characterized by the prelude to the Quiet Revolution; the demographic evolution of Quebec; the social educational reforms that were put in place; the economic reforms and their impact; the rise of nationalism; and finally, the cultural changes that occurred.
World War 1 was a historic event which began in 1914 and ended in 1918. This bloody conflict took the lives of more than 17 million people who were fighting for their countries. Being a British colony at the time, Canada was dragged into the war that did not impact the country in any way, yet thousands of Canadians volunteered to devote their lives for their nation. The first World War had the greatest impact on Canadian history during the 20th century, as this event helped Canada gain more independence from Britain, it helped introduce women in the workforce, and also introduced non-white Canadians in the army. For the longest time, Canada had been under British control, however, this changed a bit after World War 1 took place.
In the essay, “Federalism, Nationalism, and Reason”, Pierre Trudeau addresses the history and origins of self-determination and nationalism and its central role in federal statehood, he then discusses the interactions of federalism and nationalism in a Canadian context. Trudeau posits major arguments that will be assessed in this review. First, he postures that that the federal state is driven by self-determination and nationalism, which ultimately makes it unstable due to its foundation in emotionalism rather than reason. Second, Trudeau outlines the historical factors that resulted in the separatist narrative in Quebec and claims that Canadian nationalism cannot combat Quebec’s regional nationalism. Trudeau begins the essay with a historical
Judicial Reasoning #1: Taking a look at the Canadian Foundation for Children, Youth and the Law v. Canada case. The majority’s opinion states s43 means that “use of force has to be
Today, Canada is seen as a multicultural and peaceful nation that has evolved over the course of history. This great nation would never have been possible without the impact that former Prime Minister, Lester B. Pearson left on this country. His achievements and insights profoundly affected and shaped Canada’s nation. First, peacekeeping is an important part of Canada’s heritage and a reflection of its fundamental beliefs that Pearson implemented after dealing with world changing situations and winning a Nobel Prize. Also, his contributions as a liberal leader as well as the flaws and controversy with Diefenbaker did in fact define this country.
Before, a majority of Canadians only cared about their own problems and turned a blind eye to the Holocaust, after shifting their attitude Canada helped out by sending troops to Europe in WWII. It created a shift within civil society by making them promote their organizations even more to help establish strong bonds. As stated by Professor Dominique Clément “This ‘rights revolution’ represented an important shift not only in the relationship between citizens and the state but also within civil society.” WWII really promoted change in equality and human rights by helping Canadians realize the significance of their rights and values and then fixing their mistakes to gain
Was the enactment of the War Measures Act during the October Crisis Justified? When one thinks of a terrorist attack, Canada is not usually the first one to come to mind. Canada is usually regarded as a very peaceful country. But Canada was not always peaceful internally; in fact it had raging internal battles with the French wanting independence.
The constitution attempts to evenly distribute powers between the executive and legislative branches of the federal government by providing the president or the commander-in-chief the power to control and supervise the military upon approval by congress, who have the power to declare war and to support the armed forces. The subject of debate regarding the act is whether the president has the authority to send military troops to war without congressional approval. The way the war powers act was written makes it difficult to decipher approximately how much power is the president privileged in the war-making process. According to the constitution congress have the powers to authorize war by formally granting letters that verify and confirm the