Trudeau's Multiculturalism

This belief put Trudeau at odds with both the vast majority of the organized labour groups and the NDP; both of whom wanted to limit individual rights to own property and, potentially, nationalize areas that the respective parties believed were too important to Canada’s economic, social, and political health to leave in private hands. While Trudeau was firmly against any notion of nationalizing private property, he was politically astute enough to not mention this during the Liberal minority period, as it would have likely give the NDP the reason they needed to bring down Trudeau’s government. Instead, Trudeau concentrated on the most important and longest-lasting, domestic policy during his entire period in office: multiculturalism as an

Trudeau’s multiculturalism concept became the hallmark of his government’s domestic policy and, arguably, the one with the greatest lasting impact on Canadian society. Trudeau’s multiculturalism mentality for a Canadian citizenry was a radical departure from the two-founding nation myth mentality that previous Canadian Prime Ministers had reinforced as a policy, primarily as a means to placate Quebec. This concept, that immigrants could come to Canada and become Canadian citizens while keeping their cultural heritage and traditions, was a stark departure from the previous policies, emphasizing either French-Canadian or, to a greater extent, British-Canadian heritage. In addition, prior to Trudeau’s multiculturalism concept, the Canadian government emphasized that immigrants were to abandon their cultural heritage and traditions, in order to obtain full citizenship. This even applied to the French-English conflict. As a result, this naturalization meant that these new immigrants to adopt Canadian, and by extent British, cultural heritage and traditions. Trudeau, despite his own heritage as a French-Canadian, rejected the

Not only did Quebec have to deal with the economic crisis that all the other provinces were facing, but the outflow of English-Canadians from Quebec in the Quiet Revolution’s aftermath, also created the argument among Quebecois nationalists that English-Canadians were also trying to ruin Quebec economically and only further enflamed Quebecois nationalism and