Lester Bowles Pearson QuoteAs Pearson recalled in his memoirs, “the flag was part of a deliberate design to strengthen national unity, to improve federal-provincial relations, to devise a more appropriate constitution, and to guard against the wrong kind of American penetration.
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Prime Minister 1963–68Pearson took office on 22 April 1963. His government was expected to be more businesslike than Diefenbaker's but proved instead to be accident-prone, effectively aborting its first budget. Much of Parliament's time was spent in bitter partisan and personal wrangling, culminating in the interminable flag debate of 1964. In 1965, Pearson called a general election but again failed to secure a majority. In the next year, the Munsinger scandal erupted with even more partisan bitterness.
The year 1965 marked a dividing line in his administration, as Finance Minister Walter Gordon departed, and Jean Marchand and Pierre Trudeau from Québec became prominent in the Cabinet. Pearson's attempts in his first term to conciliate Québec and the other provinces with "co-operative federalism" and "bilingualism and biculturalism" were superseded in his second term by a firm federal response to provincial demands and by the Québec government's attempts to usurp federal roles in international relations. When, during his centennial visit, French president Charles de Gaulle uttered the separatist slogan "Vive le Québec libre" to a crowd in Montréal, Pearson issued an official rebuke and de Gaulle promptly went home. In December 1967, Pearson announced his intention to retire and in April 1968 a Liberal convention picked Pierre Trudeau as his successor. |
LegacyFor all its superficial chaos, the Pearson government left behind a notable legacy of legislation: a Canada Pension Plan, a universalmedicare system, a unified armed force, and a new flag. However, its approach to the problem of Canada's economically disadvantaged regions was less successful and its legacy, which included the Glace Bay heavy-water plant, was decidedly mixed. Not all of these initiatives proved fruitful and some were costly, but they represented the high point of the Canadian welfare state that generations of social thinkers had dreamed about. In retirement, Pearson worked on his memoirs and on a study of international aid for the World Bank.
What he did for us Lester Bowles "Mike" Pearson, prime minister 1963–68, statesman, politician, public servant, professor (born 23 April 1897 in Newtonbrook, ON; died 27 December 1972 in Ottawa, ON). Pearson was Canada's foremost diplomat of the 1950s and 1960s, and formulated its basic post-WWII foreign policy. A skilled politician, he rebuilt the Liberal Party and as prime minister strove to maintain Canada's national unity. Under his leadership, the government implemented a Canada Pension Plan, a universal medicare system, a unified armed force, and a new flag. In 1957, he received the Nobel Peace Prize for his diplomatic efforts in facilitating Britain and France’s departure from Egypt during the Suez Crisis.
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