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 The "No" sign, during the1995 Quebec referendum | |||
| Monarch(s) | Elizabeth II Charles III | ||
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| History of Canada |
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In 1982, theCanada Act was passed by theBritish parliament and grantedRoyal Assent by QueenElizabeth II on March 29. The correspondingConstitution Act was passed by theCanadian parliament and granted Royal Assent by the Queen on April 17, thuspatriating theConstitution of Canada, and marking one of Trudeau's last major acts before his resignation in 1984. Previously, the constitution has existed only as an act of British parliament, and the documents remained there. Canada had established complete sovereignty as an independent country, with the Queen's role as monarch of Canada separate from her role as the British monarch or the monarch of any of the other Commonwealth realms.[1]
At the same time, theCanadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms was added in place of the previousCanadian Bill of Rights. Some of the negotiations between provincial and federal leaders, specifically those concerning the so-calledNotwithstanding Clause, had failed to include Quebec PremierRené Lévesque. Resentment over this "stab in the back" led to attempts to veto the constitution, which were ultimatelyruled out.[2]
Brian Mulroney came to power in the1984 election, and quickly restored friendlier relations with the United States, which had been strained during Trudeau's time as prime minister. Prime Minister Mulroney's major focus was the establishment offree trade with the US, a very controversial topic. Eventually, theCanada-United States Free Trade Agreement was signed in January 1988.
Mulroney also worked to appease the sovereignty movement in Quebec. In 1987, he attempted to draft theMeech Lake Accord, amending the 1982 constitution so that it would be acceptable to Quebec, which had not yet signed it. However, the Meech Lake Accord failed to be ratified by all provinces. In 1994, Canada signed theNorth American Free Trade Agreement; it was eventually succeeded by theUnited States–Mexico–Canada Agreement in 2018.
In 1989, theProgressive Conservative government of Prime Minister Mulroney proposed the creation of a national sales tax on goods and services (GST). The proposal was an instant controversy; a large proportion of the Canadian population was irritated and disapproved of the tax. Despite protests from the other parties and even members of Mulroney's own caucus, the GST was introduced on January 1, 1991. The political ramifications of the GST were severe. It contributed to the Mulroney government becoming one of the least popular in Canadian history.
On June 23, 1985, Air India Flight 182 exploded while at an altitude of 31,000 feet (9,400 m) above the Atlantic Ocean, south of Ireland; all 329 on board were killed, of whom 82 were children and 280 were Canadian citizens. Up untilSeptember 11, 2001, theAir India bombing was the single deadliest terrorist attack involving aircraft. It is also the largest mass murder in Canadian history.
On December 6, 1989,Marc Lépine entered theÉcole Polytechnique inMontreal. He went into an engineering class, separated the men from the women, forced out the men at gunpoint, began to scream about how he hatedfeminists, and then opened fire on the women. Lépine continued his rampage in other parts of the building, opening fire on other women he encountered. He killed 14 women (13 students and one employee of the university) and injured thirteen others before committing suicide.The massacre profoundly shocked Canadians. The Quebec government and the Montreal city government declared three days of mourning.
Initial news reports did not note that all 14 victims were women. When Lépine's motive became clear, the event served as a massive spur for the Canadian feminist movement and for action against violence against women. In 1991Parliament officially designated December 6 as theNational Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women.
The Oka Crisis was a land dispute between theMohawk nation and the town ofOka, Quebec, which began on July 11, 1990, and lasted until September 26, 1990. It resulted in three deaths, and would be the first of a number of violent conflicts betweenIndigenous people and theCanadian Government in the late 20th century.
Canada was one of the first nations to agree to condemn Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait, and promptly agreed to join the US-led coalition. When the UN authorized the full use of force in the 1991Gulf War, Canada sent three warships, twoCF18 fighter squadrons andfield hospital with support personnel. This was the first time since theKorean War that its forces had participated in combat operations. Canada suffered no casualties during the conflict, but since its end, many veterans have complained of suffering fromGulf War Syndrome.
On January 1, 1991, theGoods and Services Tax (GST) legislation became effective.[3] This decision was particularly controversial because Prime Minister Mulroney lacked sufficient votes in theSenate to pass the legislation enabling the tax, as the Senate had aLiberal majority and who refused to support the legislation.[3] Mulroney bypassed the Liberal majority by invoking section 26 of theConstitution Act, 1867 and appointing eight new Senators, creating aProgressive Conservative Senate majority.[3] While originally intended to be set at 9%, the rate was lowered to 7%.
In 1992,Prime Minister Brian Mulroney'sFisheries and Oceans MinisterJohn Crosbie declared amoratorium on the northwestern Atlantic cod fishery, which had dominated theNewfoundland and Labradoreconomy for 500 years and provided sustenance for generations of residents. The moratorium was declared after codbiomass levels dropped to 1% of its historical level.[4] The moratorium resulted in a loss of 35,000 jobs in 400 coastal communities in Newfoundland and Labrador, the largest one day job loss in Canadian history.[5]
The failure of theMeech Lake Accord and the animosity towards Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, his government and hisGoods and Services Tax (GST) played a significant role in the defeat of the1992 referendum on theCharlottetown Accord, another package of proposed constitutional amendments. These setbacks, along with the deeprecession of the late 1980s and early 1990s forced Mulroney to resign in 1993. He was replaced, albeit only briefly from June to November 1993, byKim Campbell, Canada's first, and so far only, female prime minister. The PC party was defeated in the1993 federal election, with Campbell losing her seat in the House of Commons and the PC's only winning 2 seats in a major political realignment.
Jean Chrétien became prime minister in the1993 election, pledging to repeal the Goods and Services Tax, although this proved unfeasible due to the economic circumstances at the time (or, apparently, any time during his prime ministership, showing the new source of income was needed, as the outgoing Progressive Conservative party had claimed).[neutrality isdisputed] By 1995, however, Canada had eliminated the federal deficit, becoming the onlyG7 country to have a budget surplus.
Some of the problems faced by the Chrétien government included the debate over the universal health care system, as well as military spending, which Chrétien's government decreased significantly throughout its term. Canada did not play as large a role in United Nations peacekeeping as it once had, and Chrétien faced some criticism for not participating in the2003 invasion of Iraq, most notably fromOpposition LeaderStephen Harper and theUnited States government. However, with the mounting criticisms about the false pretences for that war and the United States' troubled occupation of Iraq, Chrétien was hailed for keeping the nation out of the affair. The value of theCanadian dollar was greatly weakened during Chrétien's time as Prime Minister, dropping as low at 67 cents; although in 2003, it regained about 20% of its value during the year due to the declining economic situation in the United States—such a dramatic climb that industry leaders worried that the high currency would harm exports.
The "Turbot War" of 1990 was an international fishing dispute between Canada and theEuropean Union which ended in the CanadianDepartment of Fisheries and Oceans boarding a Spanish fishing trawler, theEstai, ininternational waters and arresting its crew. Canada claimed that European Union factoryfishing trawlers were illegally overfishing the nose and tail of theGrand Banks, just outside Canada's declared 200 nautical mile (370 km)Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).[6]
The Spanish ship's crew had been using a net with a mesh size that was smaller than permitted (larger mesh sizes permit juvenile fish to escape and grow). The 17-story net was shipped to New York City and hung from a crane on theEast River where federalMinister of Fisheries and Oceans,Brian Tobin called an international press conference outside theUnited Nations headquarters.[7] Spain never denied that the net was from theEstai but continued to protest Canada's use of "extra-territorial force". The Spanish government asked theInternational Court of Justice inThe Hague, Netherlands for leave to hear a case claiming Canada had no right to arrest theEstai. However, the court later refused the case.[8]
In October 1995, Canada faced its second Quebec referendum onsovereignty. The federalBloc Québécois and the provincialParti Québécois favoured separation from Canada. Federalists rallied to keep Quebec as part of Canada and claimed the referendum question ("Do you agree that Quebec should become sovereign after having made a formal offer to Canada for a new economic and political partnership within the scope of the bill respecting the future of Quebec and of the agreement signed on June 12, 1995?") was vague and confusing. After large campaigns from both the "'oui" and "non" sides, the referendum was defeated by the narrowest of margins: a victory for those opposed to secession, with 50.58% of the vote.[9]
In April 1982, a majority ofNorthwest Territories residents voted in favour of a division of the area, and the federal government gave a conditional agreement seven months later. After a long series of land claim negotiations between theInuit Tapirisat of Canada and the federal government (begun earlier in 1976), an agreement was reached in September 1992. In June 1993, theNunavut Land Claims Agreement Act and theNunavut Act[10] were passed by the Canadian Parliament, and the transition to the new territory ofNunavut was completed on April 1, 1999.
After the end of theCold War, the frequency of internationalpeacekeeping missions andhumanitarian interventions grew dramatically and Canadian participation grew along with it. In the 1990s, Canadians were active inUnited Nations peacekeeping missions inWestern Sahara,Cambodia,the former Yugoslavia,Haiti,East Timor andSierra Leone. During theUS-led humanitarian mission toSomalia in 1993, Canadian soldiers tortured a Somali teenager to death, leading to theSomalia Affair. Following an inquiry, the eliteCanadian Airborne Regiment was disbanded and the reputation of the Canadian Forces suffered within Canada.
Following the resignation of Prime MinisterChrétien at the end of 2003, Canadian Auditor General Sheila Fraser released a report in February 2004 which revealed that $100 million was mishandled by government officials in the purchasing of advertisements under the Chrétien government.[11] The opposition was quick to make charges of corruption in what become known as theSponsorship Scandal.
Owing in large part to the scandal, the Liberal Party (by this time, led byPaul Martin) lost its majority in the2004 election, but was able to form aminority government. The38th Canadian Parliament successfully passed theCivil Marriage Act, legalizingsame-sex marriage in Canada, despite the opposition of the newly formedConservative Party of Canada. Ultimately, the Liberals fell to amotion of no confidence in November 2005, leading to another election after only two years.
Stephen Harper's Conservatives were able to secure minority governments in the2006 and2008 federal elections. In December 2008, aparliamentary dispute began when the Liberal leaderStéphane Dion and theNew Democratic Party leaderJack Layton announced an agreement to form acoalition government with the support of theBloc Québécois if they were successful in ousting the Conservative minority government in a confidence vote. Governor GeneralMichaëlle Jean, however, granted Harper's request toprorogue parliament until January 26, 2009, thereby delaying the confidence vote. The potential coalition collapsed during the prorogation, and no confidence vote was held.
The succession of minority governments ended on May 2, 2011, when Stephen Harper and his Conservative party won the41st Canadian federal election with a majority of seats (166 of a total of 308 seats) over Jack Layton's New Democratic Party (which formed the official opposition, with 103 seats, after winning all but four of the seats formerly held by the Bloc Québécois in Quebec and making gains elsewhere in Canada) while the Liberals underMichael Ignatieff finished third for the first time in that party's history, with 34 seats. During his premiership, Harper reduced Canada's budget deficit from $55.6 billion in 2009 to $2.9 billion in 2015, faced theIn and Out scandal, passed theFederal Accountability Act, withdrew from theKyoto Protocol, passed theQuébécois nation motion, negotiatedfree trade agreements, passed theVeterans' Bill of Rights, and faced the2011 Canadian federal election voter suppression scandal. Harper was the first prime minister from the modernConservative Party of Canada, which was formed following the merger of theReform Party and the PC party.
In October 2015,Canada's 42nd general federal election was held.[12] The Liberal Party won 39.5% of the popular vote and 184 seats in the House of Commons, withJustin Trudeau elected prime minister.[13]
In 2019, allegations that the Trudeau government was putting pressure on then-attorney generalJody Wilson-Raybould were reported byThe Globe and Mail.[14] This became known as theSNC-Lavalin affair.[15] Despite this and an additionalblackface controversy, Trudeau managed to win the2019 federal election, though with a minority of seats.[16] He later faced theWE Charity scandal.
TheCOVID-19 pandemic was first detected in Canada in late mid-January 2020 and by March, all provinces and territories had declared states of emergency. As of June 2022, Canada has reported 41,000COVID-19 related deaths,[17] the third highest mortality rate inNorth America followed by theUnited States andMexico. Trudeau's government announced aban on "assault-style" weapons after the2020 Nova Scotia attacks, which resulted in the deaths of 22 victims. Amid theCanada convoy protest in early 2022, Trudeau's government invoked theEmergencies Act for the first time. In October 2022, the House of Commons passed a motion declaring theIndigenous residential school system as genocide following the discovery of gravesites.
Trudeau called an early election in 2021 to try and increase the Liberal party's seat share and reach a majority government.[citation needed] Trudeau won the2021 federal election, albeit maintaining the Liberal party's minority number of seats.[citation needed] The Liberals and the NDP signed aconfidence and supply agreement in 2022, helping pass legislation including a nationalchildcare program. The2024–2025 Canadian political crisis erupted following the resignation of deputy prime minister and finance ministerChrystia Freeland. Multiple Liberal MPs called on Trudeau to resign, which he announced in early January 2025. It would take effect following aLiberal leadership race.[18]
FormerBank of Canada governorMark Carney won the election and was sworn in as prime minister in March 2025.[19] Carney became the first Prime Minister to never have served inelected office.[20] In the2025 Canadian federal election, on April 28th, Carney led theLiberal Party of Canada to aminority government, winning 169 seats.[21][22] The campaign was dominated by U.S. presidentDonald Trump'sthreats to annex Canada andannouncement of tariffs against the country.
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