Post-Confederation history of Canada

History of Canada

Pre-Confederation

Post-Confederation

Military history

Economic history

Timeline

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This is an outline of the history of Canada from 1867 to the present day.

Confederation

In the 1860s, in the wake of the American Civil War, the British were concerned with possible American reprisals against Canada for Britain's tacit support of the Confederacy. Britain also feared that American settlers might expand to the north, into land that was technically British but which was sparsely settled. There were also problems with raids into Canada launched by the Fenian Brotherhood, a group of Irish Americans who wanted to pressure Britain into granting independence to Ireland. Canada was already essentially a self-governing colony, and Britain no longer felt it was worth the expense of keeping it as a colony. Both sides would, it was felt, be better off politically and economically if Canada was independent. These factors led to the first serious discussions about real political union in Canada.

However, there were internal political obstacles to overcome first. The Province of Canada had little success in keeping a stable government for any period of time; the Tories, led by John A. Macdonald and George-Étienne Cartier, were constantly at odds with the "Clear Grits" led by George Brown. In 1864, the two parties decided to unite in the "Great Coalition." This was an important step towards Confederation.

Meanwhile, the colonies further east, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland, were also discussing a political union with each other. Representatives from the Province of Canada joined them at the Charlottetown Conference in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island in 1864 to discuss a union of all the colonies, and these discussions were extended into the Quebec Conference of 1866. While there was opposition in each of the colonies, only Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland decided to remain outside of the planned Confederation. In 1867, representatives of the other colonies travelled to Britain to finalize the union, which was granted by the British North America Act on July 1, 1867. July 1 is now celebrated as Canada Day. While the BNA Act gave Canada a high degree of autonomy within the British Empire, this autonomy extended only to internal affairs. External affairs, such as border negotiations with the United States, were still controlled from Britain.

The Red River Rebellion

The new country was led by Prime Minister John A. Macdonald. Under Macdonald, Canada bought Rupert's Land and the North-Western Territory from the Hudson's Bay Company in 1869, and westward settlement was encouraged. However, the people who already lived there, natives and Métis, descendants of the children of natives and French Canadian fur traders, were opposed to waves of English-speaking settlers buying their lands. The Métis of the Red River settlement (near present-day Winnipeg, Manitoba), led by Louis Riel, formed a provisional government to negotiate with the Canadian government, although these negotiations quickly fell apart. Riel led the Red River Rebellion in 1869 and 1870, during which he executed an Orangeman, causing an uproar among Protestant English Canadians. Macdonald sent a militia to put down the rebellion, which they quickly did, and Riel fled to the United States.

The Rebellion led to the creation of the province of Manitoba in 1870, with laws protecting the rights of the natives, Métis, French-speakers and English-speakers, Catholics and Protestants.

Expansion westward

Despite the violence of the Red River rebellion and the later North-West Rebellion Canada evaded the widespread Indian Wars fought by the United States. Rather than fight, the government sent negotiators to the prairie First Nations and worked out a series of treaties. While these treaties were often ignored by the settlers and the government, they did bring peace to the region, and are today recognized by the courts as valid.

In 1866, the colonies of British Columbia (formerly New Caledonia) and Vancouver's Island were united. British Columbia had been important for British control of the Pacific Ocean, and was a centre of the fur trade between Britain, the United States, Russia, Spain, and China. It did not participate in the original Confederation conferences, but agreed to join Canada in 1871 when Macdonald promised to built a railroad across the continent through the Northwest Territories (formerly Rupert's Land and the North-Western Territory), which at this time still extended to the U.S. border. The Canadian Pacific Railway and the Dominion Land Survey were begun soon after.

In 1873, Prince Edward Island, the Maritime colony that had opted not to join Confederation in 1867, was admitted into the country. That same year, Macdonald created the North West Mounted Police to help police the Northwest Territories, and assert Canadian independence over possible American encroachments into the sparsely populated land. The "Mounties" became legendary for keeping law and order in the west, while at the same time the American West was lawless and violent.

However, also in 1873, Macdonald and the Conservative government faced a major political crisis, when it was revealed that the Canadian Pacific Railway Company had helped fund Macdonald's election campaign in 1872. A new election was called in 1874, and Alexander Mackenzie became Prime Minister. Under Mackenzie, the Canadian Pacific Railway continued to expand to the west, but the public's suspicion of Macdonald was erased by 1878, when the Macdonald and the Conservatives were re-elected.

Macdonald's "National Policy"

After being restored as Prime Minister, Macdonald introduced the National Policy, a system of protective tariffs meant to strengthen the Canadian economy. Part of the policy was the completion of the railroad, which would allow products to be transferred more easily across the country. It was also a response to the United States, which had a much stronger economy that threatened to overwhelm Canada; the United States had a trade reciprocity treaty with Canada while it was still a colony, but abrogated the treaty before Confederation. Many people believed this policy was only beneficial to Ontario, as the Maritimes especially depended on trade with the United States. While it was somewhat beneficial for asserting Canadian independence, it was not very useful in the less industrial Maritimes and West.

The North-West Rebellion

After the Red River Rebellion, many Métis moved west to what is now Saskatchewan. However, with the expansion of the railway, as well as increased European immigration to western Canada, they felt their way of life was once again being attacked. In 1884, Louis Riel returned from exile, and in the spring of 1885, he led the Métis and other natives against the North West Mounted Police starting the North-West Rebellion. The Mounties surrounded the Métis settlement at Batoche, and by May reinforcements of Canadian militia had arrived on the new railway. The Métis and natives were decisively defeated, and this time Riel was not allowed to escape. In November, he was found guilty of treason and hanged, causing an uproar among French Canadians who felt English-speaking Canada was unfairly prejudiced against him. This incident caused a deeper rift between the two populations, leading to a renewed sense of French Canadian nationalism that is still felt today. However, the crisis allowed the Canadian Pacific Railway company to show its worth by quickly transporting troops west which encouraged enough political support for further funding to complete the line, thus realizing MacDonald's dream of a transcontinental railway to help strengthen the nation building.

The Manitoba Schools Question

After the Red River Rebellion and the entrance of Manitoba into Confederation, settlers from English Canada arrived in the new province in greater numbers. In 1890, the provincial government passed the Manitoba Schools Act, abolishing government funding for Catholic schools and abolishing French as an official language - contrary to the Manitoba Act that created the province. This led to another federal political crisis, and by 1896, Prime Minister Mackenzie Bowell was forced to resign. Wilfrid Laurier, a Catholic from Quebec, becam,e prime minister. Laurier developed a compromise stating that French would be used in schools when there were a significant number of French-speaking students; this compromise was denounced by both sides, but was recognized as the only possible solution. However, along with the execution of Louis Riel, the Manitoba Schools Question led to an increase of French Canadian nationalism.

Main article: Manitoba Schools Question

Population of the West

While the National Policy, CPR and Dominion Lands Act had been in place for several decades, the population of Canada's prairie regions only got underway around 1896. Why it began then is a matter of debate among historians. John Dales argued that it was a combination of rising wheat prices, cheaper ocean transport costs, technological change, new varieties of wheat, and the scarcity of land in the United States. Norry does not view any of these developments as being important, and instead argues that new methods of dry farming lead to the breakthrough. Recently ,Ward had argued that technological change was the most important factor, with a number of different inventions becoming cheap and reliable enough to be widely used around this period. The period of western settlement was one of the most prosperous in Canadian history. From 1896 to 1911, Canada had the world's fastest growing economy.

The Boer War

Laurier hoped to unite French and English Canada in a unique sense of Canadian nationalism, rather than remain unquestionably loyal to Britain. Along with some Americans, he also hoped for a shift of focus towards North America, a policy often known as "continentalism." However, in 1899, the British immediately assumed Canada would send military support to the Boer War in South Africa, and there was indeed enormous support for military action from English Canada. French Canada was strongly opposed to military support for Britain's imperialist wars. The opposition was led by Henri Bourassa, who, like Laurier, preferred a united, independent Canada. Bourassa denounced Laurier when Laurier eventually decided to allow a volunteer force to fight in the war, even though the other option would have been calling up an official army.

Laurier's Government

Laurier successfully brought Saskatchewan and Alberta into Confederation in 1905, carving those provinces out of the Northwest Territories. He felt Canada was on the verge of becoming a world power, and declared that the 20th century would "belong to Canada". However, he faced even more criticism when he introduced the Naval Service Bill in 1910. It was meant to make Canada less dependent on Britain and British imperialism, but Bourassa believed the British would now call on the Canadian navy whenever it was needed, just as they did with the Canadian army. Pro-British imperialists were also opposed to the attempt to remove Canada from the Empire. The Naval Service Bill led to Laurier's downfall in the election of 1911, in which Robert Laird Borden became Prime Minister.

World War I

Borden's government did not solve the naval crisis, but in 1914, he oversaw Canada's entry into the First World War. Although Canada had no choice in the matter, as foreign affairs were still conducted from Britain, the war was initially popular even among French Canadians, including Henri Bourassa. Canadians fought at Ypres, the Somme, Passchendaele, and other important battles, originally under British command, but eventually under a unified Canadian command. From a Canadian point of view the most important battle of the war was the Battle of Vimy Ridge in 1917, during which Canadian troops captured a fortified German hill that had eluded both the British and French. Vimy, as well as the success of the Canadian flying ace Billy Bishop, helped give Canada a new sense of identity.

With mounting costs at home, Sir Thomas Whyte introduced the first income tax in Canada as a "temporary" measure. The lowest bracket was 4% and highest was 25%.

The conscription crisis of 1917

After three years of a war that was supposed to have been over in three months, Canada was suffering from a shortage of volunteers. Borden had originally promised not to introduce conscription, but now believed it was necessary to win the war. The Military Service Act was passed in July, but there was fierce opposition, mostly from French Canadians (led not only by Bourassa, but also Wilfrid Laurier), as well as Quakers, Mennonites, and other pacifists. Borden's government almost collapsed, but he was able to form a Union government with the Liberal opposition (although Laurier did not join the new government). In the 1917 election, the Union government was re-elected, but with no support from Quebec. Over the next year, the war finally ended, with very few Canadian conscripts actually participating.

Main article: Conscription Crisis of 1917

Post-war society

During the war, the women's suffrage movement gained support. The provinces began extending voting rights to women in 1916, and women were finally allowed to vote in federal elections in 1918 (but only if they were over 21 years of age). Canada was also faced with the return of thousands of returning soldiers, with few jobs waiting for them at home. They also brought back with them the Spanish Flu, which killed over 50 000 people by 1919, almost the same number that had been killed in the war.

The move from a wartime to a peacetime economy, combined with the return of the soldiers from Europe, led to another crisis. In 1919 the One Big Union was formed, an organization of the various unions across the country. This Union was a large influence on the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919, which some saw as an outbreak of Bolshevism, especially as the Soviet Union had recently been formed. The army had to be sent in to break up the strike.

Meanwhile, in western Canada, and to some extent in the Maritimes, populist reformers were pushing for increased provincial rights and a focus on agriculture, rather than the industrial focus of Central Canada. They formed the Progressive Party of Canada, which supported Mackenzie King when the Liberals had a minority government in 1925-26. King eventually lost support, however, because of the trade tariffs issue, as well as a liquor smuggling scandal. He was forced to resign in 1926, but was re-elected later that year.

The Great Depression

Canada suffered greatly when the Great Depression began in 1929. While the decline started in the United States, it quickly spread to Canada because of the gold standard and the close economic links between the two countries. The Canadian economy was the second-worst affected in the world by the Depression, after the United States. The first area affected was wheat, which saw a collapse in prices. This destroyed the economies of the Prairie provinces, but as wheat was then Canada's largest export it also hurt the rest of the country. This was soon followed by a deep recession in manufacturing, first caused by a drop-off in demand in the United States, and then by Canadians also not buying unneeded luxuries. Perhaps most harmful, however, was the subsequent reduction of investment: both large companies and individuals were unwilling and unable to invest in new ventures. Unemployment rose to 25 per cent.

R.B. Bennett

Mackenzie King believed the crisis would pass and refused to send federal aid to the provinces and only introduced moderate relief efforts. The Liberals lost the 1930 election to Richard Bedford Bennett and the Conservatives. Bennett, a successful western businessman, campaigned on high tariffs and large scale spending, but as deficits increased he became wary and cut back severely on federal spending. With falling support and the depression only getting worse Bennett attempted to introduce policies based on the New Deal of Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the United States, but this was largely unsuccessful. Bennett's perceived failures during the Great Depression led to the re-election of Mackenzie King's Liberals in the 1935 election.

Return of Mackenzie King

Although the United States began to see rapid improvements as a result of FDR's policies, Canada saw far less growth. Nevertheless, by this time the worst of the Depression was over. Mackenzie implemented some relief programs such as the National Housing Act and National Employment Commission, and also established the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (1936) and Trans-Canada Airlines (1937, the precursor to Air Canada). It took until 1939 and the outbreak of war for the Canadian economy to return to 1929 levels, however.

Legacy

The Depression saw some remnants of the Progressive Party from the 1920s organized to form the Social Credit Party of Canada. Other members joined with Labour to form the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation, a socialist party that achieved some success. The period also saw the rise of a small Communist Party of Canada and great controversy as the government tried to ban its activities.

The Depression saw a rise of militancy among the working class. In 1935, the On-to-Ottawa Trek, a massive protest march, was stopped by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Regina, Saskatchewan, and a large riot broke out that attracted publicity across the nation. The Depression also saw the permanent entrenchment of organized labour in the economic and political life of the nation.

One of the most lasting effects of the depression was the new role of government. Under Bennett and Mackenzie King the first elements of Canada's welfare state were created, and the size and role of the government began to grow immensely over the next decades.

Main Article: The Great Depression in Canada

World War II

The Canadian economy, like the economies of many other countries, improved in an unexpected way--the outbreak of the Second World War. Canada had been a founding member of the League of Nations, but elected to remain neutral throughout the 1930s. Mackenzie King even met with Adolf Hitler and decided he was not a threat. When Hitler invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, Mackenzie King was finally convinced that military action would be necessary, but, in a show of independence, waited until September 10 to declare war (unlike World War I, when Canada was automatically at war as soon as Britain was). Utimately over one million Canadian servicemen fought in the war, mostly alongside British troops in Europe and Southeast Asia.

One of Canada's major contribution to the war was the Commonwealth Air Training Plan, run by Billy Bishop and the Royal Air Force as a training ground for Commonwealth pilots. The first military action of the war for Canadians came in 1941, when they unsuccessfully defended Hong Kong from the Japanese. Hong Kong was taken on December 25 with horrendous Canadian and British casualties. On August 19, 1942, Canadians were again defeated in the Dieppe Raid, an unsuccessful attempt at an invasion of Europe. Canadian troops fought in Italy in 1943, and in 1944 successfully captured Juno Beach during the Battle of Normandy. They were instrumental in liberating the Netherlands, for which the Dutch still fondly remember Canadians today.

The conscription crisis of 1944

As in World War I, the number of volunteers began to run dry as the war dragged on. Mackenzie King had promised, like Borden, not to introduce conscription, though his position was somewhat ambiguous, as he had declared "conscription if necessary, but not necessarily conscription."

With rising pressure from the people, on June 21, 1940, King passed the National Resources Mobilization Act (NRMA) which gave the government the power to "call out every man in Canada for military training for the defence of Canada", and only Canada. Conscripts could not be sent overseas to fight. English Canadians, expectedly, were displeased and took to calling these soldiers "zombies" who they stereotyped as French Canadians who were "sitting comfortably" while countrymen died.

On April 27, 1942, Mackenzie King held a national plebiscite to decide on the issue, having made campaign promises to avoid conscription (and, it is thought, winning the election on that very point). English Canada was mostly in favour of conscription, but, as expected, French Canada was not. Nevertheless, the vote was yes all overall and King was free to bring in a conscription law if he wanted. However, the issue was put off for another two years, until 1944, when it was decided conscription was now necessary. There were riots in Quebec, and even an aged Henri Bourassa spoke out against the decision.

Some 13,000 NRMA men eventually left Canada, but only 2,463 reached units in the field before the end of the fighting. 69 died in battle

Main Article: Conscription Crisis of 1944

The Post-war world and the Cold War

The Second World War brought many changes to Canada; the government was necessarily more centralized during the war, and it remained so afterwards. The federal government also began to adopt social welfare policies, often borrowed from the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation, which had introduced such policies in the western provinces even before the war. Federally, these included hospital insurance, old-age pensions, and veterans' pensions. Due to the post-war Baby Boom, the government also introduced allowances known as "baby bonuses." The economy had prospered because of the war, and in Alberta, there was an economic boom due to the discovery of new oil fields in 1947.

Mackenzie King won the election of 1945, but retired in 1948 and was succeeded by Louis St. Laurent. St. Laurent succeeded in extending the welfare state, and also brought Newfoundland into Confederation as Canada's 10th province in 1949. Before joining Canada, Newfoundland had been an independent dominion of the British Empire; when it joined, Newfoundland was essentially bankrupt.

Meanwhile, Canadian foreign relations were beginning to focus on the United States, which had eclipsed Britain as a world power. During World War II, Canada was a minor partner in the alliance between the United States and Britain, and the US had pledged to help defend Canada if necessary. Canada was one of the founding members of the United Nations in 1945, and also of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1949, but was largely overshadowed in world affairs by the United States. Canada remained a close ally of the United States throughout the Cold War.

Canada participated, under the United Nations, in the Korean War. St. Laurent's Minister of External Affairs, Lester Bowles Pearson, was involved in the diplomatic side of the conflict, and became more active in diplomacy with the United Nations after the war ended. In 1956 Pearson suggested a solution to the Suez Crisis - the creation of an international peacekeeping force. For his efforts, Pearson won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1957.

St. Laurent and his successor John George Diefenbaker attempted to create a new, highly advanced jet fighter, the Avro Arrow. This controversial aircraft was cancelled by Diefenbaker in 1959, although Diefenbaker did help establish a missile defence system with the United States, NORAD.

See also: Canada in the Cold War

The new flag

Diefenbaker was succeeded by Pearson in 1963, at a time of increasing political unrest in much of the Western world. In Canada the largest crises involved provincial rights, especially in Quebec, where nationalism had been increasing and was on the verge of violent explosion. Pearson recognized Quebec to be a "nation within the nation". One attempt at pacifying Quebec, and moving Canada away from the old British imperialism, was creating a new flag. The old Red Ensign no longer reflected Canada's place in the world, and Pearson believed a new flag would help unite French and English Canada with truly Canadian symbols. After lengthy debates over numerous designs, the current maple leaf flag was adopted in 1965 and was quickly embraced by the public. Fifteen years before, Quebec had replaced the British provincial flag with the current Quebec flag, which was quickly embraced by Quebecers.

The Quiet Revolution

The Quiet Revolution began in Quebec when Jean Lesage became premier in 1960. It was, essentially, a peaceful nationalist movement to give to Quebec a modern secular state, seen as the only way to propel Quebec's into full modernity.

The October Crisis

Pierre Elliott Trudeau, himself a French Canadian, came to power in 1968. Quebec also produced a more radical nationalist group, the Front de Libération du Québec, who since 1963 had been using terrorism in an attempt to make Quebec a sovereign nation. In October of 1970, in response to the arrest of some of its members earlier in the year, the FLQ kidnapped James Cross and Pierre Laporte, later killing Laporte. Trudeau invoked the War Measures Act, declaring martial law in Quebec, and by the end of the year the kidnappers had all been arrested.

"Main Article: October Crisis

Trudeau and the 1970s

Trudeau was a somewhat unconventional Prime Minister; he was more of a celebrity than previous leaders, and in the 1960s had been the centre of "Trudeaumania". He also did not unquestioningly support the United States, especially over the Vietnam War and relations with the People's Republic of China and Cuba; Richard Nixon particularly disliked him.

Domestically Trudeau had to deal with the aftermath of the October Crisis. The separatist movement was not aided by the violent Front de libération du Québec (FLQ), yet it still existed in a less radical form under Premier René Lévesque (1976-1985). Lévesque came to power as leader of the Parti Québécois, which wanted to make Quebec at least an autonomous society in Canada and at best an independent nation. A step towards this was taken in 1977 with the adoption of Bill 101, making French the only official language in the province.

The 1980 Quebec referendum

In 1980, the Parti Québécois launched a referendum on the question of sovereignty. The question actually asked whether Quebec should negotiate for sovereignty, not whether Quebec should simply declare independence, but it was vaguely worded and confused many voters. Trudeau, although it was not a federal referendum, supported the "no" side, promising constitutional reform. The "no" side won by a margin of 60% to 40% when the question was put to the voters on May 20.

Main article: 1980 Quebec referendum

The New constitution

In 1982 Britain passed the Canada Act, repatriating the Constitution of Canada. Previously, the Constitution has existed only as an act passed by the British parliament, and was not even physically located in Canada. Trudeau also added the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which had also not previously existed in Canada in a true legal sense. It was also controversial, and in order for it to be accepted, Trudeau had to include the notwithstanding clause in Section 33, allowing the federal or provincial governments to override certain sections if and when they found it necessary to do so. There is still ongoing debate over the merits of the new constitution, although it is generally accepted as an improvement over the former dependence on the British parliament to make amendments. The new constitution was Trudeau's last major act as Prime Minister. He resigned in 1984.

Brian Mulroney

Brian Mulroney came to power in the 1984 election, and quickly restored friendlier relations with the United States, which had been strained during Trudeau's time as Prime Minister. Mulroney's major focus was the establishment of free trade with the US, a very controversial topic. This eventually culminated in the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1992.

Mulroney also worked to appease the sovereignty movement in Quebec. In 1987, he attempted to draft the Meech 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 and the subsequent Charlottetown Accord was defeated in a nation-wide referendum in 1992. These setbacks, along with the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), and the deep recession of the late 1980s and early 1990s forced Mulroney to resign in 1993.

Chretien years and the 1995 referendum

Jean Chrétien became prime minister in the 1993 election, pledging to repeal the GST, which proved to be unfeasible due to the economic circumstances at the time. By 1995, however, Canada had eliminated the federal deficit, becoming the only G7 country to have a budget surplus.

Chrétien faced another sovereignty referendum in Quebec in October 1995. The federal Bloc Québécois party and the provincial Parti Québécois campaigned for the "yes" side, but the referendum question was perhaps even more vague and confusing than the 1980 question. Months earlier, Lucien Bouchard, then leader of the Parti Québécois, contracted a highly harmful strain of flesh-eating disease, which left one of his legs paralyzed. But the fact that he survived the disease was interpreted by some as the divine will for Quebec sovereignty, which swayed some opinions. As Canadians were glued to their TV screens on October 30, the referendum was defeated by the narrowest of margins, a victory for the "no" side with 50.6% of the vote.

Canada became gradually more unified after Quebec failed to achieve sovereignty in two straight referendums. With the problem of national unity set aside, the Chretien government focused more on building a stronger economy. Because of lacklustre campaigns put on by the Opposition parties in 1997 and 2000.

In the aftermath of the September 11 Terrorist Attacks, Canada was one of the most generous nations in offering help, such as allowing aircraft destined for the US to land in Canada's airports. Canada supported the US war on Afghanistan. In 2003, Canada was faced with the decision of entering the US war on Iraq. Chrétien made the decisive choice of not going to war with Iraq.

Contemporary issues

National organization issues

While the sovereignty issue in Quebec has died down in recent years, there are occasionally still debates over the nature of the "distinct society," and whether or not this applies to other provinces as well. In 1999, the first new territory to be added to Canada since 1898 was created, when a large part of the Northwest Territories became the separate region of Nunavut, a sparsely populated territory inhabited mostly by Inuit.

International issues

Some of the problems faced by the Chrétien government included the debate over the universal health care system, as well as military spending, which has decreased significantly in recent years. Canada does not play as large a role in United Nations peacekeeping as it once did, and Chrétien faced some criticism for not participating in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. However, with the mounting criticisms about the apparently false pretences for that war and the US's troubled occupation, Chrétien was hailed for keeping the nation out of the affair. The value of the Canadian dollar has also been greatly weakened during Chrétien's time as Prime Minister; although in 2003, it had regained about 20% of its value during the year, such a dramatic climb that industry leaders were (and still are) worrying that the high currency would harm exports.

Same-sex marriage

Same-sex marriage has become an issue in Canada as in the United States; however, on the whole Canadians are more accepting of it. The Supreme Courts of Ontario, British Columbia, and Quebec have made same-sex marriage legal in their respective provinces. Before Chrétien left office there was a bill in Parliament to legalize it federally, which died when Martin took over. For a time it was uncertain if the new government would re-introduce the bill. It was, but it was sent to the Supreme Court of Canada for review before being voted on. The hearing on the bill was scheduled for October 2004.

The New Democratic Party (NDP), Bloc Québécois, and the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada supported the legislation under Chrétien, while the Canadian Alliance opposed it. It is likely that the new Conservative Party, dominated by former Canadian Alliance members, will also oppose it.

Sponsorship scandal

In February 2004, Canadian Auditor General Sheila Frasier released a report that under the Chrétien government, $100 million was mishandled by government officials in the purchasing of advertisements. The opposition was quick to make charges of corruption. This has become known as the Sponsorship Scandal.

Main Article: Liberal Party of Canada sponsorship scandal