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The History of Canada
Below is a brief history of Canada. To find information other than history for Canada then visit
the Canada Country Page.
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Canada Political Conditions In August 2002, Prime Minister Jean Chretien announced his intention to leave office in early 2004. It is anticipated that he will be succeeded as Prime Minister and as leader of the Liberal Party by Mr. Paul Martin, a Liberal M.P. and former Finance Minister. It was widely expected that the new Prime Minister would call elections in Spring 2004 and that the Liberals would retain a majority in Parliament. At the same time, prospects for ratification of a merger between the Progressive Conservative party (“red” Tories) and the western-based conservative Canadian Alliance, into the "Conservative Party of Canada," looked strong in Fall 2003. A number of observers thought the new party could make some headway in the 2004 election. Chretien’s Liberal Party won a major victory in the November 2000 general elections. Chretien became the first Prime Minister to lead three consecutive majority governments since 1945, as the Liberals increased their majority in Parliament to 57% (172 of the 301 Parliamentary seats). The Canadian Alliance Party, which did well in western Canada but was unable to make significant inroads in the East, won the second-highest total of seats (66). The tension in federal-provincial relations is a central feature of Canadian politics: Quebec wishes to preserve and strengthen its distinctive nature; western provinces desire more control over their abundant natural resources, especially energy reserves; industrialized central Canada is concerned with economic development; and the Atlantic provinces have resisted federal claims to fishing and mineral rights off their shores. The federal government has responded to these different regional needs by seeking to rebalance the Canadian confederation, ceding its spending power in areas of provincial jurisdiction, while attempting to strengthen the federal role in other areas. The federal government has reached agreement with a number of provinces returning to them authority over job training programs and is embarked on similar initiatives in other fields. Meanwhile, it has attempted to strengthen the national role on interprovincial trade, while also seeking national regulation of securities. source: http://www.state.gov |