1.
Quebec referendum, 1995
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Voting took place on October 30,1995, and featured the largest voter turnout in Quebecs history. The No option carried by 54,288 votes, Quebec, a province in Canada since its foundation in 1867, has always been the sole majority French-speaking province. Among these was René Lévesque, who would found the Parti Québécois with like-minded groups seeking independence from Canada. After arriving in power in 1976, the PQ government held a referendum in 1980 seeking a mandate to negotiate sovereignty-association with Canada that was decisively defeated. During tense negotiations in November 1981, an agreement was reached between Trudeau and nine of the ten premiers by Trudeau, but not Lévesque, the Constitution Act of 1982 was enacted without the Quebec National Assemblys symbolic approval. Trudeaus successor as Prime Minister, Brian Mulroney, and Quebec Liberal premier Robert Bourassa sought a series of Constitutional amendments designed to address Quebecs concerns. The Accord, after debate in English Canada, fell apart in dramatic fashion in the summer of 1990, prompting outrage in Quebec. Following these events, Bourassa proclaimed that a referendum would occur in 1992 and this prompted a national referendum on the Charlottetown Accord of 1992, a series of amendments that included the proposals of Meech Lake as well as concerns of the broader Canadian federation. The Accord failed in Quebec and English Canada, in the 1993 federal election, as the Liberals returned to power with a majority government under Jean Chrétien, who had been Minister of Justice during the 1980-81 constitutional discussions. The Bloc Québécois won 54 seats with 49. 3% of Quebecs vote, in Quebec, the 1994 provincial election brought the sovereigntist Parti Québécois back to power, led by Jacques Parizeau. The partys platform promised to hold a referendum on sovereignty during his term in office as premier, the PQ won a majority government with 44. 75% of the popular vote. The Commission was boycotted by the Liberal Party of Quebec, the Liberal Party of Canada, the primary issue of debate within the sovereignty movement became on what terms sovereignty would be put before the electorate. Parizeaus stance created opposition in the sovereignty movement, which coalesced around Bloc Québécois leader Lucien Bouchard, a popular and charismatic figure, Bouchard had come close to death from necrotizing fasciitis and lost his left leg. His recovery, and subsequent public appearances on crutches, provided a point for sovereigntists. Bouchard thought a proposal lacking a partnership would doom the project among soft nationalists who worried about the consequences of separation. As polls showed Parizeaus approach as highly unlikely to even exceed 40% support in a referendum, after Parizeau moved the planned referendum date to the fall, Deputy Premier Bernard Landry aroused ire by stating he would not want to be involved in a charge of the light brigade. During the Blocs April conference, after a speech demanding a change in direction, Mario Dumont, leader of the new Action démocratique du Québec, also stated that he would only consider participation in the referendum if a partnership was made part of the question. The final findings of the National Commission, issued April 19, most importantly for Parizeau, the agreement also allowed the government to declare immediate independence if negotiations were not successful or heard after a successful referendum
2.
Canada in the Cold War
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During the Cold War, Canada was one of the western powers playing a central role in the major alliances. It was an ally of the United States, but there were several foreign policy differences between the two countries over the course of the Cold War, subsequent peacekeeping interventions occurred in the Congo, Cyprus, the Sinai, Vietnam, Golan Heights, Lebanon, and Namibia. Canada did not follow the American lead in all Cold War actions, Canada refused to join the Vietnam War and in 1984 the last nuclear weapons based in Canada were removed. Relations were maintained with Cuba and the Canadian government recognized the Peoples Republic of China before the United States, also Canadian military facilities were maintained in Bermuda, France and the United Kingdom. Canadians also assisted in humanitarian efforts, and sending observers for the United Nations to India, there was never any doubt early on as to which side Canada was on in the Cold War due to its location. On the domestic front, the Canadian state at all levels fought vehemently against what it characterized as communist subversion, Canadian and business leaders opposed the advance of the labour movement on the grounds that it was a Bolshevik conspiracy during the interwar period. The peak moments of this effort were the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919, Canada was a founding member of NATO, of which Prime Minister St. Laurent was a chief architect. Canada was one of its most ardent supporters and pushed to have it become an economic, Canada had far less of the anti-Communist hysteria that had afflicted the United States. The United States wished the Canadian government would go further, asking for a purging of trade unions, but Canada saw this as American hysteria, the Communist Party of Canada had not been outlawed since Section 98 was repealed by Prime Minister Mackenzie King in 1935. Despite its comparatively moderate stance towards Communism, the Canadian state continued intensive surveillance of Communists, PROFUNC was a Government of Canada top secret plan to identify and detain Communist sympathizers during the height of the Cold War. Despite having been cleared several years earlier, first by the RCMP in 1950, then again by the Canadian Minister of External Affairs, Pearson, the United States media portrayed Norman as a spy and traitor. The only evidence the United States had was that as a student at Cambridge, the possibility of a security breach was raised again, this time in the House of Commons, with the Munsinger Affair in the 1960s. It was during the Cold War period that Canada began to assert the international clout that went along with the reputation it had built on the stage in World War I. In the Korean War, the moderately sized contingent of soldiers from Canada made noteworthy contributions to the United Nations forces. Of particular note is the Princess Patricias Canadian Light Infantrys contribution to the Battle of Kapyong, Canadas major Cold War contribution to international politics was made in the innovation and implementation of Peacekeeping. During the Suez Crisis of 1956, the idea promoted by Canada in 1945 of a United Nations military force returned to the fore. The Soviets went as far as to say they would be willing to use all types of weapons of destruction on London. Pearsons United Nations Emergency Force - the first peacekeeping force, was deployed to separate the combatants, to defend North America against a possible enemy attack, Canada and the United States began to work very closely together in the 1950s
3.
Elizabeth II
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Elizabeth II has been Queen of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand since 6 February 1952. Elizabeth was born in London as the eldest child of the Duke and Duchess of York, later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth and her father acceded to the throne on the abdication of his brother Edward VIII in 1936, from which time she was the heir presumptive. She began to undertake duties during the Second World War. Elizabeths many historic visits and meetings include a visit to the Republic of Ireland. She has seen major changes, such as devolution in the United Kingdom, Canadian patriation. She has reigned through various wars and conflicts involving many of her realms and she is the worlds oldest reigning monarch as well as Britains longest-lived. In October 2016, she became the longest currently reigning monarch, in 2017 she became the first British monarch to commemorate a Sapphire Jubilee. Elizabeth has occasionally faced republican sentiments and press criticism of the family, however, support for the monarchy remains high. Elizabeth was born at 02,40 on 21 April 1926, during the reign of her paternal grandfather and her father, Prince Albert, Duke of York, was the second son of the King. Her mother, Elizabeth, Duchess of York, was the youngest daughter of Scottish aristocrat Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore and she was delivered by Caesarean section at her maternal grandfathers London house,17 Bruton Street, Mayfair. Elizabeths only sibling, Princess Margaret, was born in 1930, the two princesses were educated at home under the supervision of their mother and their governess, Marion Crawford, who was casually known as Crawfie. Lessons concentrated on history, language, literature and music, Crawford published a biography of Elizabeth and Margarets childhood years entitled The Little Princesses in 1950, much to the dismay of the royal family. The book describes Elizabeths love of horses and dogs, her orderliness, others echoed such observations, Winston Churchill described Elizabeth when she was two as a character. She has an air of authority and reflectiveness astonishing in an infant and her cousin Margaret Rhodes described her as a jolly little girl, but fundamentally sensible and well-behaved. During her grandfathers reign, Elizabeth was third in the line of succession to the throne, behind her uncle Edward, Prince of Wales, and her father, the Duke of York. Although her birth generated public interest, she was not expected to become queen, many people believed that he would marry and have children of his own. When her grandfather died in 1936 and her uncle succeeded as Edward VIII, she became second-in-line to the throne, later that year, Edward abdicated, after his proposed marriage to divorced socialite Wallis Simpson provoked a constitutional crisis. Consequently, Elizabeths father became king, and she became heir presumptive, if her parents had had a later son, she would have lost her position as first-in-line, as her brother would have been heir apparent and above her in the line of succession
4.
Paul Martin
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Paul Edgar Philippe Martin PC CC, also known as Paul Martin Jr. is a Canadian politician who served as the 21st Prime Minister of Canada from December 12,2003, to February 6,2006. Martin served as the Member of Parliament for the riding of LaSalle—Émard in Montreal from his election in the 1988 election to his retirement in 2008 and he served as Minister of Finance from 1993 to 2002. On November 14,2003, Martin succeeded Jean Chrétien as leader of the Liberal Party, after the 2004 election, his Liberal Party retained power, although only as a minority government. Forced by a vote to call the 2006 general election. The Liberals now assumed the role of opposition to a Conservative government. Martin stayed on as party leader until he resigned on March 18 and he was eventually succeeded by Stéphane Dion. Martin sits as an advisor to Canadas Ecofiscal Commission, Martin was born at Hôtel-Dieu of St. Joseph Hospital in Windsor, Ontario. L. Mackenzie King, Louis St. Laurent, Lester B and his mother, Eleanor Nelly Alice, was of Scottish and Irish descent. He has one sister, Mary-Anne Bellamy, who was diagnosed with Crohns disease at a young age and she died on July 20,2011. Martin contracted polio in 1946 at the age of eight and he grew up in Windsor and Ottawa. To give him the opportunity to improve his French, his parents enrolled him in a private French-language middle school, École Garneau in Ottawa. Martin then briefly attended the University of Ottawa before transferring and graduating from St. Michaels College at the University of Toronto with a B. A. in history and philosophy in 1961. Martin was a member of Psi Upsilon fraternity and the U of T Young Liberals during his time at the University of Toronto and he then attended the University of Toronto Faculty of Law, where he received a LL. B. in 1964. He was called to the Ontario bar in 1966, on September 11,1965, Martin married Sheila Ann Cowan, with whom he has three sons, Paul, Jamie and David. In 1969, Power Corporation took a controlling-share in Canada Steamship Lines, on December 2,1970, Paul Martin, the 32-year-old executive assistant to Power Corporation Chief Executive Officer Maurice Strong, was appointed to the CSL board of directors. In 1971 CSL minority shareholders sold outstanding shares to Power Corporation, CSL suffered losses in 1972 when forced to cover unexpected cost overruns in the construction of three 80, 000-ton ocean-going tankers at Davie Shipbuilding. On November 22,1973, Paul Martin was appointed President, in 1974, CSL earnings were further hurt by an eight-week strike on the Great Lakes. In 1976, Power Corporation reversed itself and took over the investment portfolio which had sold to CSL five years earlier
5.
Stephen Harper
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Stephen Joseph Harper PC is a Canadian entrepreneur and retired politician who served as the 22nd Prime Minister of Canada, from February 6,2006 to November 4,2015. He was the first prime minister to come from the modern Conservative Party of Canada, which was formed by a merger of the Progressive Conservative Party, Harper was member of parliament for the riding of Calgary Heritage in Alberta from 2002 to 2016. Earlier, from 1993 to 1997, he was the MP for Calgary West and he was one of the founding members of the Reform Party, but did not seek re-election in the 1997 federal election. Harper instead joined and later led the National Citizens Coalition, a conservative lobbyist group, in 2002, he succeeded Stockwell Day as leader of the Canadian Alliance, the successor to the Reform Party and returned to parliament as Leader of the Opposition. In 2003, he reached an agreement with Progressive Conservative leader Peter MacKay for the merger of their two parties to form the Conservative Party of Canada and he was elected as the partys first leader, in March 2004. Harper stepped down as MP on August 26,2016, the 2006 federal election resulted in a minority government led by the Conservative Party with Harper becoming the 22nd Prime Minister of Canada. By proportion of seats, this was Canadas smallest minority government since Confederation, despite this, it was the longest-serving minority government overall. The 40th Canadian Parliament was dissolved in March,2011, after a vote that deemed the Cabinet to be in contempt of parliament. Harper resigned as party leader on October 19,2015, Harper moved back to Calgary, Alberta, and commuted to Ottawa as an opposition backbench member of parliament. Harper was born and raised in Leaside, Toronto, the first of three sons of Margaret and Joseph Harris Harper, an accountant at Imperial Oil. Harper attended Northlea Public School and, later, John G. Althouse Middle School and Richview Collegiate Institute and he graduated in 1978, and was a member of Richview Collegiates team on Reach for the Top, a television quiz show for Canadian high school students. Harper enrolled at the University of Toronto but dropped out two months. He then moved to Edmonton, Alberta, where he work in the mail room at Imperial Oil. Later, he advanced to work on the computer systems. He took up post-secondary studies again at the University of Calgary and he later returned there to earn a masters degree in economics, completed in 1991. Harper has kept strong links to the University of Calgary, Harper was the first prime minister since Joe Clark without a law degree. Harper became involved in politics as a member of his high schools Young Liberals Club and he later changed his political allegiance because he disagreed with the National Energy Program of Pierre Trudeaus Liberal government. He left the PC Party that same year and he was then recommended by the University of Calgarys economist Bob Mansell to Preston Manning, the founder and leader of the Reform Party of Canada
6.
Justin Trudeau
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Justin Pierre James Trudeau PC MP is a Canadian politician. He is the 23rd and current Prime Minister of Canada and leader of the Liberal Party. The second youngest Prime Minister after Joe Clark, he is also, as the eldest son of former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, born in Ottawa, Trudeau attended Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf and graduated from McGill University in 1994 and the University of British Columbia in 1998. He gained a public profile in October 2000, when he delivered a eulogy at his fathers state funeral. After graduating, he worked as a teacher in Vancouver, British Columbia and he completed one year of an engineering program at Montreals École Polytechnique before quitting in 2003. In 2005 he began a degree in environmental geography at McGill University. He used his profile to advocate for various causes and acted in the 2007 TV miniseries The Great War. Eight years after his fathers death, Trudeau entered politics, in the 2008 federal election, he was elected to represent the riding of Papineau in the House of Commons. In 2009, he was appointed the Liberal Partys critic for youth and multiculturalism, in 2011, he was appointed as critic for secondary education and youth and amateur sport. On Christmas Day, Justin Trudeau was born at 9,27 pm EST at the Ottawa Civic Hospital, like all Canadian hospitals at that time, Ottawa Civic Hospital barred husbands from the delivery room. The hospitals board of directors promptly ended the restriction following Margaret Trudeaus protests and many hospitals in the city. Trudeau is the child in Canadian history to be born to a prime minister in office. Trudeaus younger brothers Alexandre and Michel were the third and fourth, Trudeau is predominantly of Scottish, French Canadian, and English descent. His grandfathers were businessman Charles-Émile Trudeau and Scottish-born James Sinclair, who served as minister of fisheries in the cabinet of prime minister Louis St. Laurent. Trudeaus maternal great-grandfather Thomas Bernard was born in Makassar to an Anglo-Dutch colonial family and immigrated to Penticton, on April 14,1972, Trudeaus father and mother hosted a gala at the National Arts Centre, at which visiting U. S. president Richard M. Earlier that same day U. S. first lady Pat Nixon had come to see him in his nursery to deliver a gift, nixons White House audio tapes later revealed Nixon referred to that visit as wasting three days up there. That trip we needed like a hole in the head and his parents publicly announced their separation on May 27,1977, when Trudeau was five years old, with his father having custody. Eventually his parents came to an amicable joint-custody arrangement and learned to get quite well
7.
History of Canada
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The history of Canada covers the period from the arrival of Paleo-Indians thousands of years ago to the present day. Some of these civilizations had long faded by the time of the first European arrivals and have discovered through archaeological investigations. Starting in the late 15th century, French and British expeditions explored, colonized, the colony of New France was established in 1534 and was ceded to the United Kingdom in 1763 after the French defeat in the Seven Years War. The now British Province of Quebec was divided into Upper and Lower Canada in 1791, in 1867, the Province of Canada was joined with two other British colonies of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia through Confederation, forming a self-governing entity named Canada. The new dominion expanded by incorporating parts of British North America, finishing with Newfoundland. Although responsible government had existed in Canada since 1848, Britain continued to set its foreign, with the passing of the Statute of Westminster in 1931, Canada became co-equal with the United Kingdom. After the Constitution was repatriated in 1982, the vestiges of legal dependence on the British parliament were removed. Canada currently consists of ten provinces and three territories and is a democracy and a constitutional monarchy with Queen Elizabeth II as its head of state. Since the conclusion of the Second World War, Canadians have supported multilateralism abroad, archeological and Aboriginal genetic evidence indicate that North and South America were the last continents into which humans migrated. During the Wisconsin glaciation,50, 000–17,000 years ago, falling sea levels allowed people to move across the Bering land bridge, from Siberia into northwest North America. At that point, they were blocked by the Laurentide ice sheet covered most of Canada, confining them to Alaska. The exact dates and routes of the peopling of the Americas are the subject of an ongoing debate, by 16,000 years ago the glacial melt allowed people to move by land south and east out of Beringia, and into Canada. The Queen Charlotte Islands, Old Crow Flats, and Bluefish Caves contain some of the earliest Paleo-Indian archaeological sites in Canada, ice Age hunter-gatherers of this period left lithic flake fluted stone tools and the remains of large butchered mammals. The North American climate stabilized around 8000 BCE, climatic conditions were similar to modern patterns, however, the receding glacial ice sheets still covered large portions of the land, creating lakes of meltwater. Most population groups during the Archaic periods were still highly mobile hunter-gatherers, however, individual groups started to focus on resources available to them locally, thus with the passage of time, there is a pattern of increasing regional generalization. The Woodland cultural period dates from about 2000 BCE to 1000 CE and includes the Ontario, Quebec, the introduction of pottery distinguishes the Woodland culture from the previous Archaic-stage inhabitants. The Laurentian-related people of Ontario manufactured the oldest pottery excavated to date in Canada, the Hopewell tradition is an Aboriginal culture that flourished along American rivers from 300 BCE to 500 CE. At its greatest extent, the Hopewell Exchange System connected cultures and societies to the peoples on the Canadian shores of Lake Ontario, Canadian expression of the Hopewellian peoples encompasses the Point Peninsula, Saugeen, and Laurel complexes
8.
Battle of the Plains of Abraham
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The Battle of the Plains of Abraham, also known as the Battle of Quebec, was a pivotal battle in the Seven Years War. The culmination of a siege by the British, the battle lasted about 15 minutes. In the wake of the battle, the French evacuated the city, their military force in Canada. France ceded most of its possessions in eastern North America to Great Britain in the Treaty of Paris, the decisive success of the British forces and the subsequent capture of Quebec City formed part of what became known as the Annus Mirabilis in Great Britain. As the Seven Years War entered its later stages through 1758 and 1759, in 1758 after defeat in July at the Battle of Carillon, the British took Louisbourg in August, causing Atlantic Canada to fall into British hands, and opening the sea route to attack Quebec. Fort Frontenac fell to the British in the month, costing the French supplies for the Ohio Valley campaign. When some of the Indian supporters of the French made peace with the British, French leadership, specifically Governor de Vaudreuil and General Montcalm, were unsettled by the British successes. However, Quebec was still able to protect itself as the British prepared an attack for 1759. James Wolfe expected to lead 12,000 men, but was greeted by only approximately 7,000 regular troops,400 officers, Wolfes troops were supported by a fleet of 49 ships and 140 smaller craft led by Admiral Charles Saunders. In preparation for the approach to Quebec, James Cook surveyed a large portion of the river. Cooks ship was one of the first ships up the river, sounding the channel and guiding the fleet as it moved up, eventually landing Wolfe and his men on the Île dOrléans on 28 June. Despite an air of defeatism among the leadership, the professional French troops, prior to the arrival of the British, a small fleet of supply ships had arrived in Quebec with much needed supplies. Those supplies, along with 500 reinforcements, were likely behind the lengthened siege, in addition, a screen of trees along the Montmorency River made an approach on that route dangerous. On 31 July, the first serious attempt by Wolfes troops to land on the northern shore led to the Battle of Beauport, approximately 3,500 troops, supported by a heavy bombardment, attempted to land, but were caught under fire in the river shallows. Some French officers felt the Montmorency defeat would be the last British attack, Wolfe, I assure you, will make no progress… He contented himself with losing about five hundred of his best soldiers. He predicted another attack would come within days, others in the French camp felt the campaign was over. For the remainder of the summer, Wolfes focus changed, possibly due to frustration with Montcalms tactics and his troops, along with American Rangers, attacked and destroyed small French settlements along the St. Lawrence. An estimated 1,400 stone houses and manors were destroyed, the effort was likely an attempt to force Montcalms army out of its fortifications, but was unsuccessful
9.
Benjamin West
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Benjamin West PRA was an Anglo-American painter of historical scenes around and after the time of the American War of Independence and the Seven Years War. He was the president of the Royal Academy in London. He was offered a knighthood by the British Crown, but declined it and he said that Art is the representation of human beauty, ideally perfect in design, graceful and noble in attitude. West was born in Springfield, Pennsylvania, in a house that is now in the borough of Swarthmore on the campus of Swarthmore College, as the child of an innkeeper. The family later moved to Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, where his father was the proprietor of the Square Tavern, Benjamin West was an autodidact, while excelling at the arts, he had little education and, even when president of the Royal Academy, could scarcely spell. From 1746 to 1759, West worked in Pennsylvania, mostly painting portraits, while West was in Lancaster in 1756, his patron, a gunsmith named William Henry, encouraged him to paint a Death of Socrates based on an engraving in Charles Rollins Ancient History. His resulting composition, which differs from the source, has been called the most ambitious. During this time West met John Wollaston, a painter who had immigrated from London. West was a friend of Benjamin Franklin, whose portrait he painted. Franklin was the godfather of Wests second son, Benjamin, in common with many artists architects and lovers of the fine arts at that time he conducted a Grand Tour. West expanded his repertoire by copying works of Italian painters such as Titian, in Rome he met a number of international neo-classical artists including German-born Anton Rafael Mengs, Scottish Gavin Hamilton, and Austrian Angelica Kauffman. In August 1763, West arrived in England, on what he intended as a visit on his way back to America. In fact, he never returned to America and he stayed for a month at Bath with William Allen, who was also in the country, and visited his half-brother Thomas West at Reading at the urging of his father. In London he was introduced to Richard Wilson and his student Joshua Reynolds and he moved into a house in Bedford Street, Covent Garden. In 1765 he married Elizabeth Shewell, an American to whom he engaged in Philadelphia. All three prelates commissioned work from him, in 1766 West proposed a scheme to decorate St Pauls Cathedral with paintings. It was rejected by the Bishop of London, but his idea of painting an altarpiece for St Stephen Walbrook was accepted, at around this time he also received acclaim for his classical subjects, such as Orestes and Pylades and The Continence of Scipio. Benjamin West was known in England as the American Raphael and his Raphaelesque painting of Archangel Michael Binding the Devil is in the collection of Trinity College, Cambridge
