Lester B. Pearson: 14th Prime Minister of Canada

Pierre Trudeau is one of Canada’s most renowned Prime Ministers. He was in office April 20, 1968, to June 4, 1979, and later on March 3, 1980, to June 30, 1984,.¹ An event that Pierre Trudeau is well known for is the enactment of the War Measures Act during the October Crisis. This decision to invoke the War Measures Act during the October Crisis has led to a great deal of controversy on whether the act was justified. The October Crisis was a series of events in October 1970, these events began with the kidnappings of James Cross and later Pierre Laporte by the group known as the FLQ (Front de libération du Québec) the group’s main goals were to create an independent Quebec.2 The group resorted to terrorist acts in order to achieve those goals, this later led to Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau invoking the War Measures Act. The War Measures Act was a federal statute adopted by parliament during WWI and has been used 3 times; during WWI, WWII and during the October Crisis. The act gives major power to the Canadian government to uphold security during times of great distress.3 Pierre Trudeau was justified in enacting the War Measures Act during the October Crisis. One reason that Pierre Trudeau was justified in invoking the War Measures Act is that the FLQ was essentially a terrorist organization responsible for the deaths and injuries of countless people. Since the group was formed in the early 1960’s, the terrorist group’s acts had only worsened from mailbox bombings to

To add on, Lester B. Pearson accomplished a very great task, he created the first UN peacekeeping force. This may not sound like a huge thing, but there is a very good reason to why Pearson created this force. That reason is the Suez Crisis. On July 26, 1956 the Egyptian President, Abdul Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal without giving any compensation to the real owners of the canal – France and Britain. Nasser could now block the canal and this could “cripple the British economy” (suezcrisis.ca). France and Britain both could not let that happen so they secretly decided to have an agreement with Israel. Israel was then asked to launch an attack on Egypt, they agreed as the arms building up in Egypt threatened Israel. Once Israel attacked France and Britain used it as a distraction and bombed Egyptian positions. From there, all hell began to get lose. The whole Western alliance started to rip apart. Before things started to get worse, ours truly, Lester Bowles Pearson came into act. He started

Pierre Trudeau was an effective prime minister because he created the Constitution Act as well as the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, made the Official Languages Act and decided to use the War Measures Act during the October crisis. These made Canada what it is today because of Pierre Trudeau.

Lastly he helped solve global conflicts between nations by putting together the United Nations Emergency Force to help stop the Suez Canal crisis in 1957. We support the effort that is being done and come together and mutually agree with one another that a peace treaty must be agreed upon (Lester B. Pearson, 148-150). The Newspaper stated that an immediate cease-fire was in effect for both countries and a U.N force was to patrol the borders if need be (John English, 136). At the time what he did by creating the United Nations Emergency Force was considered the first real demonstrations of what would be called

Unforgettable actions that will always be remembered in honour of Mackenzie King, which made him such a great leader. In my opinion William Lyon Mackenzie King showed that he was an effective leader through his duty of being Canada's 10th Prime Minister for 29 years. King made huge impacts on many lives and both world wars in being Canada's best Prime Minister. Mackenzie King did many effective actions throughout his years of being Prime Minister, however three events stood out the most. King showed that he was an effective leader because he created crown corporations, had a dream to start the British Commonwealth Air Training Program and created Unemployment Insurance for people who needed it. Not only did he serve the longest time as Canada's Prime Minister but he successfully affected many lives.

Pierre Trudeau is the greatest Canadian of the twentieth century due to the fact that he declared Canada’s independence from Great Britain, he abolished the death penalty, and he created the Official Languages Act, making our nation entirely bilingual.

Pierre Elliot Trudeau was arguably one of the most vivacious and charismatic Prime Ministers Canada has ever seen. He wore capes, dated celebrities and always wore a red rose boutonniere. He looked like a superhero, and often acted like one too. Some of the landmark occurrences in Canadian history all happened during the Trudeau era, such as patriating the constitution, creating the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the 1980 Quebec Referendum. However, it is Trudeau’s 1969 “white paper” and the Calder legal challenge which many consider to be one of his most influential contributions to Canadian history.

Prime Ministers of Change: Lester Pearson vs John Diefenbaker Gandhi once said, “We must be the change we wish to see in the world.” Lester Pearson and John Diefenbaker are two of countless individuals who have put this advice to action. These two influential Prime Ministers have made multiple important changes to Canada and the world. Despite having different goals and priorities, both Prime Ministers have improved the lives of many and are considered important in Canadian history. Though John Diefenbaker has made numerous contributions that benefited the country, Lester Pearson made extensive and constructive changes that not only bettered Canada, but that also shaped our future and our identity, making him the more significant Prime Minister.

William Lyon Mackenzie King once said “It is what we prevent, rather than what we do that counts;” although he may have sought truth in his statement, there were numerous occasions where he didn’t abide by it, and his actions contradicted his morals. King represented Canada in the role of a dominant political figure (that is, the Prime Minister back in the years 1926-30 and 1935-48) with a reign lasting longer than any other to this date. Since then, King’s time as prime minister has stirred up controversy towards the topic of whether or not he was an effective leader for those 21 years. While King undoubtedly had his accomplishments, the damage he inflicted upon our country significantly outweighs his successes. His campaign may have been

Not only was the Ottawa process a great exemplar of political diplomacy, but so was the Suez Crisis. The Suez Crisis was created by tensions between the partnership of Great Britain and France, the United States, and the passive threat of the Soviet Union, as the Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nassar took control of the canal, a major route for Britain’s oil transportation (Tattrie). Tensions were rough already due to the Cold War, and Canada held an important mediation role to prevent a potential third world war.

In “Developing better political leaders: The case for a school government,” Paul G. Thomas argues that Canadian society needs a school of government to improve the quality of its politicians. Through this educational process political leaders will develop their skills and become more credible, effective and ethically aware, benefitting Canada on a social and economic level. Thomas reveals the current degree of mistrust between Canadian citizens and their political representatives. The political parties ability to “campaign in poetry and govern in prose”(247) further heightens Canadians dissatisfaction with their leaders. He states politicians manipulate public opinion to gain voter support and this results in election promises that are not implemented. Also, he suggests a

Born in Montreal on October 18, 1919, Pierre Trudeau was the 15th Prime Minister of Canada for nearly 16 years. As one of Canada’s greatest Prime Ministers, he provided for Canada, resulting in great strides for the country. He promoted diversity, established Canadian rights and freedoms, and unified the nation we are now proud to call our home. One of Trudeau’s most important policies was to enforce multiculturalism, and to make it a part of Canadian identity.

International Relations is how countries (Canada) interacted with each other. The 1956 Suez Crisis was a military and political encounter in Egypt that undermined to partition the United States and Great Britain, conceivably hurting the Western military collusion that had won the Second World War. Lester B. Pearson, who later won the election and became prime minister of Canada, won a Nobel Peace Prize for utilizing the world's first, substantial scale United Nations peacekeeping power to demilitarize the circumstance. I chose this picture/event for the reason that a Canadian stopped the Suez crisis from getting any bigger and leading into a war. This is significant because this was the first time the UN used a peacekeeping force on a large

Sir John A. MacDonald was the first Prime Minister of Canada. He is greatly acknowledged today on the many accomplishments he had achieved during his run. Even though he was a great leader, there were still many ways he was famously known for. Down below is a comparison and contrast of John A. MacDonald's characteristics from the movie, "John A.: Birth of the country", and from the book, "Louis Riel: A comic-strip biography”.

Lester B Pearson, was born on the 23rd of April, 1897, he has 2 brothers, which of him being in the middle, with his 3 year older brother, Duke Pearson, along with the year younger Vaughn Pearson. His mother Anne Bowles was a very strong and diligent mother that took care of all her three loving children, Pearson’s dad’s career was awkwardly a sheriff, and a part time minister, Pearson’s Family had good spirits and were living as the farmer like life, the 3 boys have attended various combinations of school, sports and church.