Report 

Name: Tavo Toomemägi

Form: 8

2003

Discovery of Canada

The earliest discovery of the New World was made by Norse seafarers known as Vikings. The vague accounts of their exploits are drawn from their sagas, epic stories in prose or verse handed down by word of mouth through many generations. In AD 985 Norse seamen sailing from Iceland to Greenland were blown far westward off their course and sighted the coast of what must have been Labrador. The report of forested areas on the strange new coast encouraged further explorations by Norse colonists from Greenland, whose settlements lacked lumber.

In AD 1000 Leif Ericson became the first European to land in North America (see Ericson). According to the sagas, this was the first of many Norse voyages to the eastern shores of the continent. A colony was established in what the Vikings described as Vinland, identified in 1963 as being on the northernmost tip of Newfoundland. Recent investigations have cast doubt on the once-popular theory that the Vikings also penetrated Hudson Bay and reached the upper Great Lakes region by overland routes. Discoveries of "Norse" relics in that area have been exposed by scholars as hoaxes. The Greenland colony died out during the 14th and 15th centuries, and the Norse adventures in Canada must have come to an end well before that time.

In 1497 an Italian named John Cabot sailed west from Bristol, England, intent on finding a new trade route to the Orient for his patron, King Henry VII of England. This voyage led to the rediscovery of the eastern shores of Canada. Cabot was as confident as Columbus had been that a new seaway was now open to Asia. On a second voyage, the following year, Cabot explored the coast of North America, touching at various points--none too clearly charted--from Baffin Island to Maryland. The Cabot voyages gave England a claim by right of discovery to an indefinite area of eastern North America. Its later claims to Newfoundland, Cape Breton Island, and neighboring regions were at least partly based on Cabot's exploits.

Of more immediate significance were the explorer's reports of immensely rich fishing waters. The Roman Catholic countries of Western Europe furnished a market that made the ocean voyage worthwhile, even if it were made to gather the harvest of the sea instead of the spices and jewels of the Orient. Almost every year after 1497 an international mixture of fishing vessels could be seen on the offshore fisheries southeast of Newfoundland and east of Nova Scotia. Occasionally such ships even cruised into the Gulf of St. Lawrence. At times their crews encountered Indians along the shores who were willing to part with valuable furs in exchange for articles of little worth such as beads and other trinkets.

When it was realized that only the wilds of an unexplored new world had been discovered, there was a spirit of disillusionment in Europe. Gradually, however, this feeling was replaced by a fresh interest in North America, for Spanish and Portuguese adventurers were reported to be bringing home rich cargoes of gold and silver from the Caribbean. In 1524 King Francis I of France sent a Florentine navigator, Giovanni da Verrazano, on a voyage of reconnaissance overseas. Verrazano explored the eastern coastline of North America from North Carolina to Newfoundland, giving France too some claim to the continent by right of discovery.

The long period of Liberal domination in Parliament ended in 1957. The St. Laurent government was replaced when the Progressive Conservatives (called Conservatives before 1942) took office under the prime ministership of John G. Diefenbaker.

In the 1962 elections the Progressive Conservatives lost their control of Parliament, but no other party was able to win a majority. Diefenbaker, as leader of the largest minority party, formed a weak coalition government. In February 1963 his government fell on the issue of Canada's failure to execute its 1958 commitments to accept nuclear weapons from the United States for the joint defense of North America.

In general elections on April 8 the Liberals won more seats than any other party, and Liberal leader Lester B. Pearson was named prime minister of Canada in 1963 at the head of another minority government . In 1968 the Liberals chose Pierre Elliott Trudeau to succeed him. In the general elections in June, Trudeau won, with the Liberals taking a majority. This was the first election to use the electoral constituency boundaries of 1965.

In the October 1972 elections Trudeau's Liberals won but failed to gain a majority. They were able to stay in power with New Democratic support, but in May 1974 Trudeau's government fell. The Liberals won a new majority in the July parliamentary elections.

Economic issues brought about the Liberals' defeat five years later. The Progressive Conservatives, led by Joe Clark, formed a minority government that fell after only six months. Although Trudeau resigned his party leadership in November 1979, he was again named prime minister in 1980.

Trudeau resigned once again in 1984 and was succeeded by John Turner on June 30. On July 9, Turner called for dissolving Parliament and holding a new election. He retained ministers from the Trudeau Cabinet and appointed Trudeau supporters to the Senate, courts, and diplomatic posts.

Dissatisfaction with this continuation of Trudeau's influence led to victory in the September election for the Progressive Conservatives, under the leadership of Brian Mulroney. Mulroney sought to improve relations with the United States.

In October 1987 Canada and the United States reached agreement on a trade pact to eliminate all bilateral tariffs over a ten-year period beginning Jan. 1, 1989. The two countries signed a Great Lakes water-quality agreement in November. Both countries agreed to track and clean up sources of pollution.

In January 1988 abortion was legalized in Canada. Victories by Mulroney and his Conservative party in the November 1988 elections guaranteed passage of the free-trade agreement.

The socialist New Democratic party chose Audrey McLaughlin, the member of Parliament from the Yukon, as its leader in 1989--the first woman to head a major Canadian political party. While the international political climate became more conservative, the party began to dominate Canadian leadership in the early 1990s. New Democrats were elected premiers of the provinces of Ontario, Saskatchewan, and British Columbia.

With his popularity slumping, Mulroney resigned in February 1993. He was succeeded by Kim Campbell, who became the first female prime minister in Canadian history. Campbell and the Conservatives were annihilated in the October 1993 elections, retaining only two seats in the House of Commons. The Liberal party won 177 seats to take control of the government, and Jean Chretien became prime minister.

Modern Canadian Leadership 4-5