Canadian Economic History - Assignment Example

Still, several provinces relied on exports and on the revenues which were generated by the major industries. In the eighties, the majority of Canadians moved to cities and several of them were associated with white-collar jobs. In the sixties, the electricity sector in Quebec province was nationalized in order to remove disparities and fluctuation in rates. During the same period, Canada signed Automotive Pact with the United States, which concentrated on changing the North American car manufacturing landscape and sought to establish more friendly relations between the two countries (Norrie, Owram, and Emery, 163).

This assisted in improving the Canadian economy. In the seventies, the foundations for the James Bay project were laid in Quebec. This hydroelectric project is considered to be the largest development in Canadian economic history. The OPEC oil crisis in the seventies led to an increase in the prices of oil. In 1973, the Canadian government established Petro-Canada to stimulate and encourage the exploration of oil and gas and to develop tar sands of Alberta. At the same time, it concentrated on getting hold of reliable imports and to understand the strategic importance of the industry.

During the seventies, the Canadian government put efforts to control domestic oil prices (Norrie, Owram, and Emery, 172). In the year 1975, the Anti-Inflation Act was incorporated which concentrates on the escalation of wage and price inflation. Consequently, the Consumer Price Index inflation was 10.7 percent in the year 1974. in 1975, it was 10.9 percent. The 1980s and 1990sIn the eighties, Canada experiences an economic recession. There was a great impact on the mineral and manufacturing industry.

In 1982, mining activities and operations in Yukon were shut down. More than seven hundred thousand miners were unemployed because of the recession. In the mid-eighties, the Canadian economy recovered itself and its economic growth was highest among all OECD countries. However, there were vast differences in economies of different Canadian provinces. Central provinces were economically and financially strong, whereas western provinces experience economic recession because of the decrease in prices of oil and other natural resources.

The Atlantic Provinces also experienced turnover (Norrie, Owram, and Emery, 175). In 1990, the Canadian economy started to contract and was heavily affected by the recession. Although recovery began in 1991, Canada experienced high rates of unemployment and budget deficit. However, it should be noted that in the nineties the Canadian economic growth rate was about three percent. In the year 1992, the unemployment rate was about twelve percent, which gradually declined to eight percent in 1999.

Because of the economic recession of the early eighties and nineties, high unemployment rates, budget deficits, and disaffection were witnessed. Because of the declining economy, the Progressive Conservative Party was rejected severely.