Transcript Canada and the Cold War, 1945-1957

CANDU Reactor

The CANDU (short for CANada Deuterium
Uranium) reactor is a Canadian-invented,
pressurized heavy water reactor.

CANDU reactors were first developed in the
late 1950s and 1960s.

All power reactors built in Canada are of the
CANDU type.
Alouette 1

With the launch of Alouette 1 in September
1962 Canada (via the CSA = Canadian
Space Agency) became the third country to
put a man-made satellite into space.
Lester B. Pearson
Minister of External Affairs 1950s
 PM of Canada 1963-1968


Pearson campaigned during the election
promising "60 Days of Decision" and support for
the Bomarc missile program = defeated
Diefenbaker.

Played a key role in Canada’s relationship with
the UN.
Lester B. Pearson

Proposed that the UN form a peacekeeping
military arm to police situations where countries
were in combat.

The proposal was accepted during the Suez
Crisis in 1956.
Lester B. Pearson

Canada sent a peacekeeping force (the first
ever used) to help police the region for a
decade.

Won the Nobel Peace Prize for his contribution.
Detente: 1970s

Detente:

A relaxing of the tensions
specifically during the
Cold War.
Detente: 1970s

Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty
(1968/1970):
 An agreement by countries to prevent the
spread (proliferation) of nuclear weapons.
Detente: 1970s

SALT: Strategic Arms Limitation Talks:
 1972 – SALT I: Limits ICBMs
(Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles).
 1979 – SALT II: Nuclear parity (equality) but
USSR invaded Afghanistan thus the USA
refused to sign.
Trudeau and the Cold War

Pierre Elliott Trudeau:

Served four terms as PM of
Canada (1968-1979; 19801984).
Trudeau and the Cold War

Changed Canada’s defence policies:
 Removed nukes from Canada’s NATO forces
in Europe.
 Dismantled BOMARC missile sites (surface to
air missiles).
Trudeau and the Cold War
 Removed all nuclear warheads from Canadian
soil by 1984.
 Cut Canada’s European NATO force in half.
 Set Canada up as middle power promoting
peace.
North American Defense

BOMARC Missile Crisis:
 1958 PM Diefenbaker announced an
agreement with the US to deploy in Canada 2
squadrons of the American ramjet-powered
"Bomarc" antiaircraft missile.
 This controversial defence decision came from
the 1957 NORAD agreement with the US.
North American Defense

BOMARC Missile Crisis:
 Fifty-six missiles were deployed in Ontario and
Québec.
 The Canadian government did not make it
clear that the Bomarc-B, was to be fitted with
nuclear warheads.
North American Defense

BOMARC Missile Crisis:
 When this became known in 1960 it gave rise
to a dispute as to whether Canada should
adopt nuclear weapons.
 Eventually they were delivered (after some
bad relations between the US + Canada) but
when Pierre Trudeau came to power in 1969
the warheads were removed/phased out.
Pierre Elliott Trudeau
Pierre Elliott Trudeau: Pirouette
Canadarm

Canadarm (1981):

Was a mechanical arm used on the Space
Shuttle to maneuver payloads.

Payload = carrying capacity of an aircraft or
space ship, including cargo, munitions,
scientific instruments or experiments.
Brian Mulroney

PM of Canada 1984-1993:

Introduced major economic reforms such as the
Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement = FTA.

FTA = a trade agreement signed by Canada and
the United States on October 4, 1988 to
eliminate barriers to trade in goods + services
and encourage fair competition.
Brian Mulroney

PM of Canada 1984-1993:

NAFTA + North American Free Trade
Agreement .

Is an agreement signed by the governments of
Canada, Mexico, and the United States,
creating a trilateral trade bloc in North America.
The agreement came into force on January 1,
1994.
Brian Mulroney

PM of Canada 1984-1993:

Mulroney's role within the Commonwealth was
matched by his leadership in La Francophonie,
which encompasses the countries of the world
where French is spoken or is of importance
culturally.

The role of Quebec within La Francophonie had
been an issue on which the government of
Pierre Trudeau had been adamant.
Problems with the USSR

Economic - slow growth, shortage of consumer
items, resources used inefficiently.

Sky high military spending – 15-25% vs. 5-7%.

Corruption – government and society.
Problems with the USSR

People began questioning communism.

Nationalism – 50% of people in the USSR were
not ethnic Russians; these ethnicities wanted
more power/recognition/rights (i.e. Ukraine,
Kazakhstan).

Could not keep up with the USA.
The Gorbachev Factor

Mikhail Gorbachev:

Took over the leadership of the USSR in 1985
from Konstantin Chernenko.

He changes the USSR – literally transformed it
out of existence.
The Gorbachev Factor

Gorbachev brought the old system down:
 Hierarchy of Soviets.
 Ethnic federalism.
 State socialism.
 Communist Party dominance.
Gorbachev:
Glasnost + Perestroika

Replaced the old system with:
 Glasnost = openness, encouraged open
debate, transparency, freedom of information.
 Perestroika = restructured the economy in
1987; main reason for the fall of Communism
in the USSR.
Gorbachev:
Independence

1989 – Czechoslovakia, East Germany,
Romania, Hungary, Poland, etc. withdraw from
Soviet control.

A coup is attempted in August of 1991 by
Communist hardliners, conservatives, and
patriots.
Gorbachev:
The End of the USSR

Soviet Republics declare independence in
December 1991.

1991:
 Communism is dead.
 The Cold War is over.
The End of the Cold War
Recap:

The Cold War ended with the collapse of the
USSR in 1991 due to:
 Economic strain of the nuclear arms race with
USA.
The End of the Cold War
 New social, political and economic reforms
showed the people that the government
wouldn’t use force to repress their rights
anymore.
 Eastern European countries demanded
change and overthrew communist
governments.
 USSR collapsed as member states (Ukraine,
Lithuania, etc.) declared independence.
The Fall of the Berlin Wall (1989)
Collapse of the Wall in 1989 symbolized the
beginning of the end of the Cold War
The USSR after the Fall

After Gorbachev created
changes the USSR
ceased to exist.

The USSR was renamed
the Commonwealth of
Independent States
(Russia became Russia
once more).
The USSR
after the Fall

Boris Yeltsin became President (1991-1999) –
First President of a Democratic Russia).

Vladimir Putin became the President (2000 –
Present) when Yeltsin resigned.
Communist China

Communist China too experienced a
perestroika, allowing capitalism to flourish in
many areas of the economy.

Many Chinese demanded political freedoms, as
well.
Communist China

However, their hopes were
brutally dashed in Tiananmen
Square Massacre in June of
1989.
 Chinese Red Army tanks
attacked students involved
in the democracy
movement, killing hundreds,
perhaps thousands.
Communist Governments

In the end only a few Communist governments
survived (Cuba, North Korea, China, Vietnam,
Laos).
 The great division between the East and West
(communist and non-communist world) had
gone.
Sole Superpower

With the collapse of the USSR, the USA was the
sole remaining “superpower”.
A New World Order?

After the US led UN forces in the first Gulf War
vs. Iraq (1991), President George Bush (Sr.)
declared a “new world order”:
 UN serving as a global peace force under US
guidance.
New World Order: Failures

Today, many question
the purpose of the UN
(under US “control?”)
after failures regarding
genocides in
Yugoslavia, Somalia,
Bosnia, Rwanda,
Darfur and more.
New World Order: Failures

Rwandan Genocide (1994):

The UN sent in UNAMIR to keep the peace
after a Civil War in Rwanda but soon the
genocide began.

The mass murder of an estimated 1 Million
people in the small East African nation of
Rwanda over the course of 100 days.
New World Order: Failures

Rwandan Genocide (1994):

It was the culmination of longstanding ethnic
discrimination/hatred between the minority
Tutsi, who had controlled power for centuries,
and the majority Hutu peoples.

Canadian Lieutenant General Roméo Dallaire
attempted to get the UN to react and stop the
genocide to no avail.
New World Order: Failures

UN authority was undermined further by the
US led Persian Gulf War in 1991 and the
American War on Iraq in 2003 = attacked
launched without UN support.