Give evidence to prove that Canada was opposed to free trade in the early 20th century.?

Question

Give evidence to prove that Canada was opposed to free trade in the early 20th century.?

Answer 1

In the 1878 election the Conservative Party, headed by John MacDonald, campaigned on a protectionist program called “the National Policy”. MacDonald defeated the Liberal Party which campaigned on free trade.

This policy was kept in place by successive Canadian governments. When the Liberals won the election of 1896, they promised to keep the National Policy in place. When the Liberals campaigned on a policy of free trade in 1911, they lost the election.

In 1913, Canada had an average import tariff of 18%. In 1925, Canada had an average tariff of 16%. This was less than the US (29%), but more than the low tariff of Britain (4%). A month before the introduction of the US Smoot-Hawley Tariff in 1930, Canada retaliated by imposing duties on 16 commodities that accounted for 30% of US exports to Canada.

The National Policy was only gradually dismantled during the many years of Liberal rule that began under McKenzie King in 1935. Canada did not achieve complete free trade until Canada-US Free Trade Agreement in 1988.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Po...

http://faculty.marianopolis.edu/c.belang...

http://www.economics.adelaide.edu.au/con...

http://www.upei.ca/~rneill/canechist/top...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoot-Hawle...