Pearson was appointed as Canadian Ambassador to the United States in and played an important role in the creation of both the United Nations and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Laurent, as well as the MP for Algoma East During his service as Prime Minister, he is noted for implementing the Canadian Pension Plan, universal health care, and the creation of the new Canadian flag. In , Pearson called a general election but again failed to secure a majority.
In the next year, the Munsinger scandal erupted with even more partisan bitterness. In December , Pearson announced his intention to retire. In April , a Liberal convention picked Pierre Trudeau as his successor. For all its superficial chaos, the Pearson government left behind a notable legacy of legislation: a Canada Pension Plan ; a universal medicare system; a unified Armed Forces ; and a new national flag. Not all of these initiatives proved fruitful and some were costly; but they represented the high point of the Canadian welfare state that generations of social thinkers had dreamed about.
In retirement, Pearson worked on his memoirs and on a study of international aid for the World Bank. From the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online. From the Nobel Foundation. Extraordinary Canadians: Lester B. From indigo. Search The Canadian Encyclopedia. Remember me. I forgot my password. Why sign up? Create Account. Suggest an Edit. Enter your suggested edit s to this article in the form field below.
Pearson took over the post of undersecretary of state for External Affairs in the fall of , but gave it up two years later for the possibility of action in a larger arena. In that year, Louis S. Laurent, the secretary of state, became prime minister of a Liberal government, replacing his retiring leader, Mackenzie King. Pearson drafted the speech in which Prime Minister St. Pearson also headed the Canadian delegation to the UN from to , being elected to the presidency of the Seventh Session of the General Assembly in In the Suez crisis of , when the United Kingdom, France, and Israel invaded Egyptian territory, Pearson proposed and sponsored the resolution which created a United Nations Emergency Force to police that area, thus permitting the invading nations to withdraw with a minimum loss of face.
When the Liberals were defeated in the elections of , Pearson relinquished his cabinet post but, accepting that of leader of the Opposition, began to rebuild the party. Six years later, when the Conservative government lost the confidence of the electorate, especially on the issues raised by the Cuban confrontations between the United States and Russia, and when Pearson, after a careful review of his philosophical position on national defence, announced his willingness to accept nuclear warheads from the United States, the Liberal Party was voted enough strength to establish a government with Pearson as prime minister.
In control for five years, Pearson pursued a bipartisan foreign policy based on a philosophy of internationalism. In domestic policy he implemented programs long discussed but never adopted; among them, in the field of social legislation: provisions for old age pensions, medical care, and a generalized «war on poverty»; in education: governmental assistance for higher education and technical and vocational education; in governmental operations: redistribution of electoral districts and reformation of legislative procedures.
The most acrimonious debate of his half-decade in office centered on legislation to create a new flag for Canada. This legislation became the battlefield of the Conservatives, who wanted some portion of the design to recognize the traditions of the past, versus the Liberals, who wanted to eliminate historical symbols.
The Liberals won and the new flag was raised on February 15, He served at home and abroad, as leader of the country and president of the seventh session of the United Nations General Assembly. Pearson was named a Companion of the Order of Canada and was awarded an Order of the British Empire and an Order of Merit, the highest honour in the Commonwealth, for his service during a historic time in the 20th century.
Born in Newtonbrook, Ont.
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