Why lester b. pearson is the greatest canadian

Pearson discusses the first volume of his memoirs with Peter Gzowski. A look at Lester Pearson's formative years before politics came knocking at his door. A day in the life of Prime Minister Lester B.

Pearson is documented in a CBC film that was…. Pearson argues attacking injustice can be a moral alternative to war and will allow everyone, especially young people, to constructively…. Lester B. Pearson bids farewell to politics as Trudeau is picked as his successor in Pundits and colleagues reflect on Pearson's term in office following his surprise retirement.

The Liberals faced a Conservative minority government under John Diefenbaker. In his first act as leader of the Opposition , Pearson challenged Diefenbaker to resign and turn the government over to him. Diefenbaker ridiculed the idea; in the subsequent general election, the Liberals were reduced to 49 of the seats in the House of Commons.

See also Elections of and Pearson began the slow task of rebuilding the party. With the assistance of parliamentary debaters such as Paul Martin and J.

Pickersgill , as well as party workers such as Walter Gordon , Mitchell Sharp and Maurice Lamontagne, Pearson re-established the Liberals as a national party. In , the Diefenbaker government collapsed over the issue of nuclear weapons. See Cuban Missile Crisis. In the election that February, the Liberals won seats to form a minority government. Pearson took office on 22 April 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. Pearson Building" from the address on his business card. He ordered a tribute to Mr. Pearson's Nobel Prize taken down from his department's website. And "with much offence intended," as historian John English notes, Mr. Baird named the former City Hall next to the Foreign ministry after Mr. Take that, Mike!

The cleansing didn't stop there. Denied federal funding, the Pearson Peacekeeping Centre was forced to close. Pearson called his greatest achievement — was ignored. Worse, Parks Canada quietly dismantled the replica of Mr. Pearson's study in Laurier House, the national historic site in Ottawa. The family, which had donated the artifacts in , was not told.

Now, the Liberals are in power and Mr. Pearson has returned from Elba. Sixty years after he won the Nobel Peace Prize on December 11, , the government hails him as the country's greatest diplomat and a transformative prime minister.

To the world, it declares: "Canada is back. Pearson is back. Canada is not. Pearson's champion is Chrystia Freeland, the Foreign Affairs Minister, who embraced his values in a signature address to Parliament in June. To her, Mr. Pearson was "the great Canadian, perhaps best known for advancing the cause of humanitarian internationalism.

She argues Canada is "an essential nation. Pearson would admire, applauding the ambition, and challenge — questioning the commitment. Almost 50 years since he left office, the need for Mr.