A cornerstone of Sir John A. Macdonald’s vision for the country he played a critical role in creating was a staunchly protectionist trade policy, to allow the growth of the new nation’s fledgling industrial sector against the American giants.
The pro-free trade Liberals of the time opposed the National Policy of Macdonald’s Conservatives, which imposed high tariffs on goods imported into Canada. However, over the century and a half that followed, the perspectives of the two sides changed and eventually merged, with free trade with the United States—or the reduction of trade barriers as much as possible—becoming a given part of life in Canada.
