top of page

What were the causes and consequences of the Massey Commission?

 

     The Massey Commision or Royal Commission On National Development in Arts, Letters and Sciences, was appointed on April 8 1949 by Prime Minister St-Laurent and Vincent Massey, a politician, diplomat and governor general (appointed in 1952). St-Laurent put Massey in charge of researching Canadian culture and developing the Massey Report, which advocated for the federal government to spend more on creating and preserving Canadian culture. The report found that America had too much of an influence and Canada didn’t have much of its own culture. The commission’s recommendations were then performed by the government which lead to the preservation of Canadian culture.

     The causes of the Massey Commission was pressure from groups across Canada. Art groups across Canada demanded more government support and said that art could be used to protect democracy. They said that in countries like Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, they used art institutions to spread propaganda, so they could do the same in Canada to protect democracy. There was also a concern that America had too much influence over Canada. Theatres played American films, books were published in Canada, and music was influenced by America. Massey picked  Hilda Neatby, a history professor at the University of Saskatchewan; Arthur Surveyor, a civil engineer from Montréal; Norman Mackenzie, president of the University of British Columbia; and Georges Henri Lévesque, dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at Laval University; to write the report. They got over 1200 experts in various fields to present their studies and cases at over 450 meetings across Canada.They discussed the state of culture and the role of CBC, National Film Council and organizations. The final report was presented to the government with recommendations on how to improve Canadian culture and heritage.

     The recommendations of the report were acted on in the following years. St-Laurent acted on extra funding for universities right away to help provide better education and to increase innovation. In 1957, the Canadian Council for the Arts was created. It’s goal was to “foster and promote the study and enjoyment of, and the production of works in, the arts.” It’s support was giving scholarships to Canadians wishing to study the arts, promoting Canadian music, dance and theatre, and giving awards to young artists. In between 2011 and 2012, over 6000 grants for tuition were given by the council. Another significant impact was the creation of a national library (now known as Library and Archives Canada), an expansion to the National Gallery, and an expansion to the National Film Board. The National Film Board gained a French separate branch and the National Gallery’s building was expanded. From 1971 to 1981, the number of people working in an art related career went from 156 000 to 273 000: a 74% increase in art related careers compared to a 39% increase in total workforce. The audience numbers for performing arts went from 5 million to 9 million and the government spending on culture went from $400 million to $1.8 billion.

 

     The Auto Pact (Canada-US Automotive Products Agreement) was an agreement between manufacturers in July 1965 to create a single North American market for vehicles. The agreement caused Canada and America to remove tariffs on all cars, trucks, buses and automotive parts, and that General Motors, Ford and Chrysler would ensure that the sales-production ratio did not drop below the 1964 levels. Before the agreement, 97% of cars sold in Canada was Canadian-made, but had most parts imported from America. In 1964, 7% of Canadian made cars were sold in America, but by 1968, it had increased to 60%. In between 1965 and 1982, Canada had an automotive trade deficit of $12.1 billion with the United States, which consisted of a $28 billion surplus in assembled vehicles and a $40 billion deficit for automotive parts. The purpose of the Auto Pact was to reduce production and consumer costs of vehicles for Canada.

     The Auto Pact changed the Canadian auto industry severely. The Auto Pact prevented manufacturers from having free trade with other countries such as Japan. This limited free trade agreements Canada could have. Due to this, Canada adopted the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s regulations instead of Europe’s consensus based ones. One of the benefits to Canada’s industry was that it increased employment in the sector. There was a total of 76 000 people employed in Canada’s auto sector in 1965, which increased to 125 000 in 1978. The Auto Pact caused an increase in jobs in the auto industry for Canada. The more efficient production caused more cars and sales. This meant that the companies could grow, adding more jobs and increasing wages for Canadian workers. However, a negative was that administration, research and development were all based in America. This meant that the Canadian auto industry lost control over its operations. They couldn’t decide on which parts to make, how to market their products, designing new parts and company policies. Due to the Auto Pact, the Canadian auto industry grew, but at the cost of letting American companies take over the industry and build their branch plants.

 

National Gallery of Canada (Above)

Library and Archives Canada (Below)

Vincent Massey. Man who wrote and was in charge of the Massey Commisssion

SIDE DISHES

In what ways did the Auto Pact change the Canadian auto industry?

 

bottom of page