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The Canadian Dream
Canadians embrace the good life amid the prosperity of the post-war years
"I don't worry at all. I have a feeling I can do anything here. Anything can happen here. It is a little like being a child, with faith, again." - George Lukk, post-war immigrant
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Read these indepth articles about
The Canadian Dream
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Canadians embraced the good life in the post-war years. They had lived through the Great Depression and the Second World War, and were now enjoying the economic prosperity and unbridled optimism of a new era.
Prosperity
Canada was in a good economic position in the post-war years. It had built up its manufacturing sector during the war and was able to export a plethora of goods to European countries rebuilding after the devastation.
The country's primary resources were also in demand. Indeed, the most dramatic symbol of the post-war boom came in Alberta.
Oil wealth
For years, Alberta had only hinted at the riches that lay beneath its earth. People believed there was a wealth of oil but no one had found it. There had been false finds and minor strikes, but it was an industry defined more by possibility than reality.
On February 13, 1947 Imperial Oil drilled a last chance hole in a farmer’s field near Leduc, 17 miles southwest of Edmonton. It was the most significant field yet discovered, eventually supporting 1,278 wells and yielding 200,000 barrels of oil.
Good life
The housing boom was one of the most visible examples of the post-war heyday as Canadians embraced a consumer age like never before. Residential construction, which had been dormant during the Depression and then through the war, suddenly boomed as returning veterans married and had families.
New homes had all the latest conveniences including the latest rage called television. On September 4, 1952, Canada officially entered the television era when the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) went on the air.
But most of the drama and entertainment the CBC carried, and Canadians watched, were from the United States. American pop culture had begun a concentrated invasion of Canada and it came to symbolize the freedom and carefree living of the post-war era.
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