In the years following World War Two, Canada displayed its newfound role as one of the leading nations of the world. The conclusion of the Second World War created a time of remarkable economic prosperity throughout the country. Canada's economy boomed as it shifted from being primarily resource based to becoming a significantly service based economy. Also, the end of the war brought a noteworthy political alteration. Canada became increasingly independent from Britain as well as becoming an internationally accepted political power on a world front. Cultural transformations were also clear after World War Two. It became apparent to the Canadian Government that it would have to work to preserve and protect a distinctive Canadian culture and also incorporate the increasing immigrant population. With these changes, Canada emerged from the Second World War as a stronger nation, not only economically, but also in a political and cultural sense.
Firstly, the 1950s were a time of enormous growth in the industries of Canada. Prior to the end of the Second World War; Canada's economy was for the most part resourced based. However, with the conclusion of World War Two, Canada shifted to a more service based economy. By 1955, service industries accounted for 50 per cent of the country's income, with the remaining 50 per cent coming from manufacturing and construction, and the extraction and processing of primary products . Agriculture was still dominant in the primary industries, but forest and mineral products displayed increasing expansion at the time. With the increase of the service and manufacturing industries came an overall boost in the economy. As a result of the success of the service based economy, the gross national product grew from $12 billion in 1946 to something over $30 billion in the first half of 1957 . These statistics show an average increase of 25 per cent per year while the average increase per year in Can...