Canada's Perception Of The 1967 World Exhibition

The primary source above (Aerial view of the site and the pavilions) directly shows the location and attractions of Expo 67. For instance, one can see the various pavilions such as the nine-story inverted pyramid: the Canadian Pavilion, or the giant glass sphere: the US pavilion. The source indirectly reveals the magnitude of the event by displaying the large space, infrastructure and quantity of pavilions that were built solely for Expo 67. Expo 67, less commonly known as the 1967 World Exhibition, was an annual event to showcase the progression of various nations around the world. Typically the event is held by any country who wished to volunteer their land and time to run the event. The 1967 World Exhibition, was hosted by Canada to celebrate
Along with Senator Drouin, Senator Sarto Fournier presented the idea to the Bureau International des Expositions or BIE, in Paris. (Lambert) This idea was crucial to Expo 67’s success since it became a special event that celebrated the 100th anniversary of the hosting country, in addition to the world’s progression. Furthermore, Canada was fairly hesitant to host the Expo because of the large cost of the project. For instance, in 1966 the Canadian Corporation, a company created for the sake of building and running the exhibition, calculated approximately $320 million capital-incurred costs of Expo 67, with a deficit of $82 million. (Lambert) This was a huge deal, since hosting the 1967 World Exhibition would only result in Canada losing money. Moreover, since Canada did not have any suitable locations for Expo 67, the government was forced to expand Ile Sainte-Helene and create another new island, Ile Notre-Dame. This caused the cost of building the location to rise from $10 million to $40 million. (Lambert) This proved that the Expo would be a tremendous project to take on since the $40 million only covered building the location of the event. In addition, the pavilions of the Expo themselves were highly expensive. In fact,
First and foremost, Expo 67 created a spark in the Québec Sovereignty Movement. On July 24th, Charles de Gaulle, the president of France who was visiting Canada for Expo 67, addressed a crowd at Montréal’s City Hall and stated, “Vive Montréal… Vive le Québec… Vive le Québec Libre!” (“Expo 67”) This speech inspired the beliefs of many Québec separatists such as Pierre Bourgault. Bourgault once said, “Because for the first time in 200 years he has come to our land to tell us in French what he thinks. He is the first man who is a winner to come and say to us: don't give up!" In other words, De Gaulle's statement ignited the hearts of separatists since the leader of their motherland was telling them that they were being oppressed by the anglophones in Canada, which only reinforced the opinions they already had. Furthermore, within a few months, Rene Lévesque launched the Parti Québécois with ideals that fueled the sovereigntist movement. (“Expo 67”) Expo 67, which was the reason for De Gaulle's visit, inspired many important people such as Lévesque, who almost divided Canada with the Quebec referendum. On the other hand, Expo 67 also had many positive benefits for Canada in the following years. As a result of Expo 67, there was a huge increase in tourist revenues of approximately $480 million. (Lambert) Global events such as Expo 67 often result in deficits, but it is still beneficial since they promote the country