After World War 2 as soldiers returned home they were looking to settle down, start families and make up for lost years caused by the war. This became known as the baby boom which first began in Canada in 1947 and lasted until 1966, it started later and lasted a couple years longer compared to the United States. This baby boom not only effected Canada then but continues to effect the country today and into the future. The baby boom effected Canada in many different ways, starting with how Canada’s demographics drastically changed in the early years of the boom. Another change was the economy which blossomed and, whose target audience were mainly the Boomers. The baby boomers are still affecting Canada today as they age and retire. Many events have impacted Canada into the country it is today but there is no event that has made such a decisive impact than the Baby Boom.
First of all the baby boom affected the demographics of Canada especially in the fifties and sixties. In the years after the war young couples quickly decided to settle down, buy homes and start families. In 1959 Canada had the highest birthrate in the industrial world (Bain, 2000, p. 217) The Canadian government created the Central Mortgage and Housing Corporation, which made it easy for the young couples to obtain long term mortgages. This resulted in thousands of homes being built along with around 1400 churches (Bain, 2000, p.219). There soon became a Renton 2 high demand for schools, first starting with elementary, and as the children aged high schools and universities were built up. In the early nineteen hundreds before the baby boom an average student only spent six years attending school due to farming duties and only one in ten students graduated from High School. (Bain 2000, p.219) However the boomers stayed in school much longer because of the rapidly expanding economy, which required more education. Also the high demand for housing caused cities to
Cited: Bain, Colin M., et al. Making History: The Story of Canada in the Twentieth Century. Toronto, Ontario 2000. Crawley, Phillip. " Baby Boomers: the way we were. " CTVglobemedia. Dec. 2006. 3 Jan. 2007 Cork, David. The pig and the python: how to prosper from the aging baby boom. Toronto Stoddart Publishing Co. Limited, 1996 Foot, David.K. “The boom is fading. ” Footwork Consulting. 19 Oct. 2006. 20 Dec. 2006 Fortin, Pierre. " In Depth 2020-The baby boomers tab. “ CBC News Online. 17 July 2006. 10 December 2006 Karol J. Krotki, Jacques Henripin. “Baby Boom.” The Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica Foundation. 2006. cited Sept 1 2006. ; available from http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&=A1ARTA0000437 " The Baby Boomer HeadQuarters: so what’s a boomer anyhow? " Boomers HeadQuarters Online. 1998-2007. 5 Jan 2007 http://www.bbhq.com/whatsabm.htm