The Third Option was a
proposal from
Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
Secretary of State for External Affairs
The Minister of Foreign Affairs (french: Ministre des Affaires étrangères) is the minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet who is responsible for overseeing the Government of Canada's international relations and is the lead minister respo ...
Minister
Mitchell Sharp in 1972 which would have reduced
trade
Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market.
An early form of trade, barter, saw the direct excha ...
and
cultural relations between Canada and the United States and allowed for more
diversification
Diversification may refer to:
Biology and agriculture
* Genetic divergence, emergence of subpopulations that have accumulated independent genetic changes
* Agricultural diversification involves the re-allocation of some of a farm's resources to ...
of
bilateral
Bilateral may refer to any concept including two sides, in particular:
*Bilateria, bilateral animals
*Bilateralism, the political and cultural relations between two states
*Bilateral, occurring on both sides of an organism ( Anatomical terms of l ...
agreements.
Sharp's proposal was a clear rejection of the "
status quo" and of closer relations with the United States. The proposal would have been achieved by "develop(ing) and strengthen(ing) the
Canadian economy
The economy of Canada is a highly developed mixed-market economy. It is the 8th-largest GDP by nominal and 15th-largest GDP by PPP in the world. As with other developed nations, the country's economy is dominated by the service industry wh ...
and other aspects of its national life and in the process reduce the present Canadian vulnerability." However, the Third Option proposal eventually disappeared as the
Mulroney Ministry took over.
Related links
*
American-Canadian relations
*
Brain drain
External links
"Third Option" ''The Canadian Encyclopedia''
1972 in Canada
Canada–United States relations
1972 in international relations
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