DCHP-3

National Policy

Historical
DCHP-3.1 (Jan 2026)

Spelling variants:
"national policy", N.P. (see separate entry)

n. — Politics, Canada-US Relations

a policy of the Conservative party in the 1870s, which stressed protective tariffs.

Type: 4. Culturally Significant — A policy of the Conservative party under Sir John A. Macdonald, which stressed protective tariffs and was the basis of a successful appeal to the electorate in 1878. From that point on till the end of World-War II (see The Canadian Encyclopedia, high tariffs protected or isolated (depending on the concrete circumstances and viewpoints) the Canadian economy. Integration of the Canadian and US economies gained momentum after 1945 with a reduction of the protectionist tariffs of the National Policy and reached a first milestone in the Auto Pact of 1965 beginning a phase that lasted until Donald Trump's US presidency.

Quotations

1870
Dr. Tupper . . . has acquired a new source of popularity . . . by his vigorous advocacy of what he has . . . called a "national policy". . . .
1873
That this House is of the opinion that the welfare of Canada requires the adoption of a National Policy, which, by a judicious readjustment of the tariff, will benefit and foster the agricultural, the mining, the manufacturing and other interests of the Dominion.
1878
"It was, as we have seen, unanimous; reciprocal policy men, national policy men, high protectionists, low protectionists, and revenue tariff supporters, all finding a happy basis of agreement on the till now well-abused tariff of 17 per cent."
1886
A supporter of the National Policy himself, [Mr. Macdougall] declares that the Federal Ministry have exceeded the authority to raise taxation which they could fairly claim.
1893-1898
"Undoubtedly [Senator George] Drummond extolled the glories of National Policy and the economic catastrophe that would follow a Liberal victory."
1896
[...] when the assertion was ventured by the Liberal party that the inauguration of the National Policy [...] worked injury to the British connection [...]
1931
There is no conflict between our cheering National policy of Canada First, and your wholehearted belief in the unity of the British Empire; one is but complementary to the other.
1965
The Gordon policies for control on foreign investment and a government development corporation to buy into private enterprise, were corollaries to the Conservative Party's "National Policy" of the 1800's on which our present tariff structure and protection for Canadian industry is still based.
1976
Why not explain what the difference was between the “bleus” and the “rouges” in Quebec, or what Sir John A. Macdonald’s National Policy was all about?
1990
Sir John A. Macdonald's "national policy" of tariff protection was a response, about half a century later, to what was then called "the Great Depression," a seven-year downer from which Canada didn't recover until the mid-1890s.
2003
A Father of Confederation, Tilley is credited with bringing New Brunswick into the union; as Macdonald's Finance Minister, he introduced the National Policy of tariff protection.
2020
Unable to get a reciprocity deal with the U.S., Macdonald embraced the protectionist National Policy, although he continued to seek the elusive prize of free trade.
2025
And if we sort of flash forward to the late 1890s, the Canadian government by that point under Sir John A. Macdonald had put in place some tariffs called the national policy, essentially a way to kind of build up our little kind of Canadian industry, sort of parallels to what Mr. Trump wants to do with his tariffs and, but was hoping to have trade, a trade deal with the Americans.

References