EXPO A CHC 2D Canadian History Presentation

UNEXPECTED starting in the 1850s, cities began to host expositions in which various countries would show off their latest advances in science and technology in 1958, the idea was proposed that Canada should host this world’s fair to celebrate its centennial Toronto was selected but the city council rejected it Montreal’s mayor backed the idea, so Montreal became the host bid for Canada

UNEXPECTED at the Bureau International des Expositions meeting in Paris in 1960, Moscow beat Montreal to host the fair Moscow was to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the revolution Moscow scrapped the plan in 1962 due to cost and security concerns Montreal’s new mayor, Jean Drapeau, wanted Montreal to try again — and this time, it won

EXPO Drapeau proposed St. Helen’s Island as the site the cost of Expo was to be more than the St. Lawrence Seaway — and barely passed through Parliament by one vote Montreal used some of the money to tear down the slums downtown and replace them with new buildings it also used the money to build a subway system for Montreal — and, in a brilliant move, decided to use the material from underground to expand the islandbrilliant move

EXPO diplomat Pierre Dupuy went to 125 countries between 1964 and 1965 to solicit for exhibits the theme for the exhibit was “Man And His World” to boost national interest in the fair, the Canadian government commissioned a song to be played during the yeara song

EXPO the fair opened on 27 April 1967 and closed on 29 October 1967 it was the most successful world’s fair of the 20th century, including the largest one day attendance (569,500 people on its third day) the fair’s opening was covered internationallycovered internationally many celebrities visited Expo, and The Ed Sullivan Show aired live from the site

EXPO architecturally, the fair featured some of the most innovative designs possible a highlight of the fair was the U.S. pavilion, which was built inside a dome by Buckminster-Fuller another highlight of the fair was Moshe Safdie’s Habitat, a modular way of building housing for the future the National Film Board made sure to film the entire site for a series of documentariesseries of documentaries

EXPO

not every day was a great day for Expo anti-war protestors came to site when President Johnson came to visit Kuwait pulled out in response to the way the west responded to the Six Day War and then there was Charles De Gaulle

EXPO when De Gaulle visited Montreal on 24 July 1967, he went to Montreal’s city hall to meet Drapeau from the balcony, De Gaulle announced “Vive Montréal… Vive le Québec… Vive le Québec Libre!” in English: long live Canada, long live Quebec, long live a Quebec free of Canada

AFTERMATH even though the fair ended in October — and the pavilions meant to be temporary — the majority of the facility was kept open until 1984 Expo was remembered favourably by the majority of Canadians and would become a key moment of the country coming together in its centennial another moment would be the Toronto Maple Leafs winning the Stanley Cup (the last time they would win)