On March 11, the Council of Canadians is founded, with the goals of “a new and better Canada with more and better jobs for Canadians, a higher standard of living for Canadians, and a sovereign Canada that plays an important role among the world community of nations.” Within a year, its membership grows to 3,000.

Maude Barlow with Mel Hurtig, first chairperson of The Council of Canadians

Newly elected Council chairperson Maude Barlow, along with Canadian Auto Workers’ president Bob White, debate free trade with Alberta premier Peter Lougheed and corporate lobbyist Tom d’Aquino on national television. While Lougheed and d’Aquino speak in generalities, White and Barlow focus on the technicalities and the destructive nature of the agreement.

The Council fights the Mulroney government at every step in their plan to strip the National Energy Board of its powers to protect Canada’s energy security. The Council raises public awareness and debate on the issue, but loses the fight. The chairman of the NEB later states, “Now is not the time for energy nationalism. The NEB has become an agency that helps the market work.”

The Council establishes itself as a voice for economic sovereignty, organizing protests over the sale of Canadian enterprises to offshore interests – de Havilland to Boeing, Prentice Hall to Gulf & Western, and West Kootenay Power and Light to Utilicorp of Kansas.

The Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement comes into effect on January 1. Six months later, the Council releases a “Report Card” on the deal, stating that despite government promises to the contrary, more than 33,000 jobs have already been lost due to free trade.

The Council organizes a “Canada Summit” to coincide with U.S. President Ronald Reagan’s visit to Ottawa. The Pro-Canada Network (later the Action Canada Network) is created and its members tape the Canada Summit Declaration to the front door of Parliament Hill’s Centre Block.

Council chairperson Maude Barlow and former chairperson John Trent appear before the Royal Commission on Electoral Reform and Party Financing. They ask for a reduction and monitoring of third-party advocacy and advertising during elections, to make it difficult for a group to dominate debate due to financial power.

The Council, along with Friends of Canadian Broadcasting and the Canadian Union of Public Employees, forms a coalition called “100 Days of Action” to try to stop drastic cuts to the CBC. More than 1,000 employees and 11 regional production centres were to be cut in the 1991 budget. The public outcry forces the government to back off on some of the planned cuts.