Intuitive Nationalist Walter Gordon as Thinker

Abstract

This article examines Walter Gordon's influence on Canadian political thought, particularly, his ideas about Canada's economic relations with the United States. It argues that Gordon lacked understanding of the international economic issues that were central to much of his thought and that his views were based on intuition and personal experience, rather than examination of Canadian affairs. Nevertheless, in the late 1960s and early 1970s, his public prominence and connections with the media, coupled with a growing unease in Canada about the country's relations with the United States, allowed Gordon to amass broad support for his efforts to reduce Canada's reliance on American capital.