The education policy of the Dufferin Roblin administration, 1958-1967

Abstract

Politics and education are two of the most important, albeit controversial, institutions that make up the framework of Canadian society. Both national institutions underwent a series of dramatic changes during the Cold War Era of the late 1950s and the early 1960s, and the situation was no different in Manitoba. Because of the rapid economic, political and social changes of the post-war period, governments found themselves trying to grapple with education policy in the most cost-efficient and results-oriented manner possible. The government administered by Progressive Conservative Premier Dufferin Roblin (1958-1967) inherited an education system that had not kept pace. Throughout its time in office, Roblin's administration made a number of significant changes to the education system, three of which will be examined at greater length in this thesis: school consolidation, the provision of enhanced public financing for private and parochial schools and the extension of Manitoba's university system. The purposeof this thesis will be to determine how the Roblin government addressed education, a policy area which generated considerable public debate. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)