how did canada try to control its own economy in the 1970's and 1980's?

Answer 1

Under former prime minister Pierre Trudeau, the government introduced a policy called "The Third Option", which meant rejecting either closer ties with the U.S. and doing nothing in favor of more trade with what is now the European Union. It failed because the Europeans weren't much interested.

Also, the federal government under Trudeau enacted legislation called the Foreign Investment Review Act, which subject new investments and foreign takeovers to a series of test designed to see if, on balance, the transaction would be of benefit to Canada. This has some success, but it was also perceived as scaring off foreign investment. When the government changed in 1984, it was ratcheted back. I believe it still exists in watered-down form. Paralleling this was the National Energy Policy, which sought to increase Canadian firms' involvement in oil production. It, too, had limited success and was wildly unpopular in the oil-producing parts of the country because it was perceived as deliberately freezing out American firms and causing unemployment for no good reason.