Lester B. Pearson

Minority government did not prevent Pearson's Canadian cabinets from building a consequential social-policy record. The Canada Pension Plan and federal support for medicare required work with provinces and opposition parties, rather than a prime minister simply issuing instructions. Saskatchewan's earlier experience and Quebec's separate pension arrangements belong in the story. Pearson is particularly useful for understanding how a limited parliamentary mandate can still support ambitious changes when the agreements underneath them are carefully built.