The 1980s were known for the popularity of new music genres, space travel, new technologies, and an abundance of fun and interesting things. This is the life of an average human being in the eighties, but if you dig deeper into the eighties and look between the lines you will discover many things about the eighties, such as its economic, social and political status. In the 1980s Canada benefited greatly and saw great prosperity socially and politically, but economically there were many negatives and positives. In the 1980s, Canada saw a multitude of positive and negative changes that taught Canadians many valuable lessons. First, in Canada we are known for a lot of good things and a lot of bad things, and unfortunately we are very dependent on other nations like the United States, which leads us to create the NEP also known as the National Energy Program. The NEP had three main objectives to achieve before the end of the nineteen years of the night: to establish at least fifty percent Canadian ownership of the oil and gas industry, to make Canada more self-sufficient in the energy sector and, finally, to create a better distribution of oil revenues. Along the way of the NEP program there were many bumps in the road, but in the end control of the energy industry was increased by 19%, giving us a great economic feat (Don Quinlan, 291). This was very significant because it had reduced Canada's dependence on foreign oil and also helped us gain control of the Canadian energy industry. In 1987 the Canadian government had entered into the Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement (CUSFTA); this agreement had created the elimination and reduction of tariffs thus allowing Canada... middle of paper... read, to impose its taxes and establish foreign relations, but also to maintain the Canadian currency. The referendum took place on Tuesday 20 May 1980 and the result was that around 60% had rejected the idea of ​​sovereignty (R. HUDON) and 40% wanted it. This is very significant because the majority of people want to be united as a nation and not divided, which is very important because as a country we must remain united and thanks to this vote it shows that many Canadians believe in the national unity of the country. As in every decade there are many struggles and achievements, but you can always learn something. From Terry Fox to the unfortunate Canadian recession we learned that in the 1980s Canada struggled politically and socially to unite the nation, but economically there were many ups and downs, teaching us many things.