Increasing foreign involvement. King retired as prime minister in November 1948. Louis St. Laurent, the new Liberal Party leader, became Canada second French-Canadian prime minister. One of the first highlights of his administration occurred in March 1949, when Newfoundland became Canada played an ever-larger role in international affairs.
Canada prestige and economic strength after World War II convinced many Canadians that their nation interests required active involvment in foreign affairs. In 1945,Canada became an original member of the United Nations(UN). In 1949, it signed a treaty of the United States and 10 Western European nations that set up the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). NATO was the first military allince Canada had joined in peacetime