White played a key role in this. Egged on by overwhelmingly favourable coverage in Canada’s corporate media, he emerged in the years following the split as the standard-bearer for a virulent Canadian nationalism. He led Canada’s unions in opposing the 1988 Canada-US Free Trade Agreement in alliance with the Liberal Party and sections of big business, like Magna boss Frank Stronach, who feared that they would lose out in competition with larger US firms.