Formed in 1976, largely in response to the nationalist policies of the Trudeau (Liberal) government, the Council is a group of 150 leading Canadian corporations dedicated to shaping economic and social policy so as to achieve a quite specific agenda. The group supported free trade and it has been speculated that it provided much of the policy for the Conservative government elected in 1984. For sociologists the group is of interest as a visible demonstration of the social and political linking of corporations.