Economic Growth in Canada Surged

Economic Growth in Canada Surged in the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries

The economic progress in any country depends on the land, the people, politics and the society that they live in. We shall assume that all men are equal as that is the accepted norm in the world today, at least among the educated and developed, though this feeling was not prevalent till some years ago. In terms of area, both the countries of United States and Canada are similar. The only difference that exists is that Canada is situated north of United States and that leads to the seasons being different and the crops cultivable in that region being different. Whether that makes much of a difference to economy, it would be difficult to comment on. In terms of natural resources, both countries have their own strengths and weaknesses and even that should not make any material difference.

Unlike United States, Canada had always been populated by people from both England and France. United States also had whites and blacks, but the blacks were not believed to be humans for a long period, maybe even well into the twentieth century. The cause of blacks also led to the American Civil War and that resolved the status of blacks being men or slaves. This war also happened a little before this period that we are now talking about. It lasted from 1861 to 1865. The other important aspect was that Canada was viewed always as a vassal of both Europe and United States. The reason for this difference from U.S. is probably due to the fact that U.S. had gained its independence from Britain much earlier, whereas Canada had remained a colony of United Kingdom. This led to important decisions for this country being taken in England, and naturally the base for those decisions by the 'wise old men' there would have been to look into the benefits that UK would gain from the changes.

The local individuals were only interested in making a living, and they also had no decision making capacity. This factor can be seen in the attitude of the Canadian federal government. This government has always been in conflict with the provincial governments for giving greater importance to the King of England. This does not mean that one is saying the citizens were very badly off, but it only means that the economic progress was less than it could have happened otherwise. One of the reasons for the growth to speed up was the departure of a large number of French Canadians during this period. This removed one of the main restrictions on the development of the economy as they had been thwarting the efforts of the other constituents to push the country forward. The importance of this can be understood when one considers that all persons of French Canadian ancestry in U.S. had their relatives in Canada. These showed a clear and determined progress of the country in economic direction, whereas the acceptance of this departure in sociological terms is difficult, as they were one of initial developers of the country and were supposed to be protected by a number of treaties/agreements.

The direct reason for progress was the start of the National Policy which had a reservation policy for goods made in Canada. This also helped in the development of projects required by Canada like the expansion into the west and development of railroads. The development was rapid due to this policy and led to development of new centers of industrialization and commercialization. In a way, one can say that this was the beginning of an era of change for Canada from an agriculture-forest-based economy to an industrial economy. The change in economy can also be seen from the situation of workers, and they also started getting organized. In Canada, one of the most progressive types of Unions came into being, and this probably reflects the general attitude of the people there. Even Labor Day was being observed in this country from 1894. The union is also notable from its workings which were more progressive than others of that time.

The growth of population was from many countries and in a way the diversion of the population which was earlier going to U.S.. The diversion took place as U.S. had no more land to offer free to its immigrant population, whereas new areas of Canada were being filled up for the first time. Apart from agriculture, new industry was also coming up and these were in part from the discovery of new minerals, another part due to the requirement of building up facilities for the country, and finally for changing the system with time. This led to rapid increases in population of urban centers and this again led to more industry. All the industrialization during this period led to growth of the economy as a whole. The situation in the country was the same as it was earlier, but the people had not found it attractive enough as they had opportunities at that time to emigrate to U.S..

The question is not in dispute as to whether it was a period of growth for the French economy - it certainly was. The nation filled at that time the role of the nation of opportunity for the excess population of Europe, and that had been happening for a long time. The population in countries like U.S., Australia, New Zealand, and South America are the unwanted or adventurous people of European origin. They had ended up mixing with the locals or Negroes in some cases and built a nation in those areas. The situation of Canada was similar, but here the problem was that the traditional struggle in Europe between the French and the British were carried over here. This conflict did not permit the nation to reach its full potential. Even today the country has not attained full independence and efforts are going on for achievement. Till that is done, the country will not be able to take the full advantage of the situations that it faces. In certain times, the country apparently still had rapid economic development, in spite of the difficulties in deciding whether it is a nation or not, and this period was one of the best for growth.

Introduction:

The two countries lying next to one another are similar in many ways - United States of America and Canada. Canada also has large areas of land and this land was filled with different trees, animals and minerals which men had found to be useful to their needs. When one tries to look at the economic history of Canada, one notices that it is mainly filled with human efforts to collect various resources from land that were already available. This for Canada is in the form of animal furs, timber, grain, petroleum and natural gas. At the same time, the country had people from two different nations in Europe which has a history of continually fighting for the control of the world till the Second World War, when their dreams for a world-wide empire finally ended. This dream also brought them into conflict in Canada and this had hurt the development prospects of this nation for a long period. (Watkins, the Economic History of Canada)

Discussion:

Unlike United States, a large part of what is now Canada was first settled by people from France, and these are in the St. Lawrence River Valley and Acadia, or what is now known as Nova Scotia. In these areas, the main occupation in the early days was to rely on subsistence agriculture. In these areas there were also animals available for trapping and these were traded in Quebec. The fish caught in Acadia were also traded in Quebec and the proceeds from both were used to pay for the imports of the country. The fur available, especially from beaver was very useful, but the number of animals has always been limited. The greater interest was in the extraction of timber which was also traded in Quebec. At this stage the economy was affected by political and nationality considerations. The British captured Quebec and Acadia, and as they did not trust the French, they expelled them from those areas. These people made their way south, and some reached Louisiana to be called Cajuns there.

When the French origin individuals moved out, there were the people from Scotland who came in and this led to the change in the name of Acadia to Nova Scotia, or New Scotland. There were also loyalists who came in from what is now United States and those people also settled and that area was called New Brunswick. This shows the affinity between United States and Canada, and the link between Western Canada and Eastern Canada was maintained by linking both these systems to U.S. transcontinental railroads. These are all political and other considerations which affected the economic development of the country. Initially the country developed dairying and livestock and this provided exports to Europe and United States. This developed later into selling feeder stock to U.S. where the costs of feed were less. In terms of agriculture, Canada does not have a suitable climate to grow corn, and during the 1890s there was the change in cultivation through the use of a new variety of wheat called 'red fyfe' that has a short growing season. This also provided better prices for the farmers and was suited to the short growing season and low rainfall in the Prairie Provinces. This was a factor that helped the economy to be strong till the Great depression started in the 1930s. (Watkins, the Economic History of Canada)

Looking at the political situation in Canada at that time, the Prime Minister wanted to have a strong central government but his situation was complicated through the challenge from the provincial commitments through the British North America Act. This was used the most by Oliver Mowatt who was the premier of Ontario from 1872 to 1896, and he did not permit the central government to bring into line the provincial government in Ottawa. The arguments went finally from Canada to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London, which was the Supreme Court still for Canada. That court supported the view of Mowatt. This stopped the federal government from trying to overrule provincial governments, and thus made sure that those governments held a crucial position in the running of Canada. Mowatt was supported in his campaign by Honor Mercier who was the premier of Quebec from 1887 to 1891. (Canada: Encyclopedia Article)

The result was that the rights of provinces became linked with the rights of the French Canadian nationals. The result was that the provincial government of Quebec became the defender of the policy for colonization of frontier areas of Quebec and Northern Ontario instead of them getting assimilated in the areas under New England. There was also a meeting of the provincial government premiers for the seven provinces and there was a demand by five of them for transferring the powers of government to the provinces. This dispute for power between the provinces and the federal government has existed for many years in Canada. The attempts of the federal government have always been nation building and loyalty to England and its king, even in later years. (Canada: Encyclopedia Article)

Now let us look at the history of Ottawa, and the different claimants for power there. Before the arrival of Europeans, the Algonquin Indians were occupying the area. Their main occupation was hunting and trapping, in both the seasons of summer and winter. In summer they also fished, hunted, gathered berries and roots, and carried out slash and burn agriculture. Their prime mode of transport in the area was with birch bark canoes and snow shoes. This came to the Europeans from them. The first detailed maps of the region including the Capital area were produced by Samuel de Champlain, in 1613. The entire country had depended on fur trade for more than two centuries and during this period; the area had taken two shapes - New France and then British North America. For all the trade, Ottawa River was an essential link, yet the area did not see Europeans till about 1800, and this may be compared to Montreal, which had been settled more than 150 years earlier. (History of Canada's Capital Region)

This was a result of an experiment from the area to send the timber of the valley to Britain. This was very well received as a blockage by Napoleon of European ports and Britain did not get any timber. The river was found to be capable of carrying timber rafts, and this increased timber exploitation in the area. The area developed even further when the city of Ottawa was chosen by Queen Victoria to be the capital city of United Provinces of Canada in 1857. (History of Canada's Capital Region) the choice was clearly not based on economic considerations, but a decision by the Queen based on how to keep the warring factions in her kingdom happy. The decisions of Queens are never to be expected to be beneficial for the interest of the colonies, but for the 'home' country. During this entire period of change of both the capital and the country, about 900,000 French Canadians left, from 1840 to 1930s. (French Canadian Emigration to the United States, 1840-1930)

Let us now look at the situation of French Canadians today, and it is said that they are about 3,300,000. As a group of citizens they are very homogenous and united in their action, as they do not have any religious or racial differences. The richest among them are also not very rich, and thus not in line with the others in the group. They feel that they are surrounded by a civilization that they are not happy with and this makes them united in front of others. The main base of these citizens is Quebec and 78% of them live there, though they are also spreading into other areas. Even in 1871, only 14% of them lived outside Quebec, which increased to 22% in 1931. Compared to others, their share of population was 79% in Quebec, 33.5% in New Brunswick, 14.7% in Prince Edward Island, 11% in Nova Scotia, 8.7% in Ontario around 5% in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta and 2.2% in British Columbia and other territories. Even in United States, most of the French Canadian-origin persons live in states close to Quebec and New Brunswick. (the Nationalist Movement in French Canada)

This migration is not remembered very well now and still is a very important change in the demography and economics of the country. This is reflected in the 1980 American census where 13.6 million Americans claim to have French ancestors. It should be clear that a large portion of these people had ancestors coming over from French Canada or Acadia. This population, if left in Canada would have left a population of another 4 to 5 million there who would have been very interested in their French ancestry. A similar case of leaving the country also took place in English Canada, it did not draw so much attention as the situation in that area was different and the French ancestry persons there were not so insistent on their ancestry. Around 1900 there would have been hardly any person of Canadian French origin in United States that did not have relatives in Canada. (French Canadian Emigration to the United States, 1840-1930)

In the meantime economic changes had been taking place in Canada through the Parliament, and in 1878 there was the introduction of the National Policy by the Conservative Party. This fixed up a set of tariffs to be charged on goods that were imported from other countries. This certainly gave an advantage to manufacturers from Canada. The list of activities by the group was slowly increased and slowly included other activities including expansion to the west, railroads, and immigration. This National Policy proved to be very popular and became a slogan. This led to a situation where all parts of the country hoped for dividends from the policy. The main cities on the railroad like Vancouver and Winnipeg kept looking for products to be sent on the rail. The provinces on the sea wanted new industry to be developed there as they had been in the forefront for building wooden ships which were on their way out, and steel and iron ships were replacing them. There was some industrialization in Nova Scotia but the greatest changes took place in South Montreal and Ontario. With the growth of industry there was also the shift of people from rural areas to urban areas. (Canada: Encyclopedia Article)

The development of these industries took place fast and the products were shipped in all directions on rail. This led to even a department store becoming a national retailer. One of the majors in Canada, Massey Harris Company of Toronto became the largest corporation in the country and the biggest manufacturer for farm implements in the British Empire. Montreal had earlier been the main center for economy and finance in the country, but now it developed into a hub for industry. The development of industry also led to the development of Canadians into wage earners from independent farmers. This strengthened the labor and labor rights movements in the country. Some skilled workers like printers, bakers and coopers had started their own movements even in 1830s, and even riots had broken out among workers in canal building projects in 1840s. The new movement was for fixing the workday and it was expected to be for nine hours. This movement from 1970s led to laws in Canada for labor unions in 1870. This led to a link up of all unions in Canada by 1880s. Some of the unions had very developed notions of what they wanted to achieve, and this led to Knights of Labor who were trying to unite all workers without concern for skill, sex or race, except for Chinese immigrants. From 1894, Labor Day became a national holiday. (Canada: Encyclopedia Article)

This organization, Knights of Labor was a movement for workers that were started in 1860s in Philadelphia, and they had reached their zenith in 1880s. They were then present in all parts of North America as also Ontario in Canada. This labor organization was different in form from the other labor organizations in the area. Their methods of getting members were not based on craft unions and divisions in unions according to skills. The attempt in this unit was to join all workers together as a sort of fraternal brotherhood and this was to start the working class movement in any unit. At the same time, they used a language of masculinity to succeed in preparing the movement and also for getting a larger share of social and political space. During this period, labor organizations in Britain and United States did not like women to be working, and said that they should be present in the home to manage it, but this organization wanted women working, helped them to improve their conditions, and also supported their work. This was a period in America when the Civil War had just ended, but his unit wanted even its members in American south to be in the same unit of the organization. They claimed that their suffering was together and more important than the racial division. In Ontario as also other areas their organization of workers was to join them up in spite of differences of skill level, trade, race and ethnicity and this was especially in the case of Irish and the English, as also black and white. Their objective was to fight economic and political oppression. (the Manly Working Man: Nineteenth-Century Manhood and the Challenge of the Knights of Labor)

The economic development speeded up with the discovery of gold in Klondike which was a part of Yukon and this led many thousands there in search of gold during just one year. This was one of the natural bonanzas for Canada during this period. In the meantime, industry and commerce were rapidly progressing in the central part of the country. All these were leading to the vast mineral wealth and hydroelectric power available in the country being fast utilized for development. This led to small scale manufacturers becoming very big corporations rapidly, and in Canada this meant the birth of many new millionaires. The expansion in railroads was very fast, and not only into one. Soon there were three systems called the Canadian Pacific, Canadian Northern and National Transcontinental. The increase in prosperity can be seen also from the growth in immigration and population of towns. Even towards the end of the 19th century, the number of people coming into the country was almost the same as those leaving, but during the first ten years of the 20th century, there were one million people who came in. The growth of population during 1901 to 1911 was 34% and to 8 million or another 22% by 1921. (Canada: Encyclopedia Article)

The immigration from U.S. started increasing rapidly with no free land being available in that country any more and all the persons looking for land started moving to Canadian West. The major lot of them was from Britain as also from continental Europe. The rapid increase led to new provinces and new cities from villages. The availability of new houses gradually fell after 1913 as land was not available any more, and the available land did not have water. Another problem was the availability of transport facilities in those areas. The area around St. Lawrence also grew rapidly and Toronto increased from a population of 86,000 in 1881 to 181,000 in 1891, and then 209,000 in 1901 and on to 381,000 in 1911. Similarly Montreal grew from 180,000 in 1901 to 328,000 in 1901 and on to 490,000 in 1911. The entire population of Canada had also increased sharply as already noted and the urban population increased from 37 in 1901 to 45 in 1911. This clearly shows that an industrial Canada had started forming and correspondingly labor organizations also doubled in the period from 1902 to 1913. Legislation was also changed to control the situation due to these changes, but the legislation that was put in place was not found to be effective. (Economic History of Canada: The Quebec History Encyclopedia)

Apart from the immigrants from English speaking areas, as was the case earlier, now there was a lot of immigration from East Europe. This immigration was with the main objective of avoiding poverty, and the offer of free land that they knew about from the people who were asking them to come to Canada. These groups came by steamships which were being operated by Canadian Pacific and then went in immigrant trains to settle. They had vast areas of land that had been given by the government. Hardships they had to face through living in sod huts, breaking the prairie soil and planting wheat. Settlement proceeded fast and two new provinces were started named as Alberta and Saskatchewan which were carved out of the Northwest Territories. These people were not British and many existing Canadians did not like them. This was also the case in Canada with other races like the Asians to British Columbia and the Jewish, Italians and others in the cities. This often took different forms and one was a head tax which stopped the Chinese from bringing their families. Soon after this period, the war started and that led to many of these citizens from other countries were interned. Some coming in after 1902 were also not given the right to vote. (Economic History of Canada: The Quebec History Encyclopedia)

Yet, the economy rolled on. There were raw materials, demand for the goods in the market and labor to enable production. This attitude of treating people from certain areas of the world has even been reflected in literature and 'Caged Eagles' by Eric Walters has this description "During the war, the Canadian government made Japanese Canadians move away from the west coast. The government was afraid that Japanese Canadians would help Japan win the war. They had to give up their houses, land, fishing boats and personal belongings. Many had to live in special camps separated from their families." (Literature and Canadian History: A Marriage Made in Heaven?)

In the meantime, as we are aware, the end of Prime Minister Macdonald had come due to his death in 1891, and this led to the removal of his party from power. This led to the arrival of Wilfrid Laurier who had earlier been a charming and cultivated lawyer in Quebec. He was adept avoiding conflicts and looking at the brighter side of things. Instead of following his own party theories he took over the policies of the Conservative Party and this led to the continuation of National Policy and the control of tariffs. He also took a strong position of support to the imperial connection. When he started office, it was his prediction that in the twentieth century, Canada will progress very fast, and this was probably an indication of how bright things looked for him and his party then. Though French Canadians are disliked by the imperialists, still the prospects looked bright then. This was due to the growth of the political empire of Britain as also its economic power after it entered into a confederation with Canada. This also led some to believe that it was the duty of Canada to fund that empire. This was seen when the Boer War from 1899 to 1902 broke out in South Africa, there was a group which wanted to fight along the soldiers from Great Britain, though Canada had no direct interest in the matter. Laurier was then the Prime Minister and he did not want direct participation, but helped only with voluntary participation by some Canadians. (Canada: Encyclopedia Article)

At the same time, this war also sparked off the nationalist opinion that existed in Quebec, now led by Henri Bourassa. He suggested that only a policy of nationalism that was only for Canada and with separate identities for the two constituents - English speaking Canadians and French Canadians. This matter was becoming serious as Laurier had already permitted the government in Manitoba to renounce the guarantees it had made to its French speaking population in 1870 during the Manitoba Schools controversy that came up in 1896. Slowly the use of English was being expanded at the cost of French and the two provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan were English only provinces. Even in immigration, the hands of the "for English" campaigners were getting strong. Slowly all state support for French was being removed and only in Quebec was the language given any respect, as also the French culture. (Canada: Encyclopedia Article) it is clear that this strategy was isolating a section of the population and thus making them feel that they were unwanted in the country. This weakens the nation as also its financial position.

The problem of resolving the issue of Canada being a nation had still not been solved. Let us look at a presentation of a motion from a Liberal Senator from Sorel in the Senate on May 4, 1944. He wanted a motion to be approved by the Senate asking the provinces to appoint "a committee of the most impartial and competent historians, as such recognized in each province, with the mission of preparing a text-book of Canadian history that could be accepted and adopted by all provincial Governments in all schools under their direct or indirect jurisdiction or control." (Voices from the Past) His objective was to decide on the history to be taught in the schools so that the school students could be infused with nationalism and patriotism. This demand was then supported by other Senators who brought in copies of school history books from their areas and read out misrepresentations of history in those books, as they saw it. Some of them highlighted the lack of attention paid to New France and French Canada in the history text books, as also the anti-English bias in the Quebec area.