Industrialization In Canada: Economic And Social Transformation

The Process of Industrialization in Canada

Industrialization is a process that involves both economic and social transformation. It moves the concentration of economic activity away from the production of goods and services and toward the production of salaries and earnings[1]. Beginning in the nineteenth century, these transformations took place in two distinct ways in Canada[2]. First and foremost, economic and social activity was shifted away from the environment and rural resource exploitation and toward industry and service provision. Two years later, economic and social activity switched from small-scale rural cottage enterprises to large-scale urban industrial enterprises.

It was under the privately owned capitalist structure that industrialized production could be carried out, with a greater section of the people expecting to be high earners for the whole of their working lives. As a result, industrialization brought about significant changes not just in employment and the economy, but also in the way society was structured and in the relationships between various social groupings[3]. While the process of industrialization began nearly two centuries ago and has progressed steadily since, it is still considered a turning point as the term Industrialization implies since it labeled the transition from capitalism to socialism, as well as the transition from industrialization as well as services modifications that have had a profound impact on human existence.

The Industrial Revolution in Canada was a corollary of the Revolutions in its neighboring countries and Britain. Although the most dramatic transformation in the Canadian economy occurred after 1850, it continued to accelerate into the latter part of the nineteenth century[4].  The flow of investment money was made easier by the introduction of new investment opportunities.

The industrial revolution was sweeping the world in the 1860s. Up until 1871, New Brunswick was dominated by the timber industry and shipbuilding[5].  Historically, Nova Scotia's industrial sector was separated into two different sectors: the metal as well as coal businesses of Cape Breton, as well as the textile mills including sugar factories of the country's western region[6]. There was no coincidence in the occurrence of these concurrent events.  The involvement of the state in the construction of an industrialized order is itself a component of the suite of features associated with modernism[7]. It was more than just a pattern of similar behaviors and institutions when it came to the new economic system that appeared in the 1980s nineteenth century; industrialism has been something toward which governments, capitalists, and especially employees were all working.

As a result of the need to transport money, raw materials, employees, and finished goods across vast distances, the economics of industrialization are startling. A workforce with little or no previous experience in industrial systems is required by industry as well. For capitalism to work, colonies were expected to provide raw resources to the "mother nation," which would then sell completed commodities to the colonies[8]. When we analyze all of this material together, we have a better picture of the territory that is under dispute between the staple and structuralism views. Significant discrepancies existed here between Central Canadian as well as Maritime sectors, including between New Brunswick as well as Nova Scotia, and between different industries themselves. Because of the degree of variability, it is clear that no single theory will be able to account for all aspects of the region's industrial development. After a brief introduction, the second section of the study contends that the findings do not stimulate trust within the innovative doctrine of structuralism as well as even that themes that are generally compatible with a core approach need more investigation[9].

Economic and Social Transformations

It is conceivable that components from both analytical traditions will play a role in developing a better explanation for the stalling of industrialization on Canada's eastern edge. It is beneficial, to commence with, the understanding that produced output in any civilization is inextricably linked to the pattern of settlement in that culture[10]. Although by Canadian standards, New Brunswick, as well as Nova Scotia, were sparsely populated throughout the nineteenth century. While just 8 percent of Maritimes resided throughout census areas with a population size of more than 25 people per square mile in 1851, this figure was 53 percent throughout Quebec and 75 percent throughout Ontario at the same time. It was estimated that within 1881[11], the population size of established regions in the Maritime Provinces has been one-third of those of Quebec as well as Ontario combined[12]. 

This shift in the energy sector had the significant benefit of lessening the influence of seasonality in Canada, which was a significant gain. Waterwheels were significant technological breakthroughs because their application to the expanding use of equipment in manufacturing was nothing short of revolutionary. Nonetheless, watercourses froze throughout Canada, resulting in a disruption in electricity distribution as well as the movement of essential commodities along rivers[13].

According to the above table[14], the late emergence of the factory system throughout the Maritimes corresponds to the existence of significant provincial disparities inside the factory system as a whole. In 1870, the average industrial establishment throughout Nova Scotia, as well as New Brunswick, was less than the average industrial unit in Ontario. Furthermore, throughout the first 4 decades of Unification, the size disparity widened even further. Although maritime factories had been very small on average throughout 1870 and perhaps smaller in 1910, they were especially prevalent in the consumer products sector[15]. Maritime mills, as well as shops, were likewise less efficient than their land-based counterparts. When compared to Ontario, New Brunswick, as well as Nova Scotia, had productivity growth that was just three-quarters that of Ontario before 1870. After a few years, the relative labor productivity through Nova Scotia had not changed much, but it had decreased drastically in New Brunswick. The consumer products sectors in the Maritimes had the lowest productivity levels in 1910, with capital accumulation productivity levels less than half of those in Ontario at the time[16].

According to the above table[17], the shift might be seen in the composition of the Canadian labor force. Producers and farmworkers were outnumbered by operatives and workers together in 1901, which was the first time this had happened[18]. Although the percentage of Canadians existing on the land remained greater than the number of urbanites throughout 1901, the proportion of Canadians receiving an income through wages overtook the percentage of those generating agricultural incomes in the same year. The wage-earning employees of the 1860s were progressively earning their living in businesses and factories which did not look much like those of today[19].

During the First World War, the Second Industrial Revolution surged in Canada. Efforts by state governments to help the war effort resulted in interventionist policies that encouraged the production of ammunition and weapons, as well as transporters as well as other support equipment[20].  During the Great Recession, urbanization became the norm for the majority of Canada's people. During the Great Depression, the change from a commodity-based economy to a wage-based one resulted in immense misery[21]. When huge numbers of people were laid off in industrial centers, many people began to criticize the capitalist system, which would have been largely responsible for industrialization[22].

Impact on Employment, Economy, and Society

The statistics for New Brunswick during 1870 have been similar to Central Canada, however, the indicators from Nova Scotia were notably less strong. Despite this, Nova Scotia's industrial sector fared quite well over the next forty years, in comparison to the dismal experiences of New Brunswick's economy. By 1910, the four regions had begun to converge on the patterns of industrial inferiority that had become recognizable in the twentieth century[23]. In 1870, the level of industrial activity throughout New Brunswick has been within ten percent of that in Ontario, but now it slipped farther behind in both successive sub-periods. In comparison, the Nova Scotia manufacturing industry began life as a little operation, but it developed rapidly between 1870 and 1890, particularly in the consumer as well as intermediate products sectors[24]. Even within Nova Scotia, although, consumer goods output slowed dramatically after 1890, whereas durable goods output fell precipitously.

By the 1970s, the computer revolution, as well as digital technology, had completely altered the workplace. The ramifications of this were many. Manufacturing work has become less important in the industrial sector as a result of a growing proportion of industrial work being done through automation, especially robotic operations. A large part of the contemporary economy was transformed by computerization, with retail, business and insurance, telecommunications, and other sectors outperforming manufacturing in terms of growth[25].

Conclusion

With brief information of the kind provided in this work, it is not feasible to conduct a systematic review of these arguments. New Brunswick's per capita production in wood-using industries has been quite high within 1870 as a result of the abundant supply of local timber, much as Ontario's strength in the food as well as beverage industry was a result of the abundant supply of agricultural goods in that province at the time.

In addition to labor, manufacturing necessitates the use of energy. In 1867, the most important sources of energy were plants that cultivated in woods or animals that moved through four legs. A few strides had been achieved in the use of waterpower, notably in rural locations, where waterwheels might take benefit of nearby rapids. At Quebec, the canals also served as a source of energy, propelling the development of the region's early productions. Carrying energy sources into urban areas where other resources might be gathered, on the other hand, was a difficulty; a one that was surmounted by following Britain's example as well as adopting the new steam-power technology. Industrial and urban Canada had a rapid transition away from organic as well as water-based energy sources or towards fossil fuels in a relatively short amount of time.

After 1870, the Nova Scotia mining belt had the most rapid industrial boom, which was fuelled in part by a high demand for coal resulting from the replacement of coal as well as steel in a broad range of industrial uses. The United States has supplanted Great Britain as the primary supplier of fuel, equipment, and semi-finished iron to Canadian industry, a change that is reflected in these statistics. Manufacturers throughout Montreal and the Maritimes have been given preferential treatment as long as the imports came from the United Kingdom. When American supplies superseded the British late throughout the century, south-western Ontario benefited from its advantageous geographical position.

References

Acheson, T. "The national policy and the industrialization of the Maritimes, 1880-1910." Acadiensis 1, no. 2 (1972): 3-28.

Alava, Juan José. "Legacy and emerging pollutants in marine mammals’ habitat from British Columbia, Canada: Management perspectives for sensitive marine ecosystems." In Stewarding the Sound, pp. 87-114. CRC Press, 2019.

Barlow, John Matthew. Gale Researcher Guide for Changing Patterns of Migration in the Era of Industrialization. Gale, Cengage Learning, 2018.

Beingessner, Naomi, and Amber J. Fletcher. "Going local": farmers' perspectives on local food systems in rural Canada." Agriculture and Human Values 37, no. 1 (2020): 129-145.

Danneyrolles, Victor, Mark Vellend, Sébastien Dupuis, Yan Boucher, Jason Laflamme, Yves Bergeron, Gabriel Fortin et al. "Scale?dependent changes in tree diversity over more than a century in eastern Canada: Landscape diversification and regional homogenization." Journal of Ecology 109, no. 1 (2021): 273-283.

Dong, Feng, Ying Wang, Bin Su, Yifei Hua, and Yuanqing Zhang. "The process of peak CO2 emissions in developed economies: A perspective of industrialization and urbanization." Resources, Conservation and Recycling 141 (2019): 61-75.

Dong, Hanmin, Minggao Xue, Yujia Xiao, and Yishuang Liu. "Do carbon emissions impact the health of residents? Considering China's industrialization and urbanization." Science of the Total Environment 758 (2021): 143688.

García-Oliveira, Paula, Maria Fraga-Corral, A. G. Pereira, Catarina Lourenço-Lopes, Cecília Jimenez-Lopez, M. A. Prieto, and Jesus Simal-Gandara. "Scientific basis for the industrialization of traditionally used plants of the Rosaceae family." Food chemistry 330 (2020): 127197.

Human.Libretexts. “3.2: Introduction - Humanities LibreTexts.” Humanities LibreTexts. human.libretexts.org, September 2, 2019. https://human.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/History/National_History/Book%3A_Canadian_History_-_Post-Confederation/03%3A_2._Confederation_in_Conflict/3.02%3A_Introduction.

Inwood K. Maritime Industrialization from 1870 to 1910:: a Review of the Evidence and Its Interpretation. Acadiensis. 1991;21(1):132-55.

Manzer, Ronald. Public policies and political development in Canada. University of Toronto Press, 2019.

The Canadian Encyclopedia. “Industrialization in Canada | The Canadian Encyclopedia.” Industrialization in Canada | The Canadian Encyclopedia. www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca, February 7, 2006. https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/industrialization#:~:text=Industrialization%20is%20a%20process%20of,beginning%20in%20the%2019th%20century.