Canadian Manufacturing
Canadian ManufacturingManufacturing
- Manufacturing in Canada began early in the 18th century, but it was not until the late 19th century that it achieved enourmous growth with the development of electricity. Throughout the 20th century, manufacturing has contributed a lot to the economic growth of Canadians and Canada.
- Durable goods are manufactured for housing, transportation, communications, education, recreation, entertainment, personal and health care � ranging from refrigerators, automobiles, telephones, pianos, aircraft, windows and doors to tea kettles.
- Personal goods are manufactured for clothing, footwear, recreation, entertainment, health care; for example, dresses, shoes, suits, boots, bandages, books, video displays, toys and games, etc.
- Manufactured edible goods include beverages, butter, bread, cheese, milk, processed fruits, fish, meats and vegetables.
- Manufacturing also includes machinery and equipment to package, handle, distribute, store and record all other manufactured goods.
- Manufacturing is a purchaser of raw materials and services; Statistics Canada data show that, for every 3 new jobs created in manufacturing, about 3 more jobs are created.
- Manufacturing in Canada began with flour mills. The first gristmills were built in New France in the 17th century and, by 1840, there were 400 in Upper Canada and Lower Canada making flour
for domestic and foreign sale.
- Iron smelting began in the 1730s, by the mid-1740s, this foundry supplied some of New France's requirements such as stoves and household utensils.
- The first steamboat was made in Canada, the accommodation, was built in 1809 by the Eagle Foundry of Montr�al, which made all of the more than 100 parts for its engines.
- Several events in the last half of the 19th century stimulated substantial growth in Canada's manufacturing industries. The first was CONFEDERATION in 1867. With political unification and self-government came geographic expansion, construction of the CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY, and new settlement bringing population increases, skills and capital. In 1871 a group of businessmen founded the CANADIAN MANUFACTURERS' ASSN (CMA) dedicated to promoting the growth of manufacturing. Eight years later, John A. Macdonald's NATIONAL POLICY established protective tariffs to encourage domestic processing of Canadian materials. Newly established factories, processing products for domestic consumption (eg, lumber, grains, animal products), survived and prospered even during the economic depression of the late 1870s and early 1880s. During this period, the discovery of electricity and the subsequent harnessing of some of Canada's vast hydro resource provided industry with an efficient, low-cost source of electrical energy (see HYDROELECTRICITY). At the same time the extent of the mineral wealth beneath the Canadian Shield began to be realized, stimulating great interest in Canada's growth potential. WWI stimulated industrial development and diversification, especially in such industries as steel, shipbuilding, nonferrous metals and pulp and paper. By 1920 manufacturing directly employed 600,000 workers, about 17% of the total labour force at that time. The worldwide depression of the 1930s reduced economic activity and stifled industrial progress in Canada as in other countries, but Canadian industry expanded and diversified...
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