ABSTRACT
At the federal level, Canada's mineral policies, particularly as they relate to the United States, reflect a continuing struggle to find the best approach for developing the country's rich endowment of resources to the maximum benefit of Canadians. In the initial phases of the Canadian mineral industry's growth, the struggle was to promote the rapid development of resources as an engine for economic expansion. Government policies, both federal and provincial, have long been an important factor shaping the environment within which firms in the mineral sector operate. Direct intervention in industry operations peaked during World War II but gradually subsided until the outbreak of the Korean War, during which mechanisms for direct control were re-established. Peacetime experience was characterized by fairly limited but gradually increasing government activism in industry affairs. The objective of building an industrial structure based on the processing and further manufacturing of raw materials has long played an important role in Canadian mineral policy.
