ABSTRACT
There is a widely held misconception that Canada, although a “developed” country, is not an industrialized nation, but owes her wealth solely to abundant natural resources. The wheatfields of the Prairies, her mineral and timber wealth, and the hydroelectric schemes in the north should not distract from the significance of the geographically concentrated manufacturing sector. Two-fifths of Canadian GNP consists of industrial output, and even if mining, construction and energy are omitted, manufacturing still accounts for over a quarter of total output and almost a quarter of total employment. These proportions are among the highest in the world; by the end of the Second World War Canada ranked second only to the United States on the basis of manufacturing output per head (Maizels, 1963, p. 31). The present chapter examines how Canada set out on the path to becoming an industrial nation, and the story is taken up to World War II in chapter 9.9.
