Heartland, Hinterland, and the staple Trade

The Staple Thesis Developed by Harold Innis Argues that the main reason for Europe’s desire to expand its empire was to gain more resources for the country at home. Development was based on the resources available.

Three Ways a Staple Economy Develops An economy is most successful when it expands beyond simple resource extraction and into manufacturing. An economy is moderately successful when it has the ability to shift from one staple to another. An economy is unsuccessful when it becomes totally dependant on one staple and it does not provide enough income i.e fishing in Newfoundland.

Mercantilism and staple Resources European Expansionism was initially fuelled with the hopes of discovering vast quantities of Gold. Gold was the measure of wealth for a nation like our dollar is today. Everything was traded according to its value in gold.

Mercantilism Cont. The nations of Europe treated its colonies as hinterlands (outside the home country) and used their resources primarily to the benefit of the heartland (the home country) The colonies also provided a new market for the manufactured goods that were produced from the original resources.

Mercantilism Goods that were in high demand and were easily available provided the greatest wealth to the heartland. Resources that required immediate processing also created jobs in the colonies.

Mercantilism Both furs and Fish were in High demand and abundant supply which gave the northern colonies an advantage over the southern us colonies.

Feeding Europe The Cod Fishery In the 1400’s, Europe was faced with a crisis in providing enough food for its citizens. The demand for fish exceeded what was available since it was cheaper than meat. Europe also had a large Roman Catholic population that did not eat meat on Friday.

The Cod Fishery The discovery of Cod of Newfoundland provided a way out of the crisis and justified the great expense of setting up a colony. John Cabot discovered the resource however England did not have an monopoly on the fishing.

England was joined by fishing fleets from France, Spain, Portugal and Dutch fleets. Records showed that 250 ships from England and 200 – 400 fleets from France frequented the fishing grounds on the grand banks of Newfoundland.

The Cod Fishery Cod was processed in two ways: Wet and Dry Wet Cod was processed by filleting and cleaning the fish and then preserving it with salt. IT was then shipped back to the homeland. This method was used primarily by the French, Portuguese, and Spanish since they had a great amount of salt resources.

Another way to process fish is by “Dry fishing” The fish had to be taken ashore, cleaned, salted, and dried on flakes. This method did not require as much salt. This was primarily used by English fleets since they did not have an abundance of salt.

Since fishers had to work onshore they had to establish temporary settlements to process the fish. This eventually led to permanent settlements which in turn led to the colonization of North America.

Timber Trade In the early 1800s, Timber and wheat became the newest staple commodities. The expansion of these industries marked the beginning of full scale development of colonial economies.

Britain had a great demand for timber since it needed to build ships for its Navy. Britain also exhausted their own supplies of Timber and it was expensive to buy it from other countries. The North American Colonies supplied the solution and almost overnight timber became the most traded resource in North America replacing furs and fish.

The timber trade also had one major difference. It produced a secondary industry, Shipbuilding. The cities of Halifax, Saint John, and Yarmouth sprung to international fame as the worlds premier shipbuilders.

Wheat Like Timber, Britain was facing a crisis from a shortage of wheat. Britain looked towards North America once again for a supply. The British also imposed the corn Laws which were restrictive tariffs on all grain products from other nations. Britain's colonies were exempt from the tariffs and granted preferential trade status.

This gave the North American farmers a distinct advantage over other nations and gave them a monopoly of the richest market in the world. North American farmers were able to charge a lower price for their wheat.

Impact of the Wheat Trade The wheat trade became the foundation of the upper Canadian economy. This caused great population expansion and new developments sprung up. Canals and roads were built. Flour mills were constructed to process grain. This was the beginning of central Canada’s status as the heartland of the colony.

Repeal of Preferential Trade Status While preferential trade was great for the colonies, the merchants in Britain were not happy. The tariffs were stifling their business since it cost so much to import goods that were not processed in North America.

Impact of Tariffs The merchants forced the government to drop the tariffs and the preferential treatment given to North America was revoked. This was disastrous for the North American economy as they now had to compete with other nations that were located closer to Britain and did not have the same transportation costs.

Reciprocity Treaty Faced with a depression, the colony needed to find a new market. Luckily they had the fastest growing economy in the world located next door. The U.S was on track to outpace Britain The reciprocity treaty was negotiated between Britain and the U.S remove all trade barriers between the two. All tariffs were removed and both sides could trade freely between one another.

The National Policy

The National policy consisted of three parts Tariffs, Transcontinental railways, and settlement of the west The purpose of tariffs was to protect the manufacturing industries in the colony.

Protective Tariffs Protective tariffs charged a 40 per cent duty on imports. They were applied to goods that were also produced in the colony. The theory is: If you charge more money to companies for importing foreign goods, they will be more likely to purchase locally. The Local businesses were protected.

Another development from the National policy was the need for the economy to expand in the manufacturing industry The only way they could do this and compete with the U.S was to create a transcontinental railroad.

It was feared that the West would be taken over by the U It was feared that the West would be taken over by the U.S unless it was settled. The railroad increased settlement drastically. Communities could now be connected to the large growing markets of central Canada.

Heartland Canada’s heartland is and has always been located in central Canada. By 1901, over half of the manufacturing was located in Ontario and a third in Quebec. Tariff protection allowed for investment with very little risk and competition.

Hinterland With Central Canada being the heartland, The West and the Maritimes were the hinterland. Halifax would be the port of call for the country as goods would move into and out of Canada.

Impact on the Maritimes Initially the railway brought great investment in the Maritimes. All along the railway industrial centres formed. Truro, New Glasgow, Amherst and Sydney had large factories that produced everything from iron and steel to textiles and pianos. Nova scotias coal resources also suggested that its economy would be on the rise.

Maritime prosperity did not last. The larger firms in central Canada eventually bought out companies in the Maritimes, especially those in the Banking sector. These firms only thought about profits and did not care about community development in the Maritimes. Capital was moved back to the heartland.

To make up for this decline Nova Scotia focused mainly on Coal production that was needed to fuel the growing heartland. The merchants in central Canada pressured the government to end the protection tariffs on coal so they could use cheaper imports from the U.S. The government agreed which had a disastrous effect on the Nova Scotia economy

Between 1881 and 1931, the maritimes suffered a steady net migration. 500000 people left Nova Scotia for New England

Impact on the West Like the Maritimes, the prairie communities did not develop into industrial centres like Toronto and Montreal. They were too for away from large markets. The immigration to the west also did not happen as many people went to the us where they were giving land away very cheaply.

Industrialization Working conditions in the factories were harsh. People worked long days of 12 hours or more. Failure to meet these demands meant loss of wages and even physical punishment. Disease and workplace accidents were common.

Standard of Living Times were very difficult for families. While work opportunities for women were very limited, if a young couple good both find jobs they could earn a modest living. When women left work to have children, they lost their jobs and the family would plunge into poverty.

In Urban centres housing was in great demand which led to increased rents. Many times families would share dwellings. In most of the poor dwellings there was no electricity, sewers, or running water. Malnutrition and disease affected many people and there was a high infant mortality and death rate.

The Social Response to Industrialization Eventually people realized that not everyone was benefiting from industrialization. Alcoholism, child abuse, and poverty were the main issues facing the poor and middle classes. This created a wave of social spending and iniatives.

Prohibition was enacted to stop alcoholism, prostitution, and child abuse. Improving healthcare was a new priority. School vacination and nutrition programes were created Public sanitation Sunday was made the “Lord’s day” and no one worked.

Workers Response Workers also began to fight for better conditions. They wanted a share of profits Higher wages, shorter hours and better working conditions They began collective bargaining and forming unions. Strikes were common. This began to form the basis of Canada’s sense of social responsibility.