GEOG 340: DAY 6 Evolution of the Canadian Urban System
International Park(ing) Day in Nanaimo Friday from 11-2 across from
Serious Coffee
Slide 2
HOUSEKEEPING ITEMS Any observations about the field trip and
the experience of the different neighbourhoods? (Thanks, Kate.) For
more information on Nanaimos neighbourhoods, see
http://www.nanaimo.ca/EN/main/depa rtments/Community-
Planning/NeighbourhoodPlanning.html and
http://www.nanaimoinformation.com/ neighbourhoods.php,
http://www.nanaimo.ca/EN/main/depa rtments/Community-
Planning/NeighbourhoodPlanning.html
http://www.nanaimoinformation.com/ neighbourhoods.php Note that
Sherwood Forest has been absorbed and Harewood has been rebranded.
For more on Harewood, see
http://www.nanaimo.ca/assets/Departments/Community~P
lanning/Neighbourhood~Planning/Harewood/HarewoodC
ommunityProfile.pdf
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HILLER (CHAPTER 2) ON DYNAMICS OF CANADIAN URBANIZATION
Introduces the political economy approach i.e. that the different
emerging patterns of urbanization are not just the result of some
kind of natural process but are the results of deliberate decisions
and human action. This is known as the political economy
perspective, because it points out that the decisions made by
people in positions of power, especially in business and politics,
have a major impact on how urbanization proceeds. Government
policies, political and economic power, and investment decisions
have played a huge role in determining the outcomes of the process
of urbanization in Canada. (p. 21)
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HILLER ON DYNAMICS OF CANADIAN URBANIZATION Some First Nations
especially those who combined farming with hunting and gathering,
or who had access to exceptional rich marine resources lived in
fairly large communities (as large as 1500), but sometimes they
were forced to move by warfare or local resource exhaustion. When
the British and French moved in, they were primarily interested in
staples fur, fish, timber for ship masts, and later, wheat and
minerals. It was historian, Harold Innis, who came up with the
staples thesis. The extraction and exploitation of these resources
for the motherland was initially the engine of Canadian
development, including urban development (think of Hudsons Bay
forts).
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IROQUOIS OR HURON VILLAGE
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HILLER ON CANADIAN URBAN DEVELOPMENT
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Initially European settlements were small and their role was
administrative, military, and playing an intermediate role in
getting the resources from the hinterland to the colonizing power.
Early examples include Quebec, Montreal, and York (Toronto).
Halifax and Louisbourg are other examples. Montreal and Halifax
were important ports because of their location on the ocean or on
navigable rivers. After the British conquest, Quebec remained a
stronghold of French culture while Montreal became the leading
commercial, financial, and manufacturing centre for commerce. It
also had a larger agricultural hinterland than most cities.
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HILLER ON CANADIAN URBAN DEVELOPMENT The development and
expansion of agriculture in the Maritimes, Quebec and Ontario led
to an increased role for cities in furnishing goods and services to
farmers, and to process farm products and produce agricultural
implements. This leads to the notion of backward, forward, and
final demand linkages. Farmers need equipment (backward linkage),
bakers need wheat (forward linkage), and consumers need bread
(final demand linkage). The movement of the Loyalists to Canada
(Ontario, Quebec, and the Martimes) strengthened both the farming
base and the urban population. After the War of 1812, cities like
Quebec and Kingston lost their military significance.
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HILLER ON CANADIAN URBAN DEVELOPMENT The opening of the Erie
Canal in 1825 also provided an outlet from the Great Lakes to New
York which provided new trading opportunities. The author sees 1850
as a turning point when the importance of the internal hinterland/
market began to eclipse the colonial power (Britain) as the major
trading partner. At this time, the population of key Canadian
cities was as follows: Montreal (79,700), Quebec (45,500), Toronto
(30,800), St. Johns (30,500), Saint John, NB (23,700), Halifax
(20,700), Hamilton (17,600), and Kingston (11,600). Quebec and
Saint John were important shipbuilding centres.
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HILLER ON CANADIAN URBAN DEVELOPMENT Montreal, dominated by
English-speaking interests remained dominant, until the 1960s when
there occurred the Quiet (and not-so-quiet) Revolution, whereby
Francophones began to challenge English hegemony, and many
corporations began moving their headquarters to Toronto. Between
1971 and 1981, Toronto overtook Montreal as Canadas largest city,
variously known as Hogtown or Tronna. The development of the
railway network (Canadian Pacific) had the effect of opening up the
West for settlement and other areas for more extensive resource
development. After Confederation (1867), Ottawa midway between
Toronto and Montreal was chosen as the capital.
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HILLER ON CANADIAN URBAN DEVELOPMENT Canadas first prime
minister, Sir John A. MacDonald, at the behest of business
interests and to consolidate Canada against U.S. penetration,
initiated the National Policy, which erected a tariff wall against
U.S. goods to stimulate the development of Canadian industries.
This facilitated the economic centralization of the country and the
further development of cities.
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HILLER ON CANADIAN URBAN DEVELOPMENT The completion of the
Halifax to Toronto railroad in 1876 meant that Atlantic capital
couldnt compete against central Canadian capital, and the Maritimes
become increasingly a backwater mainly noted for fish, coal, and a
large number of universities (e.g. Dalhousie, St. Mary, Mt.
Allison, Memorial, etc.). Halifax remains a major shipping centre
and business capital.
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HILLER ON CANADIAN URBAN DEVELOPMENT The new national
government also began to recruit settlers from Europe and the U.S.
to occupy land for farming in the prairie provinces. Although not
on the scale of the U.S., this led to conflicts with First Nations
and Mets who wanted to retain their autonomy and ways of life.
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HILLER ON CANADIAN URBAN DEVELOPMENT Immigrants were offered
cheap land and access to the railway, and small hamlets and towns
sprung up (usually at terminals on the railway) to meet the needs
of farmers.
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HILLER ON CANADIAN URBAN DEVELOPMENT Eventually, the CP Railway
reached Vancouver (Port Moody) in 1885, supposedly a condition for
BC entering Confederation, and the company got free land in a
corridor all the way out in exchange for building it.
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TREATMENT OF CHINESE RAILWAY WORKERS
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HILLER ON CANADIAN URBAN DEVELOPMENT Manitoba became a province
in 1870. And by 1874 Winnipeg had a population of 4700. Poised
almost at the hundredth meridian, where the Great Plains begin
(Tragically Hip). Had it not been for central Canadian dominance,
Winnipeg might have become the Chicago of the north (see William
Cronons Natures Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West), drawing on
its potentially vast hinterland to become a major manufacturing and
provisioning metropolis. As it was it attracted a diverse immigrant
population (Jews and other Eastern Europeans) and became an
important architectural and cultural centre.
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HILLER ON CANADIAN URBAN DEVELOPMENT Moreover, Winnipeg became
a major transshipment and warehousing point for east and west
traffic and became a node for banking and insurance services and
the Grain Exchange and the like. After the CP Rail was completed,
the Canadian National (CN) was created along a more northern axis,
which fostered the development of Saskatoon and Edmonton. Edmonton
had previously been a fur-trade post, a missionary station, and a
military outpost. It then became the capital of Alberta. The
decision by CP to make Calgary a major railway centre tgave
considerable impetus to its development.
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HILLER ON CANADIAN URBAN DEVELOPMENT Once cities began to get
established, the phenomenon of civic boosterism occurred whereby
local elites began to market their towns as places to settle and do
business. In some cases this led to improvements in planning and
civic infrastructure. By the end of World War II, the basic pattern
of Canadian urbanization was established, but large cities expanded
dramatically. Between 1901 and 1951, Montreal and Toronto expanded
almost five-fold. After World War II, the nascent phenomenon of
suburb- anization of people and businesses/ urban sprawl exploded,
aided and abetted by government and the growing ownership of cars.
Air travel increased domestic and international links.
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HILLER ON CANADIAN URBAN DEVELOPMENT Rural depopulation has
been a key trend. In 1941, there were 733,000 farms in Canada. By
2011, this had declined to 206,000, and mixed farms had largely
been replaced by large corporate single-crop farms. Today, as a
result of earlier policy, Central Canada maintains its dominance,
but there is beginning to be a seismic shift to the West (what is
it based on?). Toronto today is still the countrys largest city.
Moreover, it is the most multicultural city in the world!
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HILLER ON CANADIAN URBAN DEVELOPMENT In the Lower Mainland,
Surrey and Abbotsford have arisen to somewhat challenge Vancouvers
dominance, and economic commuting is no longer suburb to central
city, but largely suburb to suburb. The growth of Vancouver in the
last decades has not been based on the traditional factors. What is
it based on? Large cities are magnets for immigrants, with almost
2/3rds of all foreign-born residents living in the Big 3. Torontos
foreign-born population is 45.7% and Vancouvers is 39.6%, with both
cities having over 40% visible minorities.
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HILLER ON CANADIAN URBAN DEVELOPMENT Finally, the author talks
about resource towns, most of which have been boom and bust. The
one major exception is Fort McMurray which, with the exploitation
of the oil sands, has grown from 2000 people in 1967 to somewhere
between 65,000 and 104,000 in 2011. It suffers from a lot of social
problems transience, substance abuse, and family discord. Lack of
adequate housing is a major problem.