DOMINION'S NEW ROLE

Evening Post, Volume CXXIX, Issue 15, 18 January 1940, Page 8

DOMINION'S NEW ROLE

In this war, the role of Canada is seen as that of a supplier to the Empire with the things needed for victory. Thus the conflict is likely to stimulate the country's development immensely. A recent survey made by the United States Department of Commerce describes Canada as "a' nation with a large capacity for industrial and raw material production, both potential and actual, and one which is expected to play a leading part in supplying Allied war needs." The major contribution of Canada is expected to be arms, ammunition, foodstuffs, and equipment. Early war contracts affected four principal industries—aircraft, textiles, shoes, and railway car shops. In the aircraft industry a centralised production plan was created before the war began, and j given in some detail in this cqlumn I at the time of the announcement of the Empire Air Scheme. The textile and shoe industries are expected to supply British needs to a considerable extent, and the railway car shops have contracts to expand available rolling stock. Indirectly, all industry quickly began to benefit under the growth of restocking orders which were lodged in expectation of prices rising. The industrial capacity of the coun-! try is large. It is rich in natural resources, minerals, forests, and.% water power, as well as in large agricultural a'eas, and these have provided the framework for considerable development. From 1901 to 1910 the gross value of manufactured production rose from 465,000,000 dollars to 1,166,000,000 dollars, and from 1921 to 1937, the latest year for which statistics are available, the rise was from 2,576.000,000 dollars to 3,623,000,000 dollars. In 1937 industrial production was | at its highest point in histpry exceeding even the 1929 output, which was

at a high price level. Canadian industry today has an output equal to about one-seventeenth that of the United' States. The largest indtistry, from the point of view of value of products, is the smelting and refining industry, dealing with gold, nickel, copper, and bauxite; The largest in wage payments is the paper and pulp industry. Industries founded on; agriculture are important—meat packing, flour milling, butter and cheese making fill the third to sixth places on the list. The motor-car industry is next, with an output valued at 135,000,000 dollars in 1937. Other major industries are lumber, electrical apparatus, petroleum, refining, and railway rolling stock building. The rise of metal refining is a recent development. In Canadian prosperity the United States has a large share. Of the 3,465,000,000 dollars of capital, investment in Canadian industry in 1937 some 1,047,000,000 dollars was in companies owned or controlled by the United States. This state of- affairs is largely, the outcome of branches of American firms being established in Canada to tak^ advantage of the British preference to Canadian goods,, and to find a way round the Dominion's tarsr. ■■••■•■ ■.;. ; '■