The Collonial Export of Staples Economy

Basic Aspects of the Issue

Mary Quayle Innes, wife of Harold A Innes, edited together the writings of her husband after his death, and published An Economic History of Canada in 1935.( #1207) This history, covering the period of Canadian economic history up until 1914, focuses on the centrality of the extraction and export of "staples" from Canada as the main economic driver, and how the Canadian Shield virtually dominates that activity throughout this period by its massive presence.

The basic insight that Innis used as the central theme of his writings was that our economic history has been primarily the export a sequence of interlocking and overlapping raw materials bask to the home countries of France and Britain during the colonial period. Hayter and Barnes ( ) in their examination of the recession in British Columbia in the early 1980's consider his analysis of the situation still relevant to today.

It is interesting that literary critic and scholar Louis Owens (#1420) reflects upon the peculiar lack of "post-colonial" literature coming out of United States as it is out of other former colonies around the world. Other countries, recently freed from the yoke of colonial rule, have a wealth of literature expressing the struggle for self-identity and institutional reconstruction since gaining independence. There is no such literature coming out of America, he postulates, because the colonial period is not over in America. The War of independence in the United States was not the beginning of a great experiment on democracy - it was a squabble between British homeland and British locals over who would have colonial exploitation rights in the new continent, and the locals won. First Nations have not gained their independence, not have they gotten their country back. That is why there is no post-colonial literature coming out of America.

The same theme could be written about Canada. Our attitude towards both First Nations and the natural resources is very similar to that of the United States. The reality is that we have done very little with our natural resources except export them to others for them to add value to them and sell them as a higher price. Because we have such a well-endowed country, we have fooled ourselves that somehow we are a great nation. In fact, we are like a spoiled kid living off daddy's money, not doing a stitch of work for it.

The time of awakening is rapidly coming , however, as our natural resources are becoming rapidly depleted. The time of our realizing that we are in deep trouble may come too late to rectify the situation. It is at that time we ourselves will be confronted with another round of shock at the loss of our entitlement to a life style which was ours but unearned, and therefore exhausted. The current concept of "sustainability" addresses this problem, in its drive for balanced life in all areas, and a realistic view of the finiteness of our natural resources.

The major long-term effect of the revenues generated by the export of Staples in both United States and Canada, would have to await the spin-off effects of another factor, however, our cultural commitment to excellence in Education.

Rural Development Institute Research Studies

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