Iron ore is available at Steep Rock, Lake Superior district, Ontario and in Labrador. Advanced technology allows the use of low grade ores like taconite.
The taconite industry has expanded rapidly on Canada -U.S.A. boundary especially in Minnesota and Michigan regions of USA. Canada is the world's third ranking aluminium producer and number one exporter, yet Canadian industry is totally processing imported ores from Jamaica, Surinam and Guyana.
Canada holds eighth place in world production of iron. (6185 million metric tons). Three iron and steel centres are at the port of Hamilton on Lake Ontario, at Sault St. Marie between Lake Superior and Huron and the third is situated on tide water, Sydney. Nova Scotia produce 1/5 of Canadian steel and Hamilton is the largest with the productive capacity of 3 million tons a year.
St. Lawrence valley and cheap transportation of ore and limestone by water from Newfoundland are the basic factors of iron and steel centres around the Great Lakes. Montreal, Quebec, Toronto and Ottawa are considered as the industrial region in Canada. Quebec specializes in marine engineering and ship building while Ottawa has paper and pulp making and saw milling. Toronto concentrates on automobiles, textiles, chemical, engineering and saw milling. Montreal contains approximately 13% of Canadian industry. A variety of consumer items is produced both for national and international markets (food processing, apparel, publishing). The immense hydro-electric power potential of Quebec is a major power source for industry along St. Lawrence and has been the basis for aluminium production. The aluminium industry illustrates Canada's role as a processor and supplier for other nations using the national resource of power.
The other processing centres are copper and lead at both Fun Hon and Noranda, nickel at Sudbury and magnesium at Haley. The valleys of St. Lawrence and its tributaries are the major areas of wood pulp and paper manufacturing. Canada is the world's leading supplier of Newsprint.
The belt between Toronto and Hamilton is the 'golden horseshoe'. Apart from iron and steel, a greater variety of other industrial goods such as auto parts. assembled autos, electrical machinery, and agricultural implements are produced.
Among the Atlantic provinces Newfoundland has the main occupation as fishing. Fishing industry here is flourishing because there are plentiful fish in the sea. Some parts of west and North east Newfoundland have coniferous forests, which supply pulp and paper. In Nova Scotia lumbering industry is going on successfully. It supplies timber for ship building. Fishing industry like Newfoundland also flourishes in Nova Scotia. Fishing is done in the inshore water along the coasts. New Brunswick has also a sizable fishing industry. The herring fishery of the Bay of Fundy is supporting many canneries located in the southern New Brunswick. In Prince Edward Island fishing is done to some extent along the coasts. The main manufacturing and capital city of Nova Scotia is Halifax and the only city of Prince Edward Island is Charlotte town. St. John is the capital of Newfoundland. Corner Brook is famous for its paper mills. Fredericton is the capital of New Brunswick and St. John. the
largest city and port.
Two factors have contributed to the industrial growth.
(1) Over 60% of Canada's market is found along the southern edge of Ontario and Quebec and market orientation of industry appears to be strengthening.
(2) Canadian industry has evolved behind a protective tariff. Foreign companies tend to locate in larger Canadian industrial centres such as Windsor, Hamilton, Toronto and Montreal and close to the city containing the parent US firm. There are subsidiary operations, which have avoided tariffs. The economic integration and mutual dependency between Canada and U.S. are the unique features of Anglo American economy.
Most of the Canadian population is within 310 kilometers of U.S. border. The prairie provinces provide the only significant exception. Except this concentration, north of Lake Superior the population concentrates as along east-west ribbon. To the north of this is sparsely populated region. More than 60 percent of population is located on the Ontario peninsula and in the St. Lawrence valley of southern Quebec.10 percent of concentration is in the maritime provinces while the Prairie provinces have 17 percent. Canada has 9.21 million square kilometer area and population of 206 million in 1986 with capital Ottawa.
Population redistribution began even before the initial settling of the more habitable parts of Anglo America. Canada is not an exception. The shift from an agrarian to industrial society began early in the nineteenth century. Population continued to concentrate in urban areas after World War II. Evidences suggest that the post-world war II era of rapid urban growth may be coming to an end. A 1980 evaluation shows that there is very low natural increase in cities. Greater economic growth in non-metropolitan areas, retirement, migration and the unfavorable environment of large urban centres have led to the population decline in the prairie provinces. The areas peripheral to the Great lakes in Canada are the old industrial centres. These have long experienced population growth from natural increase, immigration and rural-urban migration. These centres registered a low rate of natural growth in 1980.
Trade and Transport: Stimulated growth of commercial agriculture, technological inventions and improvements, essential requirement of low cost of transportation were responsible for the development of transportation network since nineteenth century. Increasing mobility of goods and feasibility of resource utilization for industrialization have frequently altered the importance of various places. The rail road complemented water transportation by mid-nineteenth century. The rails connect farm, forest, and mineral resource areas with ports and cities. Massive urban and industrial growth that followed world War II led to the development of national routes. The rail road has been partly replaced by the truck and plane. At present the rail road retains its importance as long haulage freight carriers. Both automotive and air transport have captured passenger traffic. The auto-highway system is extremely important for freight movement. The settled parts of Canada contain intensive n
etwork of paved roads. The Great lakes not only act as an internal waterway but also function as an international water route connecting the cities with Europe. Canal navigation provides additional advantage to the network of transport. Waterways extend 3200 km. along the Canada-U.S. border.
Canada - its identity and unity: Canadian political organization, over 100 years ago, as a federation was at the insistence of French descendants that any system of Union should preserve French identity and influence. At present there are distinctive cultural differences between French and English Canada. The French have maintained their identity along lower St. Lawrence valley. For example 80 percent of population in Quebec is French and 70 percent of them are urban. It has experienced high population growth rate. The expansion of the British territories had posed a problem. Continued immigration patterns of the present century have seen significant numbers of Poles, Dutch, Germans and Italians.
Canada's population numbers only 23 million. It is rich in forest, water and mineral resources and modest in agricultural production because of harsh environment. Canada and U.S. have become to each other, most important trading partners. 40 percent of Canadian industries are controlled by U.S. parent firms. Economic prosperity of Canada is thus closely tied up to the prosperity of U.S. Political efforts to redirect its trade relationship towards other areas may induce direct conflict between these two large and well endowed countries in proximity.
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