A Journal is Born: 1935

Abstract

In 1921, when I came to Canada, Canadian economics was “colonial” in character; English and American influences blended but there was little native thought or work. The re-establishment of the Canadian Political Science Association in 1929 (it had been founded in 1913 and had foundered in 1914) was a symptom of the growing strength of the native elements, and it quickly contributed towards further strengthening of these elements. Harold Innis had foreseen this and worked hard but quietly for the development of the Association. He had recognized, too, the necessity for a Canadian outlet for Canadian writing on economics; not because the Canadian papers then being written could not be published in English and American periodicals but because he foresaw a great stimulus to Canadian economists to write more when they had their own journal. The example of the Canadian Historical Review with its effect on Canadian historical scholarship was not without influence. With the support of E. J. Urwick, Harold Innis had been able in 1928 to establish Contributions to Canadian Economics, published by the University of Toronto Press. Then in 1930 came the first of the new Proceedings of the Canadian Political Science Association (called volume II, since volume I had been published in 1913), edited by Clifford Curtis and printed by the Jackson Press in Kingston.