CHAPTER 5 - Canadian Economics and Business

Abstract

This chapter discusses Canadian economics and business. The economic background to present-day Canada is well laid out in The Canadian Economy: selected readings by J. J. Deutsch et al, 2nd edn., Macmillan, Toronto, 1965. This book is intended primarily as an aid in the introductory teaching of economic principles in Canadian universities and colleges. A work that covers the early period and is still of considerable value is H. A. Innis and A. R. M. Lower, Select Documents in Canadian Economic History, 1783-1885, University of Toronto Press, 1933. This collection, as well as Essays in Canadian Economic History by H. A. Innis, edited by M. Q. Innis, University of Toronto Press, 1956, was written by one of the most important economic historians of North America. Earlier works in the economic history of Canada have been closely related to political science and government. Much that was written, although of basic importance, was on subjects which were only marginal to economics. Because they provide valuable sources of information, they are listed here. Dr. Adam Shortt's Documents Relating to Canadian Currency, Exchange and Finance during the French Period (Ottawa, 1915), W. B. Munro's Documents Relating to Seigniorial Tenure in Canada, 1598–1854 (Toronto, 1908), S. Leacock's Mackenzie/Hincks (Toronto, 1926), and O. D. Skelton's Life and Times of Sir Alexander Tilloch Galt, Carleton Library, No. 26, (Toronto, 1966) are still useful.