Dimensions of Canadian regionalism

Abstract

Three phenomena of pervasive concern to Canadians - economic disparities, foreign ownership and cultural differences - are explored by quantitative and cartographic examination of city and census county data for 1961 and broad policy implications are noted. Each of Canada's major regions: the Maritimes, Quebec, Ontario, the Prairies and British Columbia have distinctive cultural identity. Cultural diversity in Canada reflects the concentrations of minority ethnic groups in regions that are predominantly English as well as the cultural contrasts between English and French. Economic development and regional disparities have independent regional patterns that cut across the cultural dimensions. Regional disparities reflect heartland-hinterland and urban-rural differences, and, to a lesser extent the regional impact of foreign ownership. Canada's heartland may be defined by the manufacturing belt which stretches from Windsor to Quebec City. Sheer distance from the heartland is a potent factor in regional development and should be taken into account in development programs. Urban growth has tended to be slower in the periphery than in the heartland, but it has been particularly slow in the Atlantic periphery. Metropolitan centres have a prominent role in the nation's economy, but no urban centre in the Atlantic Provinces ranks high in metropolitan status. Foreign ownership has increased regional disparities by the concentration of American subsidiaries in those parts of the Canadian heartland contiguous with the American manufacturing belt; but foreign ownership, economic development and cultural differences are independent dimensions of Canadian regionalism.