Canadian economic geography at the millennium

Abstract

Over the last quarter of a century the Canadian economy experienced a series of profound changes which have affected every level of society. They include new forms of flexible production, fundamental changes in regulation at all spatial scales, structural shifts away from manufacturing towards service sector activities, the rise of information technology (IT) and computerization at the workplace, the feminization of the labour market, and, what has become the leitmotif of the age, globalization. Such changes are intimately connected with geography. By that we mean not merely that they take on a geographical form, but that geography is pan of their very constitution. In this sense Canadian economic geographers are exactly in the right time and the right place to make use of their skills. Indeed, over the last five years there has been an explosion of literature by Canadian economic geographers on precisely these kinds of changes that are simultaneously both economic and geographical. In reviewing that literature the paper begins by situating Canada within its wider global setting, which we then follow by surveying the diverse writing around the three broad sectors that make‐up the Canadian economy: the resource sector, the manufacturing sector, and the service sector. We conclude by highlighting two particular research themes within Canadian economic geography that have become especially germane over the late 1990s. The first is on new labour markets and forms of work both of which have been transformed during the last decade; and the second is on new forms of industrial innovation, which are clearly pivotal to the future well‐being of the country for the next millennium. Au cours des vingt‐cinq dernières années, l'économie canadienne a connu une série, de changements profonds qui ont affecté toutes les couches de la société. Ces changements comprennent les nouvelles formes de production flexible, les changements fondamentaux dans la réglementation à toutes les échelles spatiales, la mutation structurelle du secteur industriel au secteur tertiaire, la montée de la technologie de l'information (Tl) et l'informatisation sur le lieu de travail, la présence plus importante des femmes sur le marché du travail, et, ce qui est devenu le leitmotiv de notre époque, la mondialisation. De tels changements sont intimement liés à la geographie. Par la, nous ne disons pas simplement qu'ils prennent une forme géographique, mais que la géographie fait partie intégrante de leur constitution. Dans ce sens, les géographes‐économistes canadiens arrivent, si l'on peut dire, au bon endroit au bon moment pour mettre leurs connaissances à profit. En effet, on assiste depuis les cinq dernières années à une recrudescence impressionnante des travaux de géographes‐économistes canadiens portant, précisément, sur ces types de changements qui sont à la fois économiques et géographiques. En faisant le compte‐rendu de cette littérature scientifique, cet article situe d'abord le Canada dans son contexte mondial plus large, passe ensuite en revue c...

The Struggle to Compete: From comparative to competitive advantage in Northern British Columbia

“…The interdependence of these variables is well documented within rural literature exploring the theoretical and practical significance of sustainability (Pierce & Dale, 1999). Second, researchers and development practitioners recognize the importance of contextual specificity to the process of development (Barnes et al, 2000). Rural development itself has struggled through and, for the most part learned from, the failures associated with top-down, uniform, non-participatory models of development (Halseth & Booth, 2003).…”

Being Realistic about Urban Growth

“…There is an academic literature on slow growth, but it is largely confined to a scattering of discussions of urban growth boundaries and NIMBYism (Crandall, 2003; Gainsborough, 2002). A better candidate for the distinction of dealing level‐headedly with the consequences of different urban growth rates is a literature associated with economic and urban geography, which understands a nation's urban agglomerations as an urban system and traces the trajectories of metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas within it (Barnes et al, 2000; Bourne & Rose, 2001; Bourne & Simmons, 2003; Coffey & Shearmur, 1998).…”

Challenging the inevitability of rural decline: Advancing the policy of place in northern British Columbia

“…First, a territorial planning model allows for the integration of economic, environmental, social, and cultural dynamics in planning at a manageable scale. Second, a territorial approach recognizes the importance of contextual specificity to the process of development (Barnes et al, 2000;Markey et al, in press). Rural development itself has struggled through, and for the most part, learned from the failures associated with top-down, uniform, non-participatory models of development (Halseth and Booth, 2003).…”