The External Conditions of the Canadian Situation Summary Statement; an Historical Perspective The Late Nineteenth Century [in contrast, not necessarily in substance] Canada had strong economic and political ties with Britain. Trade flowedmore east and west in association with Britain, than it had during theReciprocity Treaty Period, 1854-1866. Primary product exports, decreasinglyforest products, increasingly wheat, were the policy basis of expansion. Porfolio capital flowed into Canada from Britain to build transcontinentalrailways. In short, the expansion of industrialism around the globe, andthe force of the British Empire, developed and integrated Canada, with primary product exports the leading element in expansion. To Sir WilfridLaurier it seemed like the twentieth century belonged to Canada. The Late Twentieth Century [in contrast, not necessarily in substance] By 1990, the British Empire was irrelevant. Canada had strong economic anddiplomatic ties with the United States. The frontier of global industrialexpansion had moved from America to Asia, and to developing countries inSouth America. This is not to say that the United States had fallen intopermanenet relative decline. The stagflation of the 1970s and 1980s evaporated in the 1990s. With innovations in information technologyleading the advance, by 2000, the United States was enjoying one of thelongest expansions and increases in productivity in its history.Canada's primary product export industries were no longer forceful enginesof expansion, though they experienced continuing development. Canada wasa settled frontier, a permanent northern frontier. Compared to frontiersin Information Technology, its resource frontier was a dead frontier.Its finished goods exports exceeded its primary productexports by two to one in value. The standardof living in Canada was was falling in relation to other, more rapidlyadvancing countries. In the 1990s, it fell absolutely, though by t...
