The Birth of Industrialisation
Canadian industrialisation started in Montreal around 1850. The city offered key infrastructures, such as the St. Lawrence Seaway, a reengineered canal with hydroelectric production, and a settled population that could provide ample, low-cost labour. Montreal was also a business hub for the entire colony.
The first industrialisation phase (1850-1900) featured the development of manufacturing, steam engines, canals, and railways that fostered the emergence of new industries, such as metallurgy. Starting in 1875, the movement spread out into the countryside, around large cities, and to remote regions like Salaberry-de-Valleyfield.
Shipping in the Lachine Canal.
Library and Archives Canada. MIKAN 3349533.
In an effort to curtail transportation and production costs, an increasing number of factories set up shop near power generating stations, logging operations, mines, and shipping lanes, such as seaports, canals, railways, terminals, and major roads. During the second phase (1900-1929), new industry sectors based on natural resources emerged, such as hydropower, pulp & paper, and mines. Moreover, new energy sources (electricity and gas & oil), as well as iron-based production (electrometallurgy, electrochemistry, and automotive) came into being. Between 1901 and 1911, the economy grew at an unprecedented pace and the population rose by two million. The second phase reinforced existing industrial infrastructures, created new ones, and fostered the implementation of industrial ventures in small cities and towns. In some cases, new towns were developed around the arrival of a factory.
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