Resources:
http://faculty.marianopolis.edu/c.belanger/quebechistory/encyclopedia/Econhistcan.htm
http://victoria.tc.ca/Resources/bchistory-disciplines.html
http://www.mccord-museum.qc.ca/en/eduweb/texts/textbooks/industrialization/
Assignment
Canada's Economy - Past and Present
After you have made yourself familiar with some of the economic concepts in your text book, you are ready to do some research on Canada's historical economic development. The above resources will provide a good starting point.
Your job has two components: 1. You will choose one area in Canada and do research on its historical economic development.
What does economic development mean? Take the fur trade, for example. Fur was an important commodity that led to the exploitation of the resource and its final depletion. Gold is another example. Both examples illustrate an important point: A resource is found and marketed and exploited to such a degree that it leads to the extinction of the resource unless measures are undertaken to control the outflow of the product and provide sustainability. In the fur trade or gold examples, the rush for the resource led to its decline. This brings us to the second point: diversification. Once a certain number of people has congregated in one place, these people have an interest in staying put. They have to provide sustainable employment for themselves, which usually means that the resources they obtain from the ground are not simply taken out of the ground and shipped out, but that these resources are somehow processed and improved to provide skilled jobs for workers and added income from the additional value the work has placed onto the processed good.
2. You will choose one economic sector and discuss its historic development from the past to the present. Here, your focus should be on British Columbia. Include Pacific Rim Trade in your discussion.
After you have made yourself familiar with some of the economic concepts in your text book, you are ready to do some research on Canada's historical economic development. The above resources will provide a good starting point.
Your job has two components: 1. You will choose one area in Canada and do research on its historical economic development.
What does economic development mean? Take the fur trade, for example. Fur was an important commodity that led to the exploitation of the resource and its final depletion. Gold is another example. Both examples illustrate an important point: A resource is found and marketed and exploited to such a degree that it leads to the extinction of the resource unless measures are undertaken to control the outflow of the product and provide sustainability. In the fur trade or gold examples, the rush for the resource led to its decline. This brings us to the second point: diversification. Once a certain number of people has congregated in one place, these people have an interest in staying put. They have to provide sustainable employment for themselves, which usually means that the resources they obtain from the ground are not simply taken out of the ground and shipped out, but that these resources are somehow processed and improved to provide skilled jobs for workers and added income from the additional value the work has placed onto the processed good.
2. You will choose one economic sector and discuss its historic development from the past to the present. Here, your focus should be on British Columbia. Include Pacific Rim Trade in your discussion.