... and Canada's historic connection with Ukraine.
Perhaps, it has always been difficult to be Canada ...
This 4.5 x 7 inch booklet was probably ideal for an interior coat pocket. If you were on a streetcar or a commuter train, waiting for an appointment or looking for some entertaining facts to bring into conversation, this 90-page publication was ideal to help you pass the time. All 'aged paper' selections below come from this booklet.
I have tried to extract and share some historical perspectives of the topics consuming Canadian news these days. In some situations, it has always been like this. In others, we are living in very different times.
It was interesting to discover that Royal Military College graduate, Lt-Col Reuben Leonard (1860-1930), donated (the previous year - see the bottom of Page 20) the real estate which contributed the expression 'Chatham House Rules' to today's dialogues of journalists, policy experts and politicians. His civil engineering career began with the CPR and in 1911 he became the Chairman of the National Transcontinental Railway.
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To take you quickly into this era, here is a sample of the trackside refreshments offered to passengers on the Canadian Pacific Railway.
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| from: Canada, A History in Photographs; Hall & Dodds; Hurtig. |
Canadian Pacific lunch counter at Kenora, 1921.
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| from: The Last Best West; Jean Bruce; 1976; Fitzhenry & Whiteside. |
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Caution: It seems that the notorious Canadian 'Log Products' Lobby (with 3126 establishments) has tried to skew the facts by achieving a double entry, below! Or maybe it's just a typo.
We can only imagine the tremendous demand for hydro poles, telephone, and railway telegraph poles ... in order to create the complicated urban networks, and pioneering rural lines of wires, across the broad expanse of Canada at this point in history. Don't forget the need for railway ties, either.
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| from: A Toronto Album; Michael Filey; 1970; University of Toronto Press. |
Above: Old Union Station, Toronto. Undated photograph.
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Canadian Global Affairs
The two selections below come from: Documents on Canadian External Relations, Volume 1, 1909-1918; 1967; Department of External Affairs.
This interesting 900-page book - published as a government Centennial Project, no doubt - provides the correspondence exchanged over key events in Canadian history.
A typical memorable example is provided by correspondence on the handling of Canadian Pacific steamships during World War One. If they were found to be in Britain, The [British] Admiralty would often requisition them as war transports - generally for moving troops to places like the Dardanelles or Egypt. The Company and Canadian officials sent countless requests to have them returned for essential Canadian uses, but the messages sent in reply generally suggested that the needs of the British Empire were more critical than the needs of a single colony or dominion.
Of course, after the experiences of Canadians in World War One, we had learned to stand up against much of his kind of treatment and Canada was on its way to becoming a more independent country.
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The first example comes from 1909 via a long memo sent by our Minister of Finance to 'our' ambassador in Washington - on Page 761 of the book. It considers home country tariffs on foreign imports to be something 'done to' foreigners ... a traditional protectionist view of the use of tariffs which probably seems quite familiar these days.
Sent: 1 December 1909
Memo from William Fielding (1848-1929), Minister of Finance, Canada.
to
James Bryce, 1st Viscount Bryce (1838-1922), Ambassador of Britain [and its colonies and dominions] to the United States.
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Below, a London-born Governor General of Canada writes to 'his boss', who was also born in London.
This correspondence is about the same matter.
Grey thinks, metaphorically, that 'we have all the cards' as he refers to aces, trumps and tricks.
One significant irritant was that American paper makers were afraid that Canada would deny them cheap wood pulp. Of course, newspapers consumed enormous quantities of low-value paper back then.
This trade relations topic fills 42 pages of my book (most of which I've read) and took from December 1909 until July 1911 to settle.
Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia made things difficult for a while by prohibiting exports of pulpwood from their Crown Lands - while US industry essentially wanted free trade in Canadian pulp.
... Perhaps it has always been difficult to manage trade with the US ... The US Congress and Britain had an influence in the regulation of Canadian tariffs and trade during this 1909-1911 negotiation.
Above:
Albert Grey, 4th Earl Grey (1851-1917)
Governor General
to
Robert Crewe-Milnes, 1st Marquess of Crewe (1858-1945)
Colonial Secretary
The Democratic Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Champ Clark, was a proponent of annexing Canada. In 1911, he spoke about how 'The people of Canada are of our blood and language'. He looked forward to the American flag flying over all of 'British North America' to the North Pole. He thought the Reciprocity Treaty would be the first step in annexing Canada ... The Congressional Record noted there was 'prolonged applause' in the House at the end of his speech.
In 1911 there was a 'Free Trade Election' ('Reciprocity' with the US) in Canada. The Liberals were the free traders and the Conservatives favoured protectionism. Conservative Borden beat Laurier ... in part, due to the anti-American feelings which developed over the advocating of annexation, etc.
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Above: So this is where tariffs were 6 years after World War One ended.
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The Auto Industry
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| from: Quebec 1850-1950; Lionel Koffler; 2005; Firefly Books. |
Above: In 1918, not far from the birthplace of Rolly Martin they were selling a 'Canadian brand' of autos. Experienced carriage makers, accustomed to building reinforced vehicles for horses to pull, sometimes tried their hand at making horseless carriages.
This explains the career path of Sam McLaughlin - the son of an Oshawa carriage maker. His car company began operation in 1908. His acquaintance, former carriage maker William C Durant (founder of General Motors), pulled McLaughlin into his dynamic and persuasive orbit. Durant's Buick powertrains were used in McLaughlin's cars.
McLaughlin bought the Canadian subsidiary of Chevrolet in Oshawa in 1915. In 1918 his two companies merged and were sold to GM. McLaughlin became President of General Motors Canada. The Canadian McLaughlin-Buicks were produced until 1942.
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The Post Office
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| from: Vanishing Canada; Rick Butler; 1980; Clarke, Irwin & Co. |
Rural mail delivery, Ancaster, Ontario, 1880.
The first Super Mailbox! ("Is that all it does?")
Historians say the item held by the gentleman to the right was a ... 'News Paper'.
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War & Militia Facts
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| from: The World War, Volume III; ed: Holland Thompson; 1920; Grolier Society. |
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| from: The World War, Volume III; ed: Holland Thompson; 1920; Grolier Society. |