June 1948 — Vol. 29, No. 7 —
Canada's Natural
Resources
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Canada's great store of natural
resources is not something locked away in a vault for misers
to gloat about. It is a treasury of material things to be
turned into useful commodities by our skill and energy.
He is, however, a wise man who takes stock every once in
a while to see how his inventory stands, and to learn whether
he is making the best use of what he has.
Every civilization rests on a different basis of resources.
Adam, when forced to till the ground, was using the resource
of agricultural soil; we, when we produce atomic energy from
uranium, are tapping not only a deeper layer of the earth,
but of intellect. Given our vast basic resources and the natural
energy and skill of enterprising people to develop them, it
is not surprising to find material well—being flourishing
as it does in Canada.
We had, for generations, the reputation of being a supplier
of raw materials: but the space of only one generation has
witnessed a great change. Today Canada is not only a rich
storehouse of materials but an industrial nation fabricating
natural resources into usable goods.
Exchange of Resources
The fact that countries have different natural resources
poses important problems for solution by members of the human
family. While no nation boasts of a supply so complete that
it can cut itself off wholly from the rest of the world, some
are much closer to that self—sufficient state than others.
One of the perplexing questions for a country wealthy in natural
resources is: how far should I forego a nationalistic economy
in the interest of international good?
Never in our history has the world been so important to
Canada, and at the same time never has Canada had so great
opportunity to be of service to the world.
In 1945 our net value of primary production was $2,566 million.
After processing these commodities in our factories, we exported
goods to the amount of $3,218 million. This represents the
extent to which we were able to exchange goods of Canadian
production for goods made elsewhere.
A Well—balanced Economy
It is not any one resource, however big it may be, that
gives Canada importance and makes her what she is today, but
the complementary nature of her resources and the "wholeness"
they give her economy.
Canada has, per head of population, more coal and lignite
reserves, more potential water power, and more arable and
other cultivated land than any other country. She is second
in her reserves of iron ore, and fourth in pasture land. A
few representative figures may be interesting. The potential
water power per head in the leading 32 countries is 0.16 horsepower;
in Canada it is 2.27 horse—power. The iron ore per head
in all countries is 24.6 tons; in Canada it is 217 tons. The
arable and other cultivated land per head is 1.30 acres in
all countries; in Canada it is 5.04 acres.
It has been estimated that about one—quarter of Canada
is covered by forest growth, and that about one—quarter
of this bears saw—timber of merchantable size, of which
two—thirds is in British Columbia. We have a quarter
million square miles of fresh water, more than any other country.
We are rich in the important minerals.
Production of resources is conditioned by climate, and Canada
is singularly fortunate in this regard, so that our climate
might be reckoned as another natural resource.
High Living Standard
There emerges from this survey cause for general satisfaction.
Based upon the wealth of their natural resources, Canadians
enjoy a command of goods and services, of horse—power
per person, of food, housing, comforts, leisure and entertainment
which cannot be beaten anywhere in the world. This has been
achieved without surrender of independent personality, without
regimentation, dictatorship or government bossism.
Canada is a free country, in the old sense of "free" which
means that its people are at liberty to worship according
to their consciences, choose their own work, speak according
to their urges, think and discuss all manner of things, and
read a free press. Canada has a democratic government, in
the old sense of "democratic" which means elected by free
vote of the people and responsible to the people.
As to the level of material living, it would be easy to
record the number of motor vehicles, baths, radios and telephones,
but far better is a story related of the late President Roosevelt
in Geoffrey Gorer's new book The American People. He
and his advisers were discussing how to get literature into
the hands of the Russian people in order to convert them from
a totalitarian to a democratic way of life. After talking
about some of the classical texts of democracy, President
Roosevelt said: "If I wanted to point out to the Russians
the superiority of our way of life, I should try to get just
one book into their hands - the Sears—Roebuck catalogue."
Any Canadian department store catalogue, laid alongside a
list of the average weekly earnings of the people of Canada,
would give a better idea than many pages of statistics of
the high standard of living in this country.
Luxuriant Forests
Canada has a fair share of the world's 5,000 million acres
of forests. Our forests cover a vast belt from 600 to 1,300
miles wide right across the continent from the Atlantic to
the Pacific. This forest land constitutes 38 per cent of our
land area. It bears 130 species of trees, of which 33 are
conifers.
According to a statistical record published last year by
the Department of Mines and Resources, the lumber industry
had 5,300 establishments in 1945, employed 44,000 persons,
and its gross production was valued at $231 million; the pulp
and paper industry had 109 establishments, employed 40,000
workers, and turned out $400 million worth of goods. The Department
of Trade and Commerce estimate for 1945 reports a total of
200,000 employees in the wood and paper group of industries,
with a gross production of $1,185 million.
As to industries developing out of forest products, the
Minister of Finance told the Lumbermen's Association in February
that exports of wood, wood products and paper "represent the
largest single category in the published statistics and amounted
to $886 million during the year 1947, or 32 per cent of our
total exports of Canadian produce." The pulp and paper industry
leads all other manufactures m net value of production, and
is one of the world's great industrial enterprises.
Abundant Minerals
Having reached her western limits in wheat and having embarked
on fullest use of her timber, Canada is now roiling back her
northern frontier in search of minerals. Increased knowledge
of the geology of the northwest, and changes in transportation
and communication, have brought under scrutiny vast areas
which were hitherto looked upon as waste rock. One company
is spending $50,000 a year for three years on exploration,
and another expedition will go to a remote and unexplored
part of the Arctic at a cost of $30,000.
The leading five metallic minerals produced in Canada last
year were gold, copper, nickel, zinc and lead, valued at $360
million; the leading four non—metallics were coal, asbestos,
petroleum and natural gas, valued at $137 million; and in
addition there were clay products and other structural material
valued at $73 million. The total mineral production was valued
at $619 million.
Canada's streets are not paved with gold, as some immigrants
of the last century were led to think, but at least one footpath
had its gold cobblestones. A well—used trail in the Yellowknife
district crossed a vein that remained unnoticed by the men
passing back and forth every day. When discovered, small pieces
of quartz that had been scuffed loose by passing feet were
found to assay about $700 in gold to the ton.
Nickel, which comes mainly from the nickel—copper deposits
of Sudbury, Ontario, increased in output four times between
1914 and 1939, while copper output increased seven times,
lead eleven times and zinc 17 times.
Iron provides the foundation of modern industry. Canada's
resources in iron ore are largely unknown. Discoveries in
the Lake Superior region a few years ago were developed from
1945 onward. Partial exploration of deposits astride the Quebec—Labrador
border reveal iron ore of high grade. It seems likely, says
Canada Year Book, that Canada's production of iron
ore will long continue to show a general upward trend.
Canada has tapped important deposits of uranium ore, major
source of atomic energy, and still another deposit was found
in March. The Eldorado mine is well known as the world's second—largest
source of an ore from which radium and uranium are extracted;
the latest discovery is near Flin Flon, Manitoba.
Canada has been the world's leading producer of platinum
since 1934, when it displaced Russia. Industrial uses have
expanded greatly in recent years, calling for all the platinum
yielded by the nickel—copper ores mined in the Sudbury
district.
Although the material which is its principal component is
not a natural resource of Canada, but is imported from other
countries, aluminum must be mentioned in this list. Its manufacture
in Canada is due to our great wealth of another natural resource,
water power.
Aluminum Company of Canada employs 15,000 persons, with
an annual payroll of $35 million. In addition, there are 1,500
companies fabricating aluminum, with an estimated employment
of 50,000 persons.
The Canadian company, with a capital investment of $350
million, manufactures 25 per cent of world production. Last
year's value was $150 million, of which 90 per cent was exported.
Asbestos, Coal and Oil
Canada is rich in non—metallic minerals. It is the
world's chief source of asbestos, production of which is concentrated
in the Eastern Townships of Quebec. The value of annual production
increased from $24,700 in 1880 to $24,500,000 in 1946.
Coal is one of our problems. This country is one of the
world's richest in bituminous reserves, but they are largely
located in the wrong places, far removed from industrial centres.
Because of this, Canada has never supplied more than about
50 per cent of the nation's market requirements. In 1938 we
produced 14 million tons and imported 13 million tons; in
1946 we produced 18 million tons and imported 26 million tons.
Canada suffers from oil anaemia, producing only about a
seventh of her needs from her own wells. Widespread seepages
in favourable structures in the Mackenzie River basin indicate
the possibility of opening up new fields to supplement those
at Turner Valley and Fort Norman. Just last winter a new well
blew in at Leduc, Alberta. Total production in 1947 was 7,632,204
barrels, of which New Brunswick yielded 22,848 barrels; Ontario
124,954; Saskatchewan 528,932; Alberta 6,711,276; and the
Northwest Territories 244,194.
We have enormous oil deposits in the tar sands of Alberta,
but the difficulty is to find an economic method of reclaiming
the oil. According to Canada Year Book this is "the
greatest known oil reserve on the face of the earth." Estimates
vary between that of Canadian geologists at 100 billion tons
and that of the United States Bureau of Mines at 250 billion
tons.
Agriculture Flourishes
Agriculture is, of course, Canada's leading primary industry,
furnishing a direct livelihood to about one—quarter of
the people and providing raw materials for many manufactures.
There are different phases of the industry; the Maritimes
with their emphasis on products other than grains, Ontario
and Quebec with their mixed farming, the Prairies with their
overwhelming stake in wheat, and British Columbia with its
fruits.
The area of arable lands can be estimated only approximately,
because every decade sees an extension of the land found suitable
for cultivation. The total agricultural land, present and
potential, is given by Canada Year Book as 548,000
square miles, or 351 million acres. Crops range from tobacco,
grapes and peaches, which are grown in the southern parts
of Quebec and Ontario, to the quickly—maturing wheat
which ripens in districts where the summer is very short.
The area given to grain in 1947 totalled 46.7 million acres,
of which 24 million acres were given over to wheat. The wheat
crop in the past 21 years yielded 7,862 million bushels, an
average per year of 374 million bushels.
Canada has won the International prize for wheat 29 times
in the past 33 years, and the International oats championship
16 out of twenty years.
Technological progress has marched hand—in—hand
with territorial expansion. The number of tractors on farms
increased from 47,000 in 1921, to 159,000 in 1941, and in
this latest census year there were nearly 400,000 automobiles
and trucks on Canada's farms. The average Canadian farm worker,
with the use of machines and science, works about 85 acres
of improved land.
The past 80 years have seen Canada change from a land of
sickles and scythes to one of threshing machines and combines;
from ox—cart and buck—board to truck and tractor.
Zimmermann, in his book World Resources and Industries,
contrasts the seven million farmers in North America with
the tens of millions in Europe and perhaps hundreds of millions
in Asia, and he adds: "A better example of the effect of machine
energy and of the capitalistic method of production on the
extent of land utilization and the determination of cultivability
can hardly be imagined."
Great Fishing; Rich Furs
Fishing was probably the first industry carried on by Europeans
in the New World. Long ago those stalwart adventurers caught
their fish off Newfoundland and the Maritimes, cured or dried
them, and sailed back to sell them in Europe. Today, two of
the four great sea—fishing areas of the world border
on the east and west coasts of Canada.
There are still largely unknown, but very great, possibilities
of increasing the economic value of fisheries in all our waters.
The situation of fishermen would be easier if Canadians would
use more fish. The catch in a year could provide 120 pounds
for every person in Canada, whereas we use only 30 pounds
on the average.
Inland waters, rivers and lakes contribute about one—seventh
of the total fish catch. Canada has 228,000 square miles of
fresh water lakes within her borders and these abound in fish
of the finest quality. In 12 years the average annual value
of production was: sea fisheries $50 million; inland fisheries
$8.1 million. Export normally accounts for 70 per cent of
the total value of the catch.
Raw furs are the chief commercial product from a big region
in the northern part of Canada, but not quite so many people
are engaged in trapping as is claimed in a book published
last year. The author says: "Tens of thousands of American
Indians still roam the lonely, pathless forests of north—west
Canada, trapping the fur—bearing animals." It seems too
bad to spoil a romantic exaggeration in an otherwise informative
book, but the truth is that the total Indian population of
Canada is only 126,000, of whom only 3,816 live in the Northwest
Territories, and of these 2,739 are non—trap—laying
women and children.
However, Canada is one of the two great fur—producing
countries of the world. We have a wide variety of fur, including
bear, wolf, fox, weasel, otter, beaver, marten, fisher, mink,
rabbit and muskrat.
During the 20 years ending in 1944 the value of fur production
averaged about $15 million. Fur farming, supplemented by the
development of marshlands and establishment of muskrat and
beaver preserves has provided work for hundreds of Canadians.
At present the pelts of ranch—bred animals amount to
about 30 per cent of the total annual raw fur output.
Ten Million Horse—power
We have left to the last of our material resources one which
is most important in the processing and development of all
others: hydro—electric power.
Water flow has been an important natural resource in Canada
from the time the first settlers set up their water mills
to grind grain. The quantity of power available made possible
the industrial evolution which astonished the world during
the late war, and brought this country's economy from one
based largely on vegetable growth to one about fifty per cent
industrial.
Since 1901, when hydro—electric installation was less
than a quarter million horse—power, Canada's total has
climbed to a million in 1911, three million in 1921, six and
a half million in 1931, and to something over ten and a half
million today. This latest figure represents only slightly
more than 20 per cent of our recorded water power resources.
The average of 834 developed horse—power per thousand
population in all Canada works out like this provincially:
British Columbia 878, Alberta 130, Saskatchewan 108, Manitoba
618, Ontario 656, Quebec 1,584, New Brunswick 272, Nova Scotia
215, Prince Edward Island 28, and Yukon and Northwest Territories
817,
Central electric stations, which develop 90 per cent of
the power used in Canada, produced 45 billion kilowatt—hours
of electricity in 1947. This compares with about 28 billion
ten years previously and 12 billion in 1926. In those same
years the electricity used per capita climbed from 1270 kwh.
to 3600 kwh. Sixty per cent of all Canadian homes are wired
for electricity. There are under construction plants which
will add a capacity of more than one million horsepower, of
which half will come into supply in 1948.
Thinking of the Future
These are days when we have so much trouble on our minds
that rumblings of more troubles ahead make little difference.
To the casual individual, the Canadian nickel resources of
the year 2048 do not matter very much, nor may he be particularly
interested in what forest trees are left standing in the year
2000.
The thoughtful citizen, however, is aware of his responsibilities
for the continuity of group life, and particularly for the
chance he gives future Canadians to live satisfactorily. Destructive
practices today can milk the best of our resources, to the
possible enrichment of this generation, but at the expense
of impoverishing our children's children who will see the
turn of the century.
It has been pointed out in carefully documented reports
that world population has increased until there are only about
two acres of productive land for each individual, and while
destructive practices are daily causing these two acres to
shrink, population is mounting at the rate of almost 50,000
people per day. These arresting facts are part of a report
to be discussed by the Inter—American Conference on the
Conservation of Renewable Natural Resources in September.
Conservation does not mean, as opponents or muddled people
affirm, a restriction of use, but a wise exploitation with
a minimum of waste, a maximum utility for all purposes, and
a maximum replacement of such resources as are replaceable.
This article has been about the boundless material natural
resources of Canada, but far more important than all these
are the human resources of the country.
A ton of coal can produce more mechanical energy than a
thousand men, but not all the nearly one hundred billion tons
of coal buried under Canada can contribute as much planning
and inventing, or the mental urge and spiritual feeling of
a single human being.
Canada is the home of thirteen million people, including
men, women and children who became Canadians out of 46 other
national groups. Whether born here or elsewhere, all Canadians
are heirs to the freedom of this democratic country, in which
they find, or are building, a standard of living second to
none in the world.
Canada has risen to her present position of influence and
prestige through the enterprise and character of her people
and their energy in using intelligently the resources she
has provided. By exercising foresight and using our heads
and applying our capacity for work we can assure that this
country shall have ample and diversified resources and industries
for generations to come.
There are always impractical people interested in Promised
Lands where everything will be easy and free. Canada, whose
resources we have reviewed, comes as close as reasonable men
want to a Promised Land, but she does not promise things free.
All she says is that she will provide the raw materials in
abundance if we will do the work needed to turn them into
usable goods.
Published by RBC Financial Group. All editions from the RBC
Letter collection are available on our web site at www.rbc.com/responsibility/letter.
Our e-mail address is: rbcletter@rbc.com.
Publié aussi en francais.
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