This paper uses the work of the Canadian economic historian, Harold Innis, to reflect on the nature of resource economies and the single-industry towns that form their backbone. For Innis resource or staple economies are subject to extreme spatial and temporal disruptions that are both creative and destructive. Single-industry towns are on the front line of both that creativity and that destructiveness. They enjoy rapid growth when a new resource is found, but are equally hastily abandoned when resources run out, or prices fall. Innis used the metaphor of the cyclone to depict this pattern of staples accumulation and consequent crisis. This paper will, first, elaborate on Innis's general cyclonic scheme that joins space, time, and staples production, and second, provide a case study of the forest-industry town of Port Alberni, British Columbia, to exemplify his argument.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
BarnesT J, 1996Logics of Dislocation: Models, Metaphors and Meanings of Economic Space (Guilford, New York).
2.
BarnesT J, 1999, “Industrial geography, institutional economics and Innis”, in The New Industrial Geography Eds BarnesT JGertlerM S, (Routledge, London) pp 1–20.
3.
BarnesT JHayterR, 1994, “Economic restructuring and local development on the margin: Forest communities in coastal British Columbia”The Canadian Journal of Regional Science17289–310.
4.
BinkleyC S, 1997, “A cross road in the forest: The path to a sustainable forest sector in British Columbia”, in Troubles in the Rainforest: British Columbia's Forest Industry in Transition Eds BarnesT JHayterR, (Western Geographical Press, Victoria) pp 15–35.
5.
BradburyJ H, 1987, “British Columbia: Metropolis and hinterland in microcosm”, in Heartland and Hinterland: A Geography of Canada Ed. McCannL D, (Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ) pp 401–440.
6.
CareyJ W, 1975, “Canadian communication theory: Extensions and interpretations of Harold Innis”, in Studies in Canadian Communications Eds RobinsonGTheallD F, (McGill University Press, Montreal) pp 27–59.
7.
ClagueMFlavellL, 1989Final Evaluation of Year III of the Port Alberni Enterprise Project: An Evaluation of a Multilevel Approach to Community Economic Developmentunpublished report, Social Planning and Research Council of BC, 2182 W. 12th Avenue, Vancouver, BC V6K 2N4.
8.
CullerJ, 1997Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press, Oxford).
9.
DracheD, 1976, “Rediscovering Canadian political economy”Journal of Canadian Studies113–18.
10.
DracheD, 1992, “The global vision of Harold Innis: Competitiveness at the cost of development”, unpublished manuscript, available from the author at the Department of Political Science, York University, 4500 Keele Street, York, Ontario.
11.
EganBKlausenS, 1996Female in a Forest Town: Women and Work in Port Alberni Final Report HQ96206-RE, Forest Renewal BC Research Program, Science Council of British Columbia, 4710 Kingsway, Burnaby, BC V5H 4M2.
12.
EganBKlausenS, 1998, “Female in a forest town: The marginalization of women in Port Alberni's economy”BC Studies1185–40.
13.
EstevaC, 1992, “Development”, in The Development Dictionary Ed. SachsW, (Zed Books, Atlantic Highlands, NJ) pp 16–25.
14.
FrankA G, 1979Dependent Accumulation and Underdevelopment (Monthly Review Press, New York).
15.
HardwickW G, 1964, “Port Alberni, British Columbia, Canada: An integrated forest complex in the Pacific Northwest”, in Focus on Geographical Activity: A Collection of Original Studies Eds ThomasSPattonD J, (McGraw-Hill, New York) pp 60–66.
16.
HarveyD, 1985The Urbanization of Capital: Studies in the History and Theory of Capitalist Urbanization (Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD).
17.
HarveyD, 1989aThe Condition of Postmodernity: An Enquiry into the Origins of Cultural Change (Blackwell, Oxford).
18.
HarveyD, 1989b, “From manageralism to entrepreneurialism: The transformation of urban governance in late capitalism”Geografiska Annaler71B3–17.
19.
HayE M, 1993, “Recession and restructuring in Port Alberni: Corporate, household and community strategies”, unpublished MA thesis, Department of Geography, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC.
20.
HayterR, 2000Flexible Crossroads: The Restructuring of British Columbia's Forest Economy (UBC Press, Vancouver).
21.
HayterRBarnesT J, 1997, “The restructuring of British Columbia's coastal forest sector: Flexibility perspectives”, in Troubles in the Rainforest: British Columbia's Forest Industry in Transition Eds BarnesT JHayterR, (Western Geographical Press, Victoria) pp 181–203.
22.
HayterREdgingtonD E, 1997, “Cutting against the grain: A case study of MacMillan Bloedel's Japan strategy”Economic Geography73187–213.
23.
hooksb, 1990, “Marginality as a site of resistance”, in Out There: Marginalization and Contemporary Culture Eds FergusonRGeverMTrinhM TWestC, (MIT Press, Cambridge, MA) pp 341–343.
24.
InnisH A, 1936, “Approaches to Canadian economic history”Commerce Journal2624–30.
25.
InnisH A, 1950Empire and Communication (Toronto University Press, Toronto).
26.
InnisH A, 1951The Bias of Communication (Toronto University Press, Toronto).
27.
InnisH A, 1956, “The teaching of economic history in Canada”, in Essays in Canadian Economic History Ed. InnisM Q, (University of Toronto Press, Toronto) pp 3–16; first published in 1929.
28.
JensonJ, 1989, “‘Different’ but not ‘exceptional’: Canada's permeable Fordism”Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology2669–94.
29.
KrokerA, 1984Technology and the Canadian Mind: Innis/McLuhan/Grant (New World Perspectives, Montreal).
30.
LowerA R M, 1938The North American Assault on the Canadian Forest (Ryerson, Toronto).
31.
LowerA R M, 1973Great Britain's Woodyard: Britain, America and the Wood Trade 1763–1867 (McGill – Queen's University Press, Montreal and Kingston).
32.
LucasR A, 1971Minetown, Milltown, Railtown: Life in Canadian Communities in Single Industry (University of Toronto Press, Toronto).
33.
MarchakP, 1983Green Gold: The Forest Industry in British Columbia (UBC Press, Vancouver).
34.
MarshallRTuckerM, 1992Thinking for a Living: Work Skills and the Future of the American Economy (Basic Books, New York).
35.
ParkerI, 1983, “‘Commodity fetishism’ and ‘vulgar Marxism’: On ‘rethinking Canadian political economy’”Studies in Political Economy6143–172.
36.
RandallJ EIronsideR G, 1996, “Communities on the edge: An economic geography of resource-dependent communities in Canada”The Canadian Geographer4017–35.
37.
RortyR, 1999Philosophy and Social Hope (Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, Middx).
38.
SacoumanR JBrymR J, (Eds), 1979Underdevelopment and Social Movements in Atlantic Canada (New Hogstown Press, Toronto).
39.
SjoholtS, 1987, “New trends in promoting regional development in local communities in Norway”, in International Economic Restructuring and the Regional Community Eds MuegeeHStöhrW, (Avebury Press, Aldershot, Hants) pp 277–293.
40.
StampsJ, 1995Unthinking Modernity: Innis, McLuhan, and the Frankfurt School (McGill – Queen's University Press, Montreal and Kingston).
41.
The Canadian Geographer1997, “Restructuring in the Canadian newsprint industry”, special issue 41 2–111.
42.
WalkerR A, 2001, “California's golden road to riches: Natural resources and regional capitalism, 1848–1940”Annals of the Association of American Geographers91167–199.
43.
WatsonA J, 1977, “Harold Innis and classical scholarship”Journal of Canadian Studies1245–61.
44.
WatsonA J, 1981Marginal Man: Harold Innis's Communication Works in Context unpublished PhD thesis, Department of Political Science, University of Toronto, Toronto.
45.
WernickA, 1986, “The post-Innisian significance of Innis”Canadian Journal of Political and Social Theory10129–150.
46.
WynnG, 1981Timber Colony: A Historical Geography of Early Nineteenth Century New Brunswick (Toronto University Press, Toronto).
