Canada in a Changing World
| Author | Harry G. Johnson |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070206301800102 |
| Published date | 01 March 1963 |
| Date | 01 March 1963 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
Canada
in
a
Changing
World
Harry
G.
Johnson*
EARLY
two
years
of
repeated
shocks
to
Canadian
con-
ceptions
of
the
world
and
of
Canada's
place
in
it--and
of
the
capacity
of
Canada's
political
leaders
to
cope
with
it-has
made
it
evident
to
all
shades
of informed
opinion
that
the
world
outside Canada's
borders
has
been
changing
rapidly;
and
that
some
drastic
rethinking
of
all
major
aspects
of
Canadian
policy,
domestic
as
well
as
international,
is
required
if
Canada
is
to
emerge
from
the
disheartening
economic
and
political
stagnation
of
the past
five
years
and
regain
the
upward
path
of
prosperity
and
growth. There
is
no
more
important
subject
to
discuss
in
Canada
at
the
present
time
than
the
place
of
the
country
in
a
changing
world.
The
swift
march
of events,
especially
the
devaluation and
the
austerity
crisis,
has
already
overtaken
the
arguments
which
I
expressed in
a
series
of
lectures
delivered
in
Ottawa
in
February,
1962
;1
and
I
should
like
to
present
them
in
a
more
currently
relevant
form.
I
The
Canadian
economy
has
for
five
years
increasingly
been
suffering
from
two
major
related
problems
-
intense
foreign
competition in
manufacturing,
dramatized
by
the
implications
of
the
formation
of
the
European
Common
Market,
and
domes-
tic
stagnation,
evidenced
in
chronically
high
unemployment,
excess
industrial
capacity,
and
slow
economic
growth.
In
the
minds
of
many
Canadians,
there
has
been
a
third
problem,
the
so-called
problem
of
increasing
American
domination
of
the
Canadian
economy.
This
I
regard
as
a
spurious
problem.
Insis-
tence
that
it
is
a
real
problem
seems
to
me
a
piece
of
hypocrisy
perpetuated
by
commercial
greed
aiming to
exploit
the
Canadian
*Department
of
Economics,
University
of Chicago.
This
article
is
a
revised
version
of
an
address
delivered to
the
Canadian
Club
of
Toronto,
November
5,
1962.
1
Canada
in
a
Changing
World
Economy.
(Toronto,
University
of
Toronto
Press,
1962).
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