“eyes wide open”: E. W. Backus and The Pitfalls of Investing in Ontario’s Pulp and Paper Industry, 1902-1932

It has long been argued that pulp and paper industrialists – especially Americans – could count on the cooperation of the provincial state as they established and expanded their enterprises in Canada in the first half of the twentieth century. The case of Edward Wellington Backus, an American industrialist, demonstrates that this paradigm does not explain the birth and dynamic growth of the newsprint industry in Ontario during this period. Backus rarely received the provincial government’s cooperation as he built paper plants in Fort Frances and Kenora. On the rare occasions when the politicians assisted him, they only did so within carefully prescribed limits. Backus’s story is significant because it indicates that it is time to reconsider the history of the political economy of Canada’s resource industries, at least as far as turning trees into paper is concerned.Il est longtemps discuté que durant la première moitié du vingtième siècle, les industriels de pulpe et papier – particulièrement les Américains – pourraient compter sur la coopération de l'état provincial pendant l’établissement et l’expansion d’entreprises au Canada. Le cas de l’industriel américain Edouard Wellington Backus démontre que ce paradigme n'explique pas la naissance et la croissance dynamique de l'industrie du papier journal en Ontario durant cette période. Backus avait rarement reçu la coopération du gouvernement provincial pendant qu'il installait des usines de papier au Fort Frances et Kenora. Sur les rares occasions que les politiciens lui assistaient, ils l’ont seulement fait parmi des limites soigneusement prescrites. L'histoire de Backus est significatif parce qu'elle indique qu'il est temps de reconsidérer, au moins en ce qui concerne la manufacture du papier, l'histoire de l'économie politique de l’industrie de ressources canadiennes

"Under moral obligation to stay:" Herbert R. Christie and the Origins of Forestry Education at the University of British Columbia, 1910-1933

Judging from the contrasting state of affairs at the forestry schools at the University of Toronto and the University of British Columbia, it is difficult to believe the situation that prevailed roughly eight decades ago. Today, UBC’s program is thriving whereas the forestry school at the University of Toronto is but a shadow of its former self. Exactly the opposite was true in the early twentieth century. Ironically, forestry education at UBC owes its existence to the profound commitment that Herbert Read Christie, a graduate of Toronto’s Faculty, showed to it in the years after the First World War. This article explores Christie’s role in building the UBC forestry school, and sheds light on the development of forestry as an academic discipline in Canada. -- En regard de l’évolution académique des écoles de foresterie de l’Université de Toronto et de l’Université de Colombie Britannique (UBC), il est difficile d’imaginer la situation qui existait il y a environ quatre-vingts ans. Alors que de nos jours, le programme de UBC s’avère florissant, les études en foresterie de l’Université de Toronto font piètre figure en comparaison de ce qu’elles étaient au début du XXe siècle où l’inverse prévalait. Il est ironique de souligner que le programme de foresterie développé à UBC, peu après la fin de la Première Guerre mondiale, est l’oeuvre de Herbert Read Christie, un diplômé de l’Université de Toronto en ce domaine. Cet article explore le rôle marquant joué par Christie dans l’implantation de cette école et de l’essor académique de cette discipline au Canada

A Failed Attempt to Circumvent the Limits on Academic Freedom: C. D. Howe, the Ontario Forestry Board, and Window Dressing Forestry in the Late 1920s

Canada's professors recognised and generally accepted the limits placed upon their academic freedom prior to the Depression, limits which dictated that academics refrained from commenting on "politically sensitive" issues. Their acquiescence in this regard, however, did not preclude them from attempting to effect political change using alternate means. For example, C. D. Howe, dean of the University of Toronto's Forestry Faculty during the inter-war period, steadfastly respected the contemporary parameters on academic freedom - in his case this meant abstaining from openly attacking the Ontario government's anaemic forestry policy, and he ensured that his colleagues followed suit. At the same time, Howe believed that he and his graduates would be able to fundamentally influence the state's forestry policy if they were able to penetrate the government's bureaucracy, thereby effecting change from within instead of criticising from without. Howe seemingly achieved his goal in 1927 when he was appointed chairman of the Forestry Board, a body the government had created to advise it on silvicultural matters. Moreover, during the Board's few years of active existence, the politicians enacted several forestry statutes which apparently boded well for the management of woodlands in Ontario. Unfortunately for Howe, these gains proved to be chimerical. The government virtually ignored the Board's recommendations, it ended up having little influence over the important legislation executed during its reign, and the laws themselves dealt only tangentially with forestry. Ultimately, Howe's plan for circumventing the limits on his academic freedom proved unable to bring about the ends he sought

“A Forestry Program that Cannot be Equalled in Canada” : Kimberly-Clark’s Extraordinary Silvicultural Project in Northern Ontario, 1928-1976

This article presents the story of the extraordinary reforestation program that was carried out in Kapuskasing by Kimberly Clark after the Second World War. Most historians have argued that the forest industry was only interested in profits and paid little attention to forest management. Kimberley Clark, however, carried out this project for a number of reasons, including its enlightened corporate culture and, most importantly, because it had secured tenure to its timber. The article highlights how foreign firms are not necessarily a danger to Ontario’s forests and underscores those factors that could potentially play a crucial role in tackling the environmental issues we face today.Cet article présente l’histoire du programme exceptionnel de reboisement effectué à Kapuskasing par Kimberly Clark après la Seconde Guerre mondiale. La plupart des historiens ont soutenu que l’industrie forestière ne s’intéressait qu’aux profits et prêtait peu d’attention à la gestion des forêts. Toutefois, Kimberly Clark a réalisé ce projet pour plusieurs raisons, y compris une culture d’entreprise éclairée, mais surtout parce qu’il avait assuré la tenure du bois. Nous soutiendrons que les entreprises étrangères ne sont pas nécessairement un danger pour les forêts ontariennes, et soulignerons les facteurs qui pourraient jouer un rôle essentiel dans la résolution des problèmes environnementaux auxquels nous sommes confrontés aujourd’hui

“An Eden that is practically uninhabited by humans”: Manipulating Wilderness in Managing Vancouver’s Drinking Water, 1880–1930

Vancouver is known internationally as one of the world’s most livable and beautiful cities, and its “natural” attributes are seen as being integral to what makes it so special. Nestled on a small plateau between the alluring beaches and dramatic shoreline of the Pacific Ocean and the Coast Mountain Range, the city has trumpeted its aesthetically stunning environment for over one century. Central to this message has been the fact that Vancouver’s drinking water supply is so clean that it has historically required no chemical or other treatment—besides a basic filtering—before it is fit for human consumption.Those who were initially responsible for administering the city’s water supply demonstrated most curious behaviour in carrying out their duties. To be sure, they exalted their water for its purity and broadcast this message to the world, believing as they did that such a precious resource could originate only in pristine wilderness that was as pleasing to the eye as it was free from human intrusions. As a result, they went to enormous lengths to guard the basins from which this water came from anthropogenic activity. Paradoxically, they were completely comfortable with undertaking a series of measures to re-engineer and manage the watersheds upon which they depended, an approach that included dumping tons of a deadly toxin on the local trees. All these steps were simply part of their efforts to enhance the bounty with which Providence had gifted them, and to them it remained pure and unsullied as a result. The early history of managing Vancouver’s drinking water thus represents an extraordinary instance in which civic boosters viewed their actions through a prism that blurred the line between the human and non-human worlds, and their story highlights how often our attempts to manage “nature” is prone to creating issues that are potentially more dangerous than the ones we are trying to solve.Vancouver est considérée internationalement comme une des villes les plus belles et des plus agréables à vivre, en raison particulièrement de l’intégration de son environnement naturel. Nichée sur un petit plateau entre de séduisantes plages, les côtes dramatiques du Pacifique et la chaîne Côtière, la ville clame hautement son environnement fortement esthétique depuis plus d’un siècle. La qualité de son eau a fait partie intégrante de ce message du fait que ses sources d’eau potable sont d’une qualité telle qu’à travers son histoire, la ville n’a jamais eu besoin de la traiter chimiquement ou d’autre façon, hors un simple filtrage.Les responsables des débuts de l’administration de l’approvisionnement en eau potable de la ville ont fait preuve d’habitudes curieuses dans la conduite de leurs tâches. Ils ont en effet chanté la pureté de leur eau à travers le monde, croyant, pour avoir une eau de si grande qualité, qu’il fallait absolument la prélever dans un environnement sauvage aussi intact et beau qu’il était exempt d’intrusion humaine. Ils ont donc déployé tous les moyens pour préserver les bassins dans lesquels était prélevée cette eau potable. Ils étaient toutefois et paradoxalement entièrement confortables avec le fait de métamorphoser et gérer ces sources dont ils dépendaient, approche incluant l’administration d’énormes quantités de toxines sur les forêts environnantes. Ces processus étaient d’ailleurs considérés comme une accentuation des dons de la Providence dont ils jouissaient, et qui n’en affectaient nullement la pureté et l’intégrité. L’histoire des débuts de la gestion de l’eau potable de Vancouver représente donc un cas où la perception qu’avaient les promoteurs civiques de leur travail brouillait les limites entre mondes humain et non humain. Cette histoire met en lumière la fréquence avec laquelle nos tentatives de gérer la nature créent généralement des problèmes potentiellement dangereux et bien plus importants que ceux auxquels on tente de répondre

Technological Transformation in the Global Pulp and Paper Industry : Concluding Remarks

The volume has provided us with illustrative, well-documented case studies of technological transformation in the global pulp and paper industry. The research has focused on the roles played by the availability of technology, knowledge, investments, and raw materials on the one hand and demand characteristics on the other, within local, regional, national and transnational organisational frameworks. It has dealt with the relationships between technology transfer, technology leadership, raw material dependence, and product variety on a global scale. The investigation has followed the tradition of in-depth and rich historical descriptions based on primary sources and secondary literature. The research was motivated by the realisation that analysing the evolution of the global pulp and paper industry using a comparative method is a very revealing way of exposing its complexities and identifying some of the challenges it is facing today. This concluding chapter briefly summarises the key findings of the research and outlines potential avenues for pursuing future research.nonPeerReviewe

Technological Transformation in the Global Pulp and Paper Industry : Introduction

At a high level of abstraction, the evolution of any industry is a function of changes in product market demand, availability and supply of capital, knowledge and technology, the surrounding institutional framework and organisational solutions. New technological innovations emerge because of changes in product market demand or institutional framework that encourage entrepreneurs and firms to take advantage of new business opportunities. This contributed volume provides illustrative, well documented case studies of technological transformation in the global pulp and paper industry from the inception of mechanical papermaking in early nineteenth century Europe until its recent developments in today’s business environment with rapidly changing market dynamics and consumer behaviour. The study focuses on the roles of various factors that affected this process, including the availability and supply of inputs on the one hand, and demand characteristics on the other hand, within regional, national and transnational organisational frameworks. It deals with the relationships between technology transfer, technology leadership, raw material dependence, and product variety on a global scale. The introductory chapter outlines the research setting, and briefly summarises the research questions posed, methods used and the case studies analysed.nonPeerReviewe