Reform in Western Canada

Paper Summary:

The paper describes the Western Canadian worldview and lifestyle and how they differ from Eastern Canada. More liberal in many senses of the word, the paper portrays how Western Canada developed into a bastion of radical thought, inspired in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century by Marxism, populism and the British labor movement. The paper explains how the Reform movement in Western Canada was sparked and fed by a series of interrelated political, economic, social, geographic, historical and existential concerns. The paper explains that what initially distinguished the Western from the Eastern mentality continues to loosely divide the nation: a sense of alienation from national politics and culture.

From the Paper:

"Geographical distance prevented the maintenance of social ties between regions even if goods and services could be readily transported and traded on the rail network. Citizens in Western provinces felt cut off continually from Ottawa; their concerns did not reflect those of urban industrialists back East nor those of the already established mining and agricultural communities in central and eastern Canada. The bread basket invited exploitation by big business, as did the fruitful mines of Western Canada."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Allen, Richard. "The Social Gospel as the Religion of the Agrarian Revolt." Chapter 8.
• Berguson, David Jay. "Labor Radicalism and the Western Industrial Frontier: 1897-1919." Canadian Historical Review. Vol. LVIII, June 1977, p. 154-175.
• "Capital and Labor 1900-1940." Chapter 12
• Hallett, Mary & Davis, Marilyn. Firing the Heather. Calgary: Fifth House, 1994.
• Morton, W.L. "The Western Progressive Movement, 1919-1921." Annual Report. 1946, Canadian Historical Association. Pp. 41-55.

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