FJAG
Army.ca Legend
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I grew up in Scarborough in the late 50s and 60s and from the Bluffs you could see all the way to the blast furnaces in Hamilton turning out the steel that fed a multitude of manufacturing plants around Toronto which were all powered by cheap hydro power.Yeah, I grew up in Hamilton, and it's amazing how much the manufacturing industries were deliberately undercut over the years, with support at all levels of government dropping in favour of 'service' industry jobs in things like financial services and other 'clean' industries. Meanwhile that requires a massive investment in infrastructure to support all the commuting to the GTA, while very little direct returns to the tax base from the service companies (compared to a factory, which will have fairly high property taxes and things like taxes on large power usage, on top of payroll taxes for all the employees).
Makes no sense to me, especially in a country so rich in natural resources. The UK has done the same, so was really weird to me they didn't better protect the City financial industry in the Brexit agreement (but maybe they have more opportunity for growth in money laundering and tax evasion, vice more above board services).
Meanwhile the same cities are allowing building of McMansions on some of the most fertile farming areas in Canada, as well as in flood plains and other high risk areas. Weird how covering over all the earth with concrete and ashphalt, then putting houses in low areas that used to be dried out will contribute to high rates of localized flooding.
The blast furnaces like the cheap hydro are all gone. So are most of those manufacturing plants.
In 1904 Wilfred Laurier said: "The nineteenth century was the century of the United States. I think we can claim that it is Canada that shall fill the twentieth century."
For a while there it was true - and then we took our eye off the ball.