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Prior to NAFTA, rural Canada was in deep on the socialist end of the spectrum. This is where things like universal healthcare emerged, but along with that there

Prior to NAFTA, rural Canada was in deep on the socialist end of the spectrum. This is where things like universal healthcare emerged, but along with that there was also a push towards what are effectively unions in industry to provide bargaining power amid an increasingly urbanized country (and world). A number of industry unions were established at this time, a lot of which has lingered into the modern era. The most famous no doubt being the dairy industry, which has long been a particularly notable point of contention with the USA in trade relations. Dairy processors in Canada are encumbered in a similar manner, requiring quota to be able to operate. "Shouldn't" requires opinion, which are best left in our own minds, but "can't" is a functional necessity of maintaining a union. If anyone could open a competing plant, with the only requirement being to meet hygiene criteria, they could destabilize other processors which is what these unions were established to prevent.

engineer_22 4y ago
-> rural Canada was in deep on the socialist end of the spectrum. Isn't socialism an urban phenomena? How did socialism develop in rural areas?
- randomdata 4y ago
  Modern socialism is a response to industrialization and as Canada has historically been a resource-based economy industrialization rose most prominently in rural areas (mines, for example). Early agriculture in Canada was also steeped in socialist-like thinking, such as cooperatives that were established to supply the means of production, a lot of which still exists today. With that, it wasn't long before the farmers and labourers were working together. Canada's NDP political party was born out the amalgamation of earlier labour and farmer parties. Once NAFTA opened the US floodgates, though, it was compete or perish and that quickly changed attitudes as the old ways were largely no longer sustainable, except where certain trade restrictions were able to be maintained (dairy and poultry, for example). There has been a push towards 'Americanization' in rural Canada over the last 30-some-odd years in an effort to remain competitive.
- monknomo 4y ago
  The Russian Revolution, the Cuban Revolution, China's revolution all had substantially rural components. But the tldr; is that land/resource ownership, the distribution of surplus value and softening the blows of the market when your produce depends on the weather are extremely relevant concerns of rural areas
- andylynch 4y ago
  NZ had a similar pattern; farmers there had to pool resources to process and export products (in their case, wool, meat, dairy, later on fruit too). Importantly and probably like Canada these markets developed with the industrialisation of Europe and the British Empire and the organisation of labour, and followed on from earlier co-operative movements in the UK & France. These producers set up on co-operative lines, first locally i.e. most dairy areas had a creamery or something in each village. Over time these merged to take advantage of scale, especially in the 1970s and 1980s to compete internationally with the loss of the UK market to the EEC. Even today the largest NZ dairy company, Fonterra, is a supplier-owned co-operative, though it's now big enough to warrant a private segment on the New Zealand Stock Exchange for them to trade with each other. On the purchasing side a similar pattern emerged, and purchasing co-operatives are still common especially in the agriculture sector.

engineer_22 4y ago

-> rural Canada was in deep on the socialist end of the spectrum. Isn't socialism an urban phenomena? How did socialism develop in rural areas?

randomdata 4y ago
Modern socialism is a response to industrialization and as Canada has historically been a resource-based economy industrialization rose most prominently in rural areas (mines, for example). Early agriculture in Canada was also steeped in socialist-like thinking, such as cooperatives that were established to supply the means of production, a lot of which still exists today. With that, it wasn't long before the farmers and labourers were working together. Canada's NDP political party was born out the amalgamation of earlier labour and farmer parties. Once NAFTA opened the US floodgates, though, it was compete or perish and that quickly changed attitudes as the old ways were largely no longer sustainable, except where certain trade restrictions were able to be maintained (dairy and poultry, for example). There has been a push towards 'Americanization' in rural Canada over the last 30-some-odd years in an effort to remain competitive.
monknomo 4y ago
The Russian Revolution, the Cuban Revolution, China's revolution all had substantially rural components. But the tldr; is that land/resource ownership, the distribution of surplus value and softening the blows of the market when your produce depends on the weather are extremely relevant concerns of rural areas
andylynch 4y ago
NZ had a similar pattern; farmers there had to pool resources to process and export products (in their case, wool, meat, dairy, later on fruit too). Importantly and probably like Canada these markets developed with the industrialisation of Europe and the British Empire and the organisation of labour, and followed on from earlier co-operative movements in the UK & France. These producers set up on co-operative lines, first locally i.e. most dairy areas had a creamery or something in each village. Over time these merged to take advantage of scale, especially in the 1970s and 1980s to compete internationally with the loss of the UK market to the EEC. Even today the largest NZ dairy company, Fonterra, is a supplier-owned co-operative, though it's now big enough to warrant a private segment on the New Zealand Stock Exchange for them to trade with each other. On the purchasing side a similar pattern emerged, and purchasing co-operatives are still common especially in the agriculture sector.