Not a Simpler Time: Essays in Canadian Rural and Economic History(McGill-Queen's Rural, Wildland, and Resource Studies)

Although the great majority of Canadians lived in rural communities until the early 1900s, rural life has often been dismissed as marginal to the country’s economic development. Not a Simpler Time challenges this view, arguing that the strategies, skills, and work of rural families were the backbone of the economy. In making this case, Douglas McCalla illustrates how established narratives can constrain new approaches to the past.

The book highlights the complexities of rural economies in early Canada, showing that the growth of the colonies that joined Confederation in 1867 relied far more on agriculture than on natural resources – a reality overlooked by proponents of the enduring staples thesis. Building on this argument, McCalla revises old stories: neither the timing nor the character of Ontario’s economic growth stemmed from natural resources; the emergence of a new economic core in the colonies contradicts the perception that they were essentially an imperial periphery; and the First World War did not, in fact, transform the economy as often imagined.

That a focus on natural resources still dominates accounts of economic growth in Canada underscores the book’s broader theme: recognizing the limits of older evidence and embracing new approaches will deepen historical understanding. Bringing together two decades of McCalla’s scholarship, Not a Simpler Time will spark debate while offering an indispensable resource for Canadian historians.

Figures and Tables / ix
Acknowledgments / xi
Permissions / xiii

Introduction / 3

1 A World Through Commerce: Explorations in Upper Canada (and Beyond) / 18

I Essays in Rural History

2 “It was [not] a simpler time”: Toward a New Economic History of Canadian Settlement / 39

3 Seeing Pioneers as Modern: Rural Upper Canadians Go Shopping / 52

4 “We aint ‘gentlemen’ merchants”: The Country Retailer in Upper Canada / 61

5 Rural Enterprise and Canadian Business History, 1750–1941 / 70

6 Animals and Agriculture in Canada and the Maritimes, 1700–1870 / 81

II Long-Term Economic Stories

7 The Ontario Economy in the Long Run / 117

8 The Economic Impact of the Great War / 135

9 Sojourners in the Snow? The Scots in Business in Nineteenth-Century Canada / 147

10 Economy and Empire: Britain and Canadian Development, 1783–1971 / 164

11 Making a Country (and an Economy): Economic History in Canada / 184

Notes / 201
Index / 273