Autonomous State provides the first detailed examination of the Canadian auto industry, the country's most important economic sector, in the post-war period. In this engrossing book, Dimitry Anastakis chronicles the industry's evolution from the 1973 OPEC embargo to the 1989 Canada-US Free Trade Agreement and looks at its effects on public policy, diplomacy, business enterprise, workers, consumers, and firms.
Using an immense array of archival sources, and interviews with some of the key actors in the events, Anastakis examines a fascinating array of topics in recent auto industry and Canadian business and economic history: the impact of new safety, emissions, and fuel economy regulations on the Canadian sector and consumers, the first Chrysler bailout of 1980, the curious life and death of the 1965 Canada-US auto pact, the 'invasion' of Japanese imports and transplant operations, and the end of aggressive auto policy-making with the coming of free trade.
More than just an examination of the auto industry, the book provides a rethinking of Canada's tumultuous post-OPEC political and economic evolution, helping to explain the current tribulations of the global auto sector and Canada's place within it.
Table of Contents:
Tables
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Automotive Assembly and Major Parts Facilities in Canada Since 1945
Introduction: The Ripples of 1973
Chapter One: Industrial Revolutions: A New Automotive Landscape Emerges
Chapter Two: The New Big Three: Canadian Safety, Emissions and Fuel Economy in a Continental Industry
Chapter Three: Fair Share: The Battle Over “Domestic” Investment in North America
Chapter Four: Nadir: Saving Chrysler and Debating State Intervention in the Auto Sector
Chapter Five: Integration’s Bounty, Integration’s Bounds: The Unusual Life of the Auto Pact
Chapter Six: Schism: The Canadian UAW and the End of Auto Worker Internationalism
Chapter Seven: Transplant: “Foreign” Production, Imports and the Tumultuous Arrival of the Japanese
Chapter Eight: Rebirth or Requiem? Duty Remissions, Free Trade and the Death of the Auto Pact
Conclusion: One in Six: The Ratio of Survival
Appendices
Notes
Bibliography
Illustrations Credits
Index
About the Author :
Dimitry Anastakis is Professor and L.R. Wilson/R.J. Currie Chair in Canadian Business History at the University of Toronto in the Department of History and the Rotman School of Management, where he teaches about business, the state and politics, globalization, and automobility. He has published twelve books and edited collections, including five books on aspects of the Canadian auto industry in North America including Dream Car: Malcolm Bricklin’s Fantastic SV1 and the End of Industrial Modernity.
Review :
‘There is much to like about this work. It is a solid piece of academic research. It reaches beyond mere facts of how the industry evolved undermanaged trade…and how the Auto Pact paved the way for the 1989 Free Trade agreement.’ - Wayne Lewchuk (Enterprise and Society, vol 14:04:2013) ‘This is a well-researched book, with substantial archival research having been conducted in Canada and United States… There is plenty to be learned by political scientists interested in international relations, public policy, and political economy (both nationally and internationally).’ - Duane Bratt (American Historical Review vol 119:02:2014) ‘Deeply researched and lucidly argued by a historian in command of his field, Autonomous State is a valuable addition to automotive history and a distinguished contribution to policy history.’
- Tom McCarthy (Canadian Historical Review vol 95:03:2014)
