Public Enterprise as an Expression of Sovereignty

Reconsidering the Origin of Canadian National Railways

Bibliographic Data

ID6236060
AuthorsAnthony Perl (0000-0002-7786-0266, University of Calgary, corresponding author)
Year1994
Volume27
Issue1
Pages23-52
Publication date1994-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueCanadian Journal of Political Science (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0008-4239 • E-ISSN: 1744-9324
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s000842390000620x
OpenAlexW2017167145
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited12

Railway nationalization, the anvil on which national public enterprise was hammered together between 1917 and 1923, forms a misunderstood episode in the development of the Canadian state. This article examines the convergence of domestic politics and international economics that facilitated an unprecedented transformation of Canada's capacity to control its economy. State autonomy was used to create public enterprise as an instrument by which the gains of industrial restructuring could be distributed to favoured domestic financiers while its costs were imposed upon foreign investors. This power to manage the gains and losses arising from industrial change formed a new expression of economic sovereignty, one that ought to be viewed as an important step in the transition from imperial to national governance

Autonomy · Business · Convergence (economics · Corporate governance · Economic growth · Economic system · Economics · Economy · Market economy · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Public enterprise · Restructuring · Sovereignty · State (computer science · Canadian Identity and History · Finance · Labor Movements and Unions · Law · Public Administration · Transport and Economic Policies

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