This article examines a heretofore underexplored category of automotive‐producing nation known as the semi‐periphery. These nations are neither “core” automotive nations whose power derives from hosting headquarters of major automakers, nor are they low‐cost members of the automotive “integrated periphery” like Mexico or countries in Central and Eastern Europe or North Africa. Through a case study of one semi‐periphery country, Canada, the paper assesses automotive semi‐periphery countries' capacity to transition to knowledge‐based activities more typically associated with “core” automotive nations. In so doing, it raises implications for other “semi‐periphery” automotive‐producing nations as well as those currently categorized as “core” or “integrated periphery.”

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For generations, automotive manufacturing has made an outsized contribution to the Canadian economy. The industry's growth was supported by active industrial policy, including an evolving combination of incentives: low-cost, high-quality labour, access to the largest market in the world, and investment inducements; and deterrents: market access and trade-related levers and threats. In recent years, many of the advantages Canada made for itself have eroded. The rise of new competitors, shifting philosophies surrounding trade, cost pressures, and a new paradigm with respect to investment incentives have challenged policy-makers. Several attributes previously considered the preserve of advanced countries like Canada are now evident in lesser developed jurisdictions, a phenomenon that this paper terms the commoditisation of automotive assembly. It is the result of standardised production processes and the automotive industry's ability to recruit top tier talent, particularly in less developed countries. This phenomenon is evident in the convergence of quality results and capital intensity across geographic boundaries and economic strata, expanding production in lesser developed countries, the emergence of luxury vehicle production in those countries, and stagnation of final assembly production in developed countries.

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L'industrie automobile canadienne a fait l'objet d'une importante restructuration entre 2005 et 2014. Dans cet article, à partir de données recueillies au niveau des usines, nous examinons ces changements, liés à la fois à l'assemblage et à la fabrication des pièces. Nous montrons également les limites que pose l'utilisation des statistiques gouvernementales officielles pour étudier l'industrie automobile. En plus d'analyser les transformations dans la structure et la composition du secteur, nous démontrons, à partir de nos données, que celui-ci emploie beaucoup plus de gens que ne le rapportent les statistiques gouvernementales officielles. Nous en concluons qu'il est important d'améliorer les méthodes de collecte des données pour que les décideurs politiques puissent soutenir efficacement l'industrie automobile. Mots clés : industrie automobile, restructuration, codes du Système de classification des industries de l'Amérique du Nord (SCIAN) The Canadian automotive industry underwent substantial restructuring between 2005 and 2014. This article draws on establishment-level data to examine these changes as they relate to both automotive assembly and automotive parts manufacturing. It also elucidates the limitations of using official government statistics to study the automotive industry. In addition to analyzing changes to the structure and composition of the industry, our data demonstrate that the industry employs far more people than are reported in official government statistics. We conclude that improvements to data collection methods are important for policy-makers to develop effective supports for the automotive industry.

This paper focuses on the contradictory nature and sometimes unintended consequences of workers’ efforts to defend particular communities against the ravages of capital restructuring. In the past decade, pattern collective bargaining in the highly unionized British Columbia pulp and paper industry has faced enormous strains due to intense industry restructuring. Our analysis focuses on the repercussions of actions taken by union locals in two British Columbia towns—Port Alice and Port Alberni—to try to secure the survival of their pulp and paper mills and, even in the case of Port Alice, the continued existence of the community. Our analysis resonates with recent debates surrounding worker agency as well as writing in the 1980s which addressed the often contradictory and problematic nature of workers’ struggles to “defend place”; writing largely neglected in more recent work in labour geography.

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