Between Nationalism and Continentalism: State Auto Industry Policy and the Canadian UAW, 1960-1970

Abstract

THE 1960S WERE A TURBULENT PERIOD in Canada, as the country was convulsed by worries over foreign control of the Canadian economy and debates over Canada's relations with the United States. For the Canadian section of the United Auto Workers (UAW), which also struggled with these questions as the union faced a number of government policies designed to bolster the auto industry and solve balance of payments difficulties, this was also a decade of change, culminating in the 1965 Canada-United States Automotive Products Trade Agreement (auto pact). The auto pact rationalized the Canadian Big Three (General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler) production into their parent corporations and by 1970 the Canadian industry was fully integrated into a continental system of North American automobile manufacturing. The Canadian UAW played an ineffectual role in shaping this transformation, one which rekindled and exacerbated conflict within the membership and between militant locals and the union's leadership. Nonetheless, by the end of the decade, the union had become a strong advocate of the new continental auto regime, a reflection of the increased employment and production resulting from the changes. Under the leadership of Regional Director George Burt, the Canadian UAW was unable to influence changes in policy towards the auto industry. While the Canadian UAW was instrumental in the creation of a 1961 Royal Commission on the Automotive Industry, the union played little role in the creation of government programs designed to improve the industry, especially the auto pact. Nor did the UAW exercise much of an impact on the government's adjustment assistance plans to mitigate the dislocating effect of the auto pact upon workers. Instead, the union's chief successes in the decade, such as die achievement of wage parity with its

« Canada First » : le nationalisme économique et les relations commerciales canado-américaines de la Confédération à l'ACEUM

“…Cet accord, crucial pour l'industrie ontarienne, sera conclu suite à l'imposition d'un tarif de 25 pour cent sur les importations de transmissions américaines par le gouvernement conservateur de John Diefenbaker —qui avait auparavant tenté de faire revivre la préférence impériale (Hart, 2002 : 206–212)— puis à l'instauration d'un système de subventions à l'exportation pour l'industrie canadienne des pièces automobiles (Crane, 2006; Anastakis, 2004 : 100). Craignant ce courant protectionniste et surtout la nationalisation de l'industrie automobile canadienne alors évoquée dans certains cercles politiques et syndicaux (Anastakis, 2001, 2004; Thomas, 1967 : 114), l'administration démocrate de Lyndon B. Johnson acquiescera en 1965 à une libéralisation partielle —« managed free trade » (Hart, 2002 : 244)— du secteur, soumise à une foule de normes de contenu local canadien et de quotas d'investissement, de production et d'assemblage au Canada imposés aux motoristes américains (Thomas, 1967 : 113; Crane, 2006). Cet accord en dira long sur la « directionnalité » du nationalisme économique canadien (Anastakis, 2004 : 94): State actors did seek to improve Canadian production through content requirements and increased investment, but within the context of a continentally integrated industry, one which reflected the economic and political realities which Canadian policy-makers faced.…”

“…Craignant ce courant protectionniste et surtout la nationalisation de l'industrie automobile canadienne alors évoquée dans certains cercles politiques et syndicaux (Anastakis, 2001, 2004; Thomas, 1967 : 114), l'administration démocrate de Lyndon B. Johnson acquiescera en 1965 à une libéralisation partielle —« managed free trade » (Hart, 2002 : 244)— du secteur, soumise à une foule de normes de contenu local canadien et de quotas d'investissement, de production et d'assemblage au Canada imposés aux motoristes américains (Thomas, 1967 : 113; Crane, 2006). Cet accord en dira long sur la « directionnalité » du nationalisme économique canadien (Anastakis, 2004 : 94): State actors did seek to improve Canadian production through content requirements and increased investment, but within the context of a continentally integrated industry, one which reflected the economic and political realities which Canadian policy-makers faced. For Canadian state planners working on the auto industry, “economic nationalism” ultimately took the form of continentalism.…”