The Relevancy Of The Heartland Hinterland Distinction In Canada S Economic Geography Essay

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The Relevancy of the Heartland - Hinterland Distinction in Canada's Economic

Geography



Until the early 20th century, Canada was primarily an agricultural nation.

Since then it has become one of the most highly industrialized countries in the

world as a direct result of the development of the ‘heartland'. To a large

extent the manufacturing industries present in the heartland are supplied with

raw materials produced by the agricultural, mining, forestry, and fishing

sectors of the Canadian economy, a region known as the ‘hinterland'. The ‘

heartland-hinterland' concept in Canada describes patterns of economic power,

namely, where economic power and control resides within the nation. Thus, the

heartland-hinterland concept distinguishes raw-material and staple-producing

hinterlands from the capital service industrial heartland and reveals the

metropolis or dominating city of the system. At a national scale, the Canadian

metropolis is Toronto, and the region with the most influence is the Great

Lakes-St. Lawrence Lowlands. But while immense influence radiates outward from

the metropolis located in the heartland, the relationship between hinterland and

heartland is one of intimate mutual dependency. In modern Canadian economics,

neither region can exist without each other, and the well-being of one directly

affects the other. These two regions show remarkable contrasts, yet they are to

a large extent interdependent on each other, clearly suggesting that the

heartland-hinterland distinction is quite relevant in terms of Canada's economic

geography.


Upon discussing the importance of the heartland-hinterland in Canada, it is

necessary to discuss what each term refers to. According to McCann the

heartland is an area "… which possesses favourable physical qualities and grant

food accessibility to markets; they display a diversified profile of secondary,

tertiary, and quaternary industries; they are characterized by a highly

urbanized and concentrated population which participates in a well-integrated

urban system; they are well advanced along the development path and possess the

capacity for innovative change." Literally, hinterland means ‘the land behind',

the area from which a heartland draws its raw materials and which, in turn,

serves as a market for the heartland's manufactured goods.


The demographic and economic characteristics of Canada's heartland are that it

contains over 50% of the nation's population and 70% of its manufacturing

industries in only 14% of the nation's area. Canada's heartland is southern

Ontario and Quebec stretching from Quebec City to Windsor. This heartland,

occupying the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Lowlands, coincides with several

favourable physical characteristics such as fertile Class 1 and 2 soils in

addition to humid continental climate for optimal agricultural conditions.

However, the "hinterland regions display harsher or more limiting physical

characteristics. The Cordillera, Interior Plains, Canadian Shield, and

Appalachian regions yield tremendous resource wealth, but their soils,

vegetation, and climatic patterns do not favor wide distributions of population

and concentrated development." Canada's heartland is illustrated on the map

below.


With the overwhelming presence of the above-mentioned features, this region

dominates Canada's economy due to diverse agricultural production as well as its

accessibility to the heartland of its major international trade partner, the

Untied States, which is focused around New York City. "It is the heartland

that creates the demand for staple commodities, supplying the hinterland, in

turn, with capital, labour, technology, and entrepreneurship, those factors of

production which are so essential for the initial growth and sustained

development of the hinterland."


The relationship between the hinterland and heartland is complex. Resources

flowing from hinterland areas largely go directly to other countries without

passing through the heartland. ...

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