Engineering Expertise and the Canadian Exploitation of the Technology of the Second Industrial Revolution

Canada was arguably the most successful exploiter of the new technology of the Second Industrial Revolution. The concatenation of more scientifically-based technological developments occurring late in the nineteenth century gave a great boost to economic performance throughout the European world. After a couple of decades of languishing economic growth, the pace of change was invigorated right at the end of the nineteenth century so that many countries entered the new century in a vibrant condition, developing more rapidly as the new technology boosted productivity in many areas of their economies. In the language of the New Growth Theory, here was a technological shock of great consequence. Mass production of cheap steel led the way, supplanting the older iron technology. Then there was the electrical revolution, providing not only a new form of prime mover to power manufacturing but an array of technically new, electrically-based processes, and an assortment of new consumer products as well. Scientific chemistry also came into play. Commodities came to be produced by chemical synthesis, and entirely new elemental combinations were found to have valuable uses. Finally came the internal combustion engine. It found application in the early twentieth century not only in powering automobiles but in agricultural machinery, marine uses, and stationary power sources as well.