Dimitry Anastakis - Autonomous State: The Struggle for a Canadian Car Industry from OPEC to Free Trade

AUTONOMOUS STATE

The Struggle for a Canadian Car Industry from
OPEC to Free Trade

Autonomous State provides the first detailed examination of the Canadian auto industry, the countrys most important economic sector, in the post-war period. In this engrossing book, Dimitry Anastakis chronicles the industrys evolution from the 1973 OPEC embargo to the 1989 Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement and looks at its effects on public policy, diplomacy, business enterprise, workers, consumers, and firms.

Using an immense variety of archival sources, and interviews with some of the key actors in the events, Anastakis examines a fascinating array of topics in recent auto industry and Canadian business and economic history: the impact of new safety, emissions, and fuel economy regulations on the Canadian sector and consumers, the first Chrysler bailout of 1980, the curious life and death of the 1965 Canada-U.S. auto pact, the invasion of Japanese imports and transplant operations, and the end of aggressive auto policy making with the coming of free trade.

More than just an examination of the auto industry, Autonomous State provides a rethinking of Canadas tumultuous post-OPEC political and economic evolution, helping to explain the current tribulations of the global auto sector and Canadas place within it.

DIMITRY ANASTAKIS is an associate professor in the Department of History at Trent University.

The Struggle for a Canadian Car Industry from OPEC to Free Trade

DIMITRY ANASTAKIS

University of Toronto Press 2013

Toronto Buffalo London

www.utppublishing.com

Printed in Canada

ISBN 978-1-4426-4504-2 (cloth)

ISBN 978-1-4426-1297-6 (paper)

Printed on acid-free paper

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Anastakis, Dimitry, 1970

Autonomous state : the struggle for a Canadian car industry from OPEC to free trade / Dimitry Anastakis.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-4426-4504-2 (bound). ISBN 978-1-4426-1297-6 (pbk.)

1. Automobile industry and trade Canada History 20th century. 2. Automobile industry and trade Government policy Canada History 20th century. 3. International business enterprises Canada. 4. Canada Economic policy 20th century. I. Title.

HD9710.C22A53 2013 338.47629222097109045 C2012-907085-8

University of Toronto Press acknowledges the financial assistance to its publishing program of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council.

University of Toronto Press acknowledges the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund for its publishing activities.

This book has been published with the help of a grant from the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, through the Awards to Scholarly Publications Program, using funds provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

In the ten years I worked on this book, I was privileged to have had a number of experiences that helped to shape my view of the global auto industry and Canadas place within it. Along the way I have incurred innumerable debts, only a few of which I can recognize here. Even before I began the project, I underwent an apprenticeship unusual for an historian by taking a position in Ontarios Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, where my work was essentially a practicum for the auto industry-government relations that form the core of my study. The people in the ministrys Automotive Office taught me more than they can imagine about the auto sector, and I wish to thank Babi Bannerjee, Laurie-Ann Hossein, Michael Dube, Fernando Traficante, David Bond, and Bob Seguin.

After leaving the Ontario government, I was fortunate enough to hold a series of post-doctoral fellowships which furthered my education in the auto sector and allowed me to grow as a scholar. As the Canadian Studies Fulbright Chair at Michigan State University, I travelled across the state to visit archives, present papers, tour auto plants, and spend time on the bridges and in the tunnels between Ontario and Michigan, giving me countless hours to think about the interconnectivity of our integrated industry and our two countries. A special thanks to Mike Unsworth, Phil Handrick, Joe Darden, and John Noble.

In Ottawa I held the AUTO21 Postdoctoral Fellowship in Government Policy and the Auto Industry at Carleton University under the supervision of Professor Maureen Molot. Professor Molot is an outstanding mentor and perhaps the most knowledgeable and distinguished scholar of the Canadian auto sector, and I appreciate all she has done for me. I also wish to acknowledge and thank everyone at the AUTO21 research network in Windsor for their support, especially Dr Peter Frise. At the University of Torontos Munk Centre, I was fortunate to hold a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Postdoctoral Fellowship. Thanks to Matt Farish for making my time at Munk so enjoyable and productive.

Over the course of the last decade I worked at a number of research institutions across North America, and I would like to thank the staff at these entities for their help. At Library and Archives of Canada, I wish to thank Paulette Dozois, Margaret Dixon, Nathalie Villeneuve, Katherine Legrandeur, Alix MacEwan, Michael MacDonald, Mihaela Ciocarlan, and others who helped me gain access to a wide range of documents, including through the Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) process. At the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Greg Donaghy was extremely helpful in facilitating access. In the Privy Council Office, Michel Lortie helped me through my two-year wait for documents under an ATIP request. At the Canadian Auto Workers library and archives, Kathy Bennett provided a very helpful hand. Archivists at the Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and Ronald Reagan presidential libraries, as well as at the National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, D.C., the Bentley Historical Library at the University of Michigan, the National Automotive History Collection at the Detroit Public Library, the Benson Ford Research Center in Dearborn, Michigan, the Walter P. Reuther Library of Urban and Labor Affairs at Wayne State University, the Archives of Ontario, the New Brunswick Archives, and Nova Scotia Archives and Records Management all deserve thanks.

I would also like to acknowledge the help and generosity of a number of individuals. Sam Gindin allowed me to access his private papers and helped me to understand some of the dynamics of auto workers, their organizations, and the auto sector more widely. Greig Mordue also allowed me access to his own research and has been extremely helpful and generous with his time and advice. Over the years Dennis DesRosiers, a forceful voice for the Canadian auto industry and education in Ontario, has been incredibly supportive, not only by sitting for interviews but also by giving me access to his companys materials and his private papers (which he has generously permitted me to use in this book).

At Trent University I have had the good privilege to have a number of supportive colleagues. Special thanks go to Joan Sangster, Keith Walden, Chris Dummitt, Janet Miron, Finis Dunaway, Olga Andriewsky, Bryan Palmer, and Jim Struthers. My fourth- year seminar, The Car in History, merits a special mention: I learned much from the students and their presentations and papers, which helped to shape my own views and this book. At Trent I had a number of excellent research assistants who deserve thanks: Jeremy Milloy, Stephanie Attley, Meaghan Beaton, and Blair Cullen are all top-flight researchers, teachers, and scholars in their own right. Thank you to Tracy Armstrong for creating the map which graces this book.