Ontario, 1610-1985: A Political and Economic History

Wesley B. Turner is an associate professor of History at Brock
University and author of TheWar of 1812: The War That Both Sides Won.

With a political science doctorate and a career as an economist in the Ontario public service, Randall White is well qualified to write a political and economic history of the province. This first volume in the Ontario Heritage Foundation Local History Series is an impressive beginning in terms of information and scope. In just over 300 pages of text, White covers almost four centuries and mentions probably every possible shaping influence whether it be natural forces determining geology and topography, an idea or trend, a group contribution, or the activity of an individual. The author does not offer a balanced treatment, for he wishes to stress “the region’s changing political and economic culture.”

White begins with the physical setting, emphasizing the bodies of water which provided transportation routes between the Atlantic coast and the continental interior. This basic theme carries on throughout: “The particular geography of the waterways which effected these links gave a particular pattern to the European-oriented civilization that would gradually expand throughout the modern Ontario territory.” White gives a good deal of attention to the Native background in an effort to rescue that contribution from its fate as “Ontario’s forgotten history.” This is not a new discovery but his approach does indicate White’s awareness of some current scholarly concerns.

After brief treatment of the 17th and 18th centuries, the author moves to more familiar ground of mass English-speaking settlement, economic development that changed the landscape, and the beginnings of politics. The narrative is straightforward and almost relentlessly political. As he proceeds, White describes elections in increasing detail as well as the character and actions of premiers and the composition of their cabinets. Not surprisingly, the work ends with a lengthy analysis of the 1985 election and the formation of the Liberal government, while the final illustration is a picture of David Peterson’s cabinet shortly after its formation.

Ontario 1610-1985 could be used by students and teachers of history and should be on the shelf of anyone seriously interested in Ontario’s development. While the author seems to have tried to write for the popular market, this end is defeated by prose that is flat and by paragraphs crammed with information. The seven statistical appendices are too fragmentary to be of use for serious research and the chatty endnotes lack references to sources.