A tribute to Abe Rotstein: a giant of Canadian political economy
Mel Watkins eulogizes Abe Rotstein as the leading theorist and scholar of Canadian nationalism in English Canada, and one of its most prominent and innovative practitioners.
Staples Thesis
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It is time to confront Canada’s staple trap
Perversely, governments get captured by the staple industry and lock the country in. Our currency becomes a petro-dollar, our state a petro-state.
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Keystone XL and Canada’s Resource Trap
Canada’s brand of the resource curse is called the “staples trap”. The pattern was articulated by celebrated Canadian economic historian Harold Innis in his studies of Canadian staple resource economies.
