Ontario in Transition: The Challenge of Economic Development

Abstract

Ever since the major transformation in economic structure from agriculture-based to urban industrial-focused, the whole world had been undergoing numerous changes. In the mid-1970s, the U.S. economy got heavily affected by the increased price of fuel upon the arrival of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which was a drastic change since the Second World War. The Western economy faced another wave of structural change, the shift from manufacturing base to service base. This trend had brought the significant downfall of a resource sector while a dramatic increase in the government sector. Gradually, the industrial base began to weaken in both Canada and the U.S. In contrast, the service sector had shown remarkable growth. To summarize, substantial structural changes in the world economy left a big question mark in the future available resources.