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Studies in Political Economy
A Socialist Review
Volume 99, 2018 - Issue 3
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Articles

Neoliberal governance and resource peripheries: The case of Ontario’s mid-north during the “common sense revolution”

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Pages 331-354 | Published online: 10 May 2019
 

Abstract

Referring specifically to mid-North Ontario during the Conservative Government’s “Common Sense Revolution” (1995–2003), we theorize that state reregulation applying neoliberal principles—when coupled with technological change and broader changes caused by the internationalization of capital and labour—resulted in job losses, downsizing, closures, and aging of fixed capital and infrastructure. This led to outmigration, depopulation, reduced social and economic services, and longer travel times to access services in thinly populated regions, which now have to contend with a seasonal influx of wealthy metropolitan citizens.

Notes

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by a York University Sabbatical Fellowship examining “Geographies of Industry in the Neoliberal Age.”

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Data

The empirical section of this paper draws on data sets that are summarized in the paper. If a reader wishes to consult the full tables and the map of the region, this information will be posted online. For details, please contact one of the authors.

Notes

1 Ives, “Neoliberalism and the Concept of Governance.”

2 Girvan, “Extractive Imperialism in Historical Perspective.” 49–61.

3 Bunker and Ciccantell, Globalization and the Race for Resources.

4 Lang, Henn, Ehrlich, and Sgibnev, “Understanding New Geographies,” 1–21.

5 Brenner, “New State Space.”

6 Brenner, Peck, and Theodore, “Variegated Neoliberalization.”

7 Van Heur, “Beyond Regulation” 427.

8 Bridge, “Global Production Networks and the Extractive Sector” 389–419; Hudson, “Cultural Political Economy Meets Global Production Networks,” 421–40.

9 Park, “Knowledge, Networks and Regional Development,” 283–86.

10 The Economist, “United States: Great Plain Drain.”

11 Heleniak, “The 2002 Census in Russia,” 430–42.

12 Baum and O’Connor, “Regional Population and Employment Change,” 85–94.

13 Veltmeyer, “The Political Economy of Natural Resource Extraction,” 79–95; Grinspun and Mills, “Canada, Extractivism and Hemispheric Relations,” 133–51.

14 The history of neoliberalism is outlined in Harvey, A Brief History of Neoliberalism.

15 Duchesne, “Mike is the Message,” 52–68.

16 Innis, “The Importance of Staple Products,” 16–19; Watkins, “A Staple Theory of Economic Growth,” 141–58.

17 Grinspun and Mills, “Canada, Extractivism,” 133.

18 Veltmeyer, “The Political Economy of Natural Resource Extraction,” 79–95.

19 Watkins, “A Staple Theory,” 141–58.

20 Schoenberger, “The Spatial Fix,” 430–1.

21 Innis, “The Importance of Staple Products,” 16–19; Watkins, “A Staple Theory,” 141–58; Kellogg, Escape from the Staple Trap.

22 Naylor, “The Rise and Fall of the Third Commercial Empire.”

23 Stanford, “The Staple Theory @ 50.”

24 Watkins, “Staples Redux,” 213–26.

25 Krippner, “The Financialization of the American Economy,” 174.

26 Epstein, Financialization and the World Economy.

27 Hayter, “Single-Industry Resource Towns,” 290–37.

28 Lucas, Minetown, Milltown, Railtown.

29 Bello, “The Capitalist Conjuncture,” 1345–67.

30 Ellem, “Resource Peripheries and Neoliberalism,” 323–37.

31 Banting, “Do We Know Where We Are Going?” 421–9.

32 Petrakos, Fotopoulos, and Kallioras, “Peripherality and Integration,” 347–61.

33 Sancton, Merger Mania.

34 Savoie, Governing from the Centre.

35 McCarthy and Prudham, “Neoliberal Nature,” 275–83.

36 Ekers and Prudham, “Towards the Socio-ecological Fix,” 2438–445.

37 Lefebvre, The Production of Space, 31.

38 Butler, “Performative Agency,” 147–61.

39 Massey, World City.

40 Gereffi, and Christian, “The Impacts of Wal-Mart,” 573–91.

41 Ibbitson, Promised Land; Noel, Revolution at Queens Park.; Blizzard, Right Turn; Walkom, Rae Days.

42 Keil, “Common-sense Neoliberalism,” 578–601; Blizzard, Right Turn.

43 Hanlon, “Hospital Restructuring in Smaller Urban Ontario Settings,” 252–67.

44 Basu, “The Rationalization of Neoliberalism,” 625.

45 Sancton, Merger Mania; Keil, “Common-sense Neoliberalism,” 578–601.

47 Contact authors for more details.

48 Mahlburg, Global Newsprint Risk of Closure.

49 Shafer, “Paper-thin Excuses.”

50 Northwestern Ontario Forestry Council, “Economic Impact Analysis.”

51 Ontario Mining Association, “Economic and Fiscal Contribution” 1998 and 2004.

52 Battle, “Ontario’s Shrinking Minimum Wage.”

53 Peck, Workfare States.

54 Herd, Mitchell and Lightman, “Rituals of Degradation,” 65–79.

55 Martinello, “Mr. Harris, Mr. Rae and Union Activity,” 17–33.

57 Bates, “Gendered Spaces of Industrial Restructuring,” 126–37; Reed, Taking Stands.

59 Wellar, “Municipal Amalgamation in Ontario.”

60 Ontario Hospital Association Report. “Ontario Hospitals Funding Facts.”

61 Tables 3a and Tables 3b provide more information. For more details, contact the authors.

62 Tables 4a and 4b provide more information. For more details, contact the authors.

64 Lindgren, “Lands for Life or Lands for Lumber,” 13.

65 Beder, “Neoliberal Think Tanks,” 128–33.

66 Ballamingie, “Contester l’effacement,” 1–13; Barnes, Wall, Diaz, Ballamingie, “Missed Understandings,” 972–83.

67 Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, “Ontario’s Living Legacy.”

69 Southcott, The North in Numbers.

70 See Figure 1. For more details, contact the authors.

71 Table 5 provides more information. For more details, contact the authors.

72 Table 6 provides more information. For more details, contact the authors.

73 Markey, Halseth, and Manson, “Challenging the Inevitability of Rural Decline,” 409–21.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Glen Norcliffe

Glen Norcliffe is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Geography at York University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Judy Bates

Judy Bates teaches in the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.

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