Industrialization

The development of the railway and other means of communication, the implementation of the National Policy in the 1870s, and the economic boom of the late 19th and early 20th centuries laid the foundation for the industrialization of Canada. These significant industrial and technological developments altered the social character of the country. In growing numbers, men and women were heading to the factories and workshops of industrial centres, which contributed to rural depopulation. Modern social classes made their appearance, and with these classes came responsible government and the system of tightly knit and affluent political parties as the instrument of dominant groups. Railway construction and industrialization led to the creation of the first faculties of applied science in Canada as well as new education curricula. Industrialization had, however, been accompanied by the growth of both social ills and reform movements to combat them.