Toryism, classical liberalism, and capitalism: the politics of taxation and the struggle for Canadian confederation
Within the four original Canadian provinces, the politics of taxation were a central issue in the struggle to form Confederation, as they were in Newfoundland, the tax-adverse colony that rejected it. For many participants in the Confederation debate, the key issue was the optimal size of the state...
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ftcoventryuniv:tle:a9025693-2981-6bef-fbfe-57edacf50608:2fa872f8-6189-4232-b228-bd31f47934f5:1 2023-05-15T17:22:28+02:00 Toryism, classical liberalism, and capitalism: the politics of taxation and the struggle for Canadian confederation Smith, A. 2008 http://curve.coventry.ac.uk/open/items/a9025693-2981-6bef-fbfe-57edacf50608/1 English eng University of Toronto Press http://curve.coventry.ac.uk/open/items/a9025693-2981-6bef-fbfe-57edacf50608/1 Please see https://curve.coventry.ac.uk/cu/file/c14694d9-3d19-84a8-f43f-7f4723bacf7e/1/CURVE%20Purpose%20and%20PoliciesMay08v2.pdf for our metadata and full-text reuse policies. history Canadian history ideology constitutional history political economy taxation British North America Act 1867 Canadian confederation Article 2008 ftcoventryuniv 2021-04-27T17:46:28Z Within the four original Canadian provinces, the politics of taxation were a central issue in the struggle to form Confederation, as they were in Newfoundland, the tax-adverse colony that rejected it. For many participants in the Confederation debate, the key issue was the optimal size of the state as a proportion of total economic activity. Janet Ajzenstat, Peter J. Smith, and Ian McKay have argued that Confederation represented a victory for the ideology of liberal individualism that underpins capitalism. The position taken here is that these scholars are mistaken about the ideological nature of Confederation, and that Confederation, instead, was supported by many colonists who were sympathetic to a relatively interventionist, or statist, approach to capitalist development. The anti-confederate camp of the time, by contrast, included the strongest supporters of classical liberal values such as free trade and low taxes. The struggle over Confederation involved a battle between a staunchly individualist economic philosophy and a comparatively collectivist view of the state’s proper role in the economy. Consequently, it is far more accurate to describe 1867 as the birth of a Tory-interventionist economic order in Canada, rather than of a liberal one. Article in Journal/Newspaper Newfoundland Coventry University: Curve/open Canada |
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Coventry University: Curve/open |
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ftcoventryuniv |
language |
English |
topic |
history Canadian history ideology constitutional history political economy taxation British North America Act 1867 Canadian confederation |
spellingShingle |
history Canadian history ideology constitutional history political economy taxation British North America Act 1867 Canadian confederation Smith, A. Toryism, classical liberalism, and capitalism: the politics of taxation and the struggle for Canadian confederation |
topic_facet |
history Canadian history ideology constitutional history political economy taxation British North America Act 1867 Canadian confederation |
description |
Within the four original Canadian provinces, the politics of taxation were a central issue in the struggle to form Confederation, as they were in Newfoundland, the tax-adverse colony that rejected it. For many participants in the Confederation debate, the key issue was the optimal size of the state as a proportion of total economic activity. Janet Ajzenstat, Peter J. Smith, and Ian McKay have argued that Confederation represented a victory for the ideology of liberal individualism that underpins capitalism. The position taken here is that these scholars are mistaken about the ideological nature of Confederation, and that Confederation, instead, was supported by many colonists who were sympathetic to a relatively interventionist, or statist, approach to capitalist development. The anti-confederate camp of the time, by contrast, included the strongest supporters of classical liberal values such as free trade and low taxes. The struggle over Confederation involved a battle between a staunchly individualist economic philosophy and a comparatively collectivist view of the state’s proper role in the economy. Consequently, it is far more accurate to describe 1867 as the birth of a Tory-interventionist economic order in Canada, rather than of a liberal one. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Smith, A. |
author_facet |
Smith, A. |
author_sort |
Smith, A. |
title |
Toryism, classical liberalism, and capitalism: the politics of taxation and the struggle for Canadian confederation |
title_short |
Toryism, classical liberalism, and capitalism: the politics of taxation and the struggle for Canadian confederation |
title_full |
Toryism, classical liberalism, and capitalism: the politics of taxation and the struggle for Canadian confederation |
title_fullStr |
Toryism, classical liberalism, and capitalism: the politics of taxation and the struggle for Canadian confederation |
title_full_unstemmed |
Toryism, classical liberalism, and capitalism: the politics of taxation and the struggle for Canadian confederation |
title_sort |
toryism, classical liberalism, and capitalism: the politics of taxation and the struggle for canadian confederation |
publisher |
University of Toronto Press |
publishDate |
2008 |
url |
http://curve.coventry.ac.uk/open/items/a9025693-2981-6bef-fbfe-57edacf50608/1 |
geographic |
Canada |
geographic_facet |
Canada |
genre |
Newfoundland |
genre_facet |
Newfoundland |
op_relation |
http://curve.coventry.ac.uk/open/items/a9025693-2981-6bef-fbfe-57edacf50608/1 |
op_rights |
Please see https://curve.coventry.ac.uk/cu/file/c14694d9-3d19-84a8-f43f-7f4723bacf7e/1/CURVE%20Purpose%20and%20PoliciesMay08v2.pdf for our metadata and full-text reuse policies. |
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1766109165419233280 |