Implications for Canadian Development

This paper has its genesis in a project devoted to the preparation of national income · estimates for Canada for the years 1870-1926: the delimitation of the period is explained by the twin facts that the first Canadian census after confederation was taken in 1871 and that the official estimates of the national income of Canada begin in 1926. The estimates are now complete-just barely. In this paper, I examine some of the consequences of the availability of the new data for the inter-pretation of Canadian economic development in the period covered by the estimates. In my discussion I barely scratch the surface, largely because the preparation of the estimates themselves absorbed nearly all of my time until very recently. Before getting on with the main task I should say just a word about the new estimates. I shall be brief at this juncture, even though it is perhaps fair to say that they are the main contribution of this paper. The estimates comprise: annual estimates of gross domestic product