Car Nation

Book excerpt: Canadians fell in love with the car at first glance. They were scared by it too, and by its potential. Canada was quick to become a car nation, as the automobile was enthusiastically adopted by Prairie grain farmers, the new modern woman, travellers to the north, and rough-and-tumble adventurers looking for a thrill by traversing the immense length of the country. The automobile was the symbol of the modern Canada of the twentieth century, and the final victory of technology over landscape. Canadians were building cars from the beginning. Independent firms and branches of the big American manufacturers vied for the lucrative Canadian market. Automaking has been an integral part of Canada's economy since the car's introduction. For more than a century, Canadians have lived with this automobile revolution, and all the consequences and permutations that it represents. Blending social, cultural and economic history, Dimitry Anastakis's engaging text tells the fascinating story of the car across Canada from earliest days, when cars and horses jockeyed for parking space, to the multilane freeways of the twenty-first century.