Deck 18: Regional Inequality in Canada: an Enduring Issue

Question 1

Which of the following is not subject to regional disparities?

A) Natural resources
B) Population
C) Subjective attitudes regarding the state
D) Industrial structure
E) Federal rates of taxation

Answer 1

E

Question 2

While there is general agreement on the importance of regionalism and regional inequality in Canada, what remains an important problem for assessing trends in inequality and for implementing policy?

A) The definition of region
B) The distribution of political capital across regions
C) Industrial concentration
D) Globalization
E) Unequal educational completion rates

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Why is the province most often used as the unit defining a region?

A) Because cities are too politicized to be significant
B) Because provinces minimize internal variations or disparities
C) Because data are most readily available at the provincial level
D) Because there is more variation between provinces than within them
E) Because provinces have the capability to tax income

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Which of the following is not one of the economic indicators most commonly used to measure regional inequality?

A) Income
B) Inflation
C) Unemployment rates
D) Productive capacity
E) Rates of poverty

Question 5

Which approach to regional inequality argues that inequality develops largely because of differences in the endowments of natural resources across areas?

A) Environmental determinism
B) World-systems approach
C) The staples approach
D) The modernization model
E) Dependency theory

Question 6

Which of the following best describes the concept of "staples" from the staples approach to regional inequality?

A) The metal clips used in machines to attach papers together
B) The collection of human skills that converts raw materials into useable products
C) The collective human capital that facilitates the extraction of raw resources
D) Raw or semi-processed materials extracted or grown primarily for export markets
E) Fully processed materials used to further "information-based" services

Question 7

A staple can become an engine of economic growth under all but which of the following conditions?

A) Discovering a valued resource
B) A development of internal tertiary markets that rely on raw materials
C) A change in technology that makes it economical to produce a staple
D) Increase in the demand for a staple due to higher need abroad
E) Challenges in production faced by other suppliers

Question 8

According to Watkins (1977), what is the key to a region's success in using staples to develop its economy?

A) Using staples to create linkages to other economic sectors/diversification
B) Using staples to create dependence by foreign markets
C) Using staples to depress manufacturing
D) Using staples to ensure wages remain low
E) Using staples to create entrenched rights for labour and capital

Question 9

The coal and steel industries in Cape Breton highlight which element of staple theory?

A) Successful diversification of the local economy
B) Dependence on declining industries
C) Linkages with the manufacturing sector
D) The exhaustion of resources
E) The natural evolution of an economy to more productive activities

Question 10

The transition in Alberta from an economy dominated by farming to one dominated by energy production and the subsequent urbanization and development of a managerial class highlights which feature of staples production?

A) The bourgeois character of staple production
B) The universal modernizing effects of staple production
C) Restriction of staple production to narrow economic implications
D) Development of powerful interest groups around economic production
E) The imprint that staples leave politically, socially, and culturally on a region

Question 11

According to Matthews (2014), which of the following is not a dimension that needs to be considered when applying staple theory to our understanding of Canada's development?

A) The rise of neo-liberal government
B) Globalization and its consequences
C) Automation
D) Aboriginal rights
E) Environmentalism

Question 12

According to the modernization perspective, which of the following would serve to disseminate rational, income-maximizing behaviour that would help countries develop?

A) Mobility of individuals between town and countryside
B) Mass communications and transportation
C) Formal education
D) Development of a modern state
E) All of the above

Question 13

According to the modernization perspective, development can occur only through what?

A) The development of traditional values
B) The development of traditional social institutions
C) The development of the primary (resource) sector of the economy
D) The development of the (urban) industrial sector of the economy
E) The development of the tertiary (service) sector of the economy

Question 14

According to modernization theorists, what is "natural" equalization between regions?

A) The movement of workers from areas with low wages and low educational prospects to better regions
B) When government places conditions on the minimum conditions that must be met for its citizens to be employed
C) When regions invest differently in health and education services
D) When unionization rates in one region confer benefits that occur naturally in another
E) When incentives to leave one region for another are reduced

Question 15

Which theory explains regional inequality as a function of the relationship between "the hinterland" and "the metropolis"?

A) Staples theory
B) Modernization theory
C) Dependency theory
D) Conflict theory
E) Structural functionalism

Question 16

Which theoretical model of regional development is most concerned with the notion of "class structure"?

A) State-centered approaches
B) Dependency theory
C) Modernization theory
D) Staples theory
E) Path dependency

Question 17

"Western alienation" is a concept that refers to what phenomenon?

A) The specific alienation that workers in the west feel with employers in the oil and gas industry
B) The feeling among those in the west that they are excluded from power at the centre
C) The feeling among those in the west that Canada is not as respected in the international arena as it ought to be
D) Alienation felt by workers in the western post-industrial economy
E) Specifically occidental alienation theorized as being different from that of the "East"

Question 18

What about the elections of 1993, 1997, and 2000 led Canada's political system to lose its pan-Canadian veneer?

A) The election of more distinctive regional parties in the House of Commons
B) The pro-globalization and pro-free trade position of the respective governments
C) The willingness of these governments to hold referendums on staying in Canada
D) The overwhelming number of MPs elected in Quebec and Ontario
E) Specific appeals to devolve federal powers to the provincial governments

Question 19

Regional inequality is complicated by the fact that Canada is relatively equal along other dimensions of inequality, such as __________.

A) income, education, and health
B) health and income
C) life satisfaction, income, and education
D) wealth, health, and education
E) income and education

Question 20

Regional inequality is evident in differences in the economic and social well-being of Canadians living in various provinces. The people of Québec have concerns about __________.

A) economic uncertainty
B) delivery of social services
C) alienation from the core of the country
D) their own unique issues
E) their language and cultural protection

Question 21

What does the concept of regionalism entail?

A) A consciousness among residents that they have unique, regionally based interests
B) The recognition of territorial cleavages
C) The recognition of politically relevant divisions
D) The recognition of politically relevant divisions and territorial cleavages
E) A rational analysis of pertinent social and economic characteristics

Question 22

The Atlantic provinces of Canada (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador) are often grouped together, but have notable differences in __________.

A) their potential for natural resource development
B) social and economic well-being
C) unemployment rates
D) their poverty rate
E) both a and b

Question 23

In 2018, Nunavut's median income was reported as __________.

A) $121,920
B) $45,020
C) $76,900
D) $81,230
E) None of the above

Question 24

What impact did the COVID-19 pandemic have on unemployment rates in British Columbia?

A) Comparing across years, unemployment rates in British Columbia are more than double what they normally would be.
B) We only saw an increase in unemployment of 0.2%.
C) Unemployment rates in British Columbia remained at 5.0%.
D) We saw an increase in unemployment of 10%.
E) There is no difference in unemployment rates.

Question 25

Watkins (1977) suggested that staples theory only has explanatory value if applied to countries with __________.

A) large populations, and few inhibiting traditions
B) small populations in relation to their land mass and resources, and few inhibiting traditions
C) small populations in relation to their land mass, and many inhibiting traditions
D) large populations in relation to their land mass and resources, and few inhibiting traditions
E) small populations, and few inhibiting traditions

Question 26

What province consistently reports the lowest median income over time?

A) Newfoundland and Labrador
B) Alberta
C) Yukon
D) New Brunswick
E) Ontario

Question 27

Compared to other provinces in Canada, federal support is _______ in Atlantic Canada.

A) considerably lower
B) the lowest
C) typically higher
D) the highest
E) the same

Question 28

Health inequality can be measured in numerous ways. What are three of these ways?

A) Life expectancy, education, food insecurity
B) Life expectancy, socioeconomic status, and food insecurity
C) Life expectancy, infant mortality rate, and food insecurity
D) Life expectancy, biology, and food insecurity
E) Life expectancy, infant mortality rate, and education

Question 29

Regional disparities are evident in differences in the economic and social well-being of Canadians living in the various provinces.

Question 30

The OECD ranks Canada very low in terms of regional disparities.

Question 31

Regionalism requires that residents of a region share a consciousness of their unique interests.

Question 32

Using provincial-level data, the most common indicator of regional inequality is capital investment per capita.

Question 33

When measuring regional inequality using provincial-level data, only economic indicators are considered.

Question 34

The roots of the staples approach to regional inequality are found in work that analyzes Canada's dependency on oil exports.

Question 35

Some variations of staples theory argue that staples lead to economic growth only in "new" countries.

Question 36

According to staples theory, due to its nature, staple production may eventually decline due to price fluctuations and fluctuations in international demand.

Question 37

According to staples theory, one potential consequence of a staple-based economy is dependence on a foreign industrial centre.

Question 38

Unless a new staple can be found and developed, one potential consequence of a staple economy is that a region may stagnate and decline.

Question 39

The modernization or developmental model of regional inequality stems from the industrial revolution in England in the 1800s.

Question 40

The modernization model of regional inequality suggests that traditional values can be employed to develop a country's economy.

Question 41

According to modernization theorists, there are deficiencies built into the policies and practices of governments, unions, and corporations that interact with poorer regions.

Question 42

According to dependency theory, under-development is the result of modernity that has not been fully emulated through the underdeveloped world.

Question 43

The dependency theorist Davis (1971) argued that within Canada the hinterland continuously dominates and exploits the metropolis.

Question 44

Canadian studies in the dependency theory tradition have found that peripheral regions show growth autonomously from growth in the central regions.

Question 45

The current pattern of income distribution across the Canadian regions is a relatively recent phenomenon.

Question 46

Because healthcare is a universal service in Canada, we see that no region-related differences exist in terms of the health of its inhabitants.

Question 47

Inequality, or the perception of inequality, affects how Canadians identify politically, and also the political party structure and electoral outcomes of the nation as a whole.

Question 48

Canadians generally express a positive identification with their nation but a negative identification with their province.

Question 49

Canada is a vast country with imposing natural and social barriers that separate regions from each other.

Question 50

Moncton had lower levels of unemployment in August 2020 than New Brunswick as a whole.

Question 51

The difference between the highest and lowest median income in 2018 was $50,000 annually.

Question 52

When considering the data from August 2020, we see pronounced differences in unemployment rates between Atlantic provinces and the West.

Question 53

Courchene (1994) suggests that there is a "vicious cycle" of inequality.

Question 54

Between 1961 and 2018, median incomes in the Atlantic region had risen to roughly 60% of the Canadian median.

Question 55

The lowest life expectancies are in Nunavut, which is probably due to the lower life expectancies for some Indigenous people, who represent a large proportion of the Nunavut population. (

Question 56

Newfoundland and Labrador receives the highest amount of federal support among the Atlantic provinces.

Question 57

Canadian politics continues to be regionally based. The 2019 election produced a majority Liberal government.

Question 58

The Canadian government dealt with regional disparities using a centralized decision-making and a top-down approach.

Question 59

What are the economic indicators used to measure regional inequality in Canada? What do they tell us?

Question 60

What role do raw materials and manufactured goods play, according to dependency theorists, in creating regional underdevelopment?

Question 61

What is the main thesis of the modernization model? How does this approach explain regional underdevelopment?

Question 62

Explain what Courchene (1994) means when he suggests that there is a "vicious cycle" of inequality.

Question 63

What are the three useful indicators of health inequality? How does one's region impact their life expectancy?

Question 64

Outline the main characteristics of the staples approach. How can relying on staples result in regional inequalities?

Question 65

Explain the concept of "natural" equalization as it is espoused by modernization theorists. Give an example of how the Canadian government (and provincial governments) can effect this equalization.

Question 66

Explain how Harper's government was a third wave of regionalism in Canada's political history. What effect has this had on the regions and their political representation?

Question 67

What are the three major phases of development that Canada's regions have undergone since the 1960s? How will the future of Canada's disadvantaged regions be shaped?

Question 68

Have you ever visited another region? How was it different? Was inequality with your home region evident? How so?

Question 69

What level of economic or social incentives would it take for you to relocate to another region? What other considerations would affect your decision?

Question 70

Do you think that the House of Commons is well served by regional political parties? What impact might this regional-representation have on Canada as a whole?

Question 71

How are social indicators important indicators of regional inequality? Do you think the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted educational attainment among Canadians?

Question 72

Who might be more vulnerable to health inequalities in Canada? How did the COVID-19 pandemic play a role in exacerbating health inequalities?