Breaking New Ground—Stories from Defence Construction Breaking_new_ground | Page 14

Setting the scene
Victory in Europe and the Far East at the end of World War II gave much
of the Western world a sense of relief and calm. Canada, a nation that had
gone into the war a largely rural, agricultural country, had emerged from it
much more focused on industrialization and manufacturing. Urban centres
were expanding and the economy was strong. The Canadian Armed Forces
were being wound down to less than 50,000 in all three services, no new
weaponry was being produced, and the Department of Munitions and
Supplies had been replaced by the Canadian Commercial Corporation,
reporting to C.D. Howe, Minister of Trade and Commerce.
But tensions were growing on the world stage.
Relations between the Soviet Union and the West were deteriorating, with
the West responding by creating the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in
April 1949. This alliance of twelve independent nations that had committed
to each other’s defence watched uneasily as the Soviet Union successfully
tested its first nuclear weapon at the end of August 1949, and as they
duplicated the American B-29 strategic bomber. The same year, on
October 1, Communist forces under Mao Zedong established the People’s
Republic of China. Then, in June 1950, North Korea invaded South Korea.
Recognizing that North America was immediately vulnerable by air and—
even worse—to a nuclear attack, the Canadian government was forced to
greatly increase its peacetime defence expenditures, including sending
troops to support United Nations peacekeeping missions and to Korea. In
turn, Canada needed expanded military facilities: traditional Army bases,
4
The Right Honourable Clarence Decatur Howe
Born in Massachusetts in 1886, C.D. Howe
studied engineering at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology and later taught at
Dalhousie University in Halifax. He entered
politics in 1935 and was appointed to the
Cabinet by Prime Minister William Lyon
Mackenzie King. As Minister of Munitions
and Supply, Howe directed a massive pro-
gram for the production of equipment and
materials for Canada’s Armed Forces.
BREAKING NEW GROUND
DEFENCE CONSTRUCTION CANADA