"An Ongoing Process"

The big success story in Canada this year is the tale of the 120-mile rim of rolling land that hugs the western shore of Lake Ontario from Oshawa to Niagara Falls. One out of every seven Canadians now lives there. They produce--in 6,700 factories ranging from Ford's assembly line at Oakville (Canada's largest factory, with a capacity of 140,000 cars a year) to tailoring shops in Toronto--more than $6.7 billion worth of goods a year, 29% of the nation's manufacturing output. They mail one of every four letters in Canada, pay one-third of all federal income taxes. They proudly call the area "the Golden Horseshoe."

The horseshoe seems to glow more golden every year. As its population has increased at the rate of nearly 5% yearly (from 1,700,000 in 1950 to 2,500,000 now), a colorful spectrum of new industry has set up shop: last year alone 32 factories moved into metropolitan Toronto. Says William Nickle, Ontario's Minister of Planning and Development: "It's an ongoing process--as there is more population there is more industry, and as there is more industry there is more population."

The spectacular individual success stories are not about economic giants but about small firms and energetic men, including European immigrants (more than 20% of the 1,900,000 postwar "new Canadians" have settled in the horseshoe). When he left Italy nine years ago, Carpenter Alfonso Frisina had little money and less English, but he barged right into the contracting business; this year Frisina will put up Hamilton's first skyscraper, a 22-story, $4,000,000 office building. Toronto-born Harvey Keith, 55, quit his job as a supermarket supervisor in 1950, borrowed $5,000 to go into real estate, guessed right on the horseshoe's land boom, last year grossed $33 million. Japanese-Canadian Arthur Tateishi, 40, who began building phonographs in his basement after work hours, went into business in 1945, expanded to meet the new demand for hifi, last year grossed $3,000,000.

The financial and cultural capital of the horseshoe--and of Canada--is sprawling, fast-growing Toronto (metropolitan pop. 1,500,000, second only to Montreal's 1,600,000). One of the continent's genuine boom towns, Toronto encourages light industry; only a handful of factories hire more than 500 men. But more good money than good planning has gone into the horseshoe's erratic growth. While Toronto is a pretty, leafy city, most of the others are depressingly ugly, and Chairman Frederick Gardiner of the Toronto Metropolitan Council warns that by 1975 the area will be a "wilderness," consisting of "one solid city from Oshawa to Niagara Falls." Whether wilderness or wonderland, the horseshoe seems sure of even more development. Last year Oshawa (pop. 58,000) made its first efforts at locating a new factory or two, got six. Says its Industrial Development Commissioner:"All we have to do is let companies know we exist and get them interested in taking a look. From there on it's easy."

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