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Studies in Canadian Military History
Silent Partners

Silent Partners

The Origins and Influence of Canada's Military-Industrial Complex

Edited by Alex Souchen and Matthew S. Wiseman

Published by: University of British Columbia Press

Series: Studies in Canadian Military History

Imprint: UBC Press

244 Pages, 152.00 × 229.00 mm, 7 b&w photos, 2 maps

Paperback
9780774868969
Published: May 2024

£28.99

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Hardcover
9780774868952
Published: September 2023

£79.00

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Description
Contents
Authors

Canada's military-industrial complex is deeply embedded in the fabric of the country: Silent Partners reveals its origins and influence.

During the Cold War, Canada's military, industrial, and political partnerships developed behind the scenes and without much public scrutiny. Silent Partners explores Canada's history of leveraging military and defence expenditures to fund domestic industries, bolster employment, and support science and technology. Military and defence spending have affected Canada in myriad ways, from demography and geography, to political economy and international relations, in uneven patterns of prosperity and decline. The contributions in this volume explore the environmental impacts of military activities and munitions production, the ethical issues of human experimentation and military testing, and the economic and political implications of procurement and arms exports. Silent Partners is an illuminating examination of Canada's military-industrial complex from a historical perspective.

Introduction: A Canadian Military-Industrial Complex? / Alex Souchen and Matthew S. Wiseman

Part 1: Origins and Environments

1 Victory at All Costs: Canada's Munitions Industry and the Environment during the Second World War / Alex Souchen

2 Military Dispossession: Alberta's Suffield Experimental Station, 1939–47 / Brandon Davis

Part 2: Ethics and Experts

3 The Human Sciences at Downsview: Military Research in Cold War Toronto / Matthew S. Wiseman and Matthew Farish

4 In Pursuit of Security: Canada's Defence Research Board and Sensory Deprivation Research, 1950s–1970s / Meghan Fitzpatrick

Part 3: Politics and Procurement

5 The Honest (Arms) Broker: Promoting the Military-Industrial Complex during the Golden Age of Canadian Foreign Policy / Asa McKercher

6 "This Seems Pie in the Sky and Most Unlikely": The Origins of General Dynamics Land Systems–Canada / Frank Maas

7 The Royal Canadian Air Force and the Military-Industrial Complex: A Figment of the Imagination / Randall Wakelam

Conclusion: "Insurance for Peace" / Matthew S. Wiseman

Index

Alex Souchen is an assistant professor at the University of Guelph, cross-appointed between the Department of History and the Bachelor of Arts and Science Program. He is the author of War Junk: Munitions Disposal and Postwar Reconstruction in Canada, which won an honorable mention for the 2020–21 C.P. Stacey Award for the best book in the field of Canadian military history.

Matthew S. Wiseman is a lecturer in the Department of History at the University of Waterloo. He previously held a Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship at St. Jerome's University and is the editor of The Selected Works of George R. Lindsey: Operational Research, Strategic Studies, and Canadian Defence in the Cold War.