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  • The Canadian working class was emerging well before 1867. By Confederation one could say for the first time that the growth of the working class was now unstoppable. The creation of the Dominion of Canada took place precisely at that moment when widespread industrialization was visibly underway. In 1851, fewer than a quarter of Hamilton, Ontario’s workers laboured in workshops of ten or more employees; by 1871 the share was more than 80%.[1] In less than two decades, Hamilton had been transformed from a market town dominated by commerce into a powerful symbol of heavy industry. Significant and startling though this change was at the time, it was dwarfed by developments in the 1890s. In that decade, Canadian economic growth simultaneously intensified in the older cities and found new fields in which to flourish in the West. The population of Canada in 1901 was 5,371,315; ten years later it was 7,206,643 – an increase of 34%. At the same time, however, the labour force grew from 1,899,000 in 1901 to 2,809,000 in 1911, a phenomenal 50% increase.[2] To put this into some perspective, there were only 3,463,000 people in the Dominion in 1867 — by 1911 there were close to that many working, wage-earning Canadians. The working class were motivated and shaped by different factors in the various regions of the country, although common themes were quick to arise. --Introduction

  • The Westray mine exploded on May 9, 1992 killing all 26 miners who were working underground at the time. It quickly became apparent that the explosion was not an unforeseeable accident, but rather the predictable result of unsafe and unlawful mining practices, and lax regulatory enforcement. Inadequate ventilation allowed methane concentrations to reach explosive levels and coal dust had been permitted to accumulate. A spark, most probably from an underground mining machine striking a rock, ignited the gas, growing into a rolling methane flame that in turn ignited the coal dust, causing a coal-dust explosion. The mine inspectors knew of these hazardous conditions. During the summer of 1991, without making a formal order, they demanded that the company produce a stone-dusting plan to address the coal-dust hazard. By March 1992 nothing had been done. At that time the inspectors first became aware of dangerous levels of methane, but nothing was done. The next inspection took place on April 29, 1992. Finding that the coal dust problem still had not been addressed, the inspector finally issued a formal order requiring the company to clean up the hazard immediately and to produce a coal-dusting plan by mid-May. Ten days later, the mine exploded (Glasbeek and Tucker 1993; Jobb 1994; Richard 1997).

Last update from database: 9/12/25, 4:10 AM (UTC)