- Title:
- Under the radar: Defence Construction (1951) Limited and military infrastructure in Canada, 1950-1965
- Creator:
- Noakes, Jeffrey David
- Date Created:
- 2005
- Degree Awarded:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Subjects:
- Defense contracts Public contracts Cold War
- Geographical Focus:
- Canada
- Supporting Materials:
- n/a
- Description:
- Established in 1950 as an element of Canada’s Cold War rearmament, Defence Construction (1951) Limited, or DCL, was Md as an agency to tender and supervise construction contracts for the Department of National Defence, a function it fulfills to this day. Such use of a Crown corporation was characteristic of Minister of Defence Production C.D. Howe and his often expedient and pragmatic approach to meeting policy objectives. In its first fifteen years, DCL helped make possible the construction of $1.5 billion in defence infrastructure, including three major radar lines, two in northern Canada. The corporation also played a role in helping the Canadian government implement civilian projects at home and abroad. Using an extensive collection of : corporate and related government records at the agency itself, at Library and Archives Canada, and at the Department of National Defence’s Directorate of History and Heritage, this dissertation examines the corporation’s history as an effective and flexible instrument of government policy. Adjunct to this function, fiCL helped represent the interests of the Canadian construction industry in the provision of Cold War infrastructure. By the end of the 1950s, the corporation, working in conjunction with other government agencies, had managed to ensure that American and joint Canadian- American defence projects built in Canada would use Canadian construction firms drawing on Canadian suppliers. This dissertation also encompasses and examines themes related to Canada’s northern Cold War from 1950-65. National defence, sovereignty, economic development, the expansion of Ottawa’s influence and control over northern Canada, and relations with the United States all played a role in shaping the environment in which DCL operated, and were in turn influenced by events and projects that DCL had a role in shaping. An examination of the history of DCL between 1950 and 1965, therefore, also provides a useful prism for examining these issues. Aside from these issues, the corporation’s history is also an revealing case study of a Crown corporation and its utility as an instrument of government policy; in many respects DCL served as Ottawa’s “Cold War handyman.”
Source
- Preferred Citation:
- Noakes, Jeffrey David. 2005. "Under the radar: Defence Construction (1951) Limited and military infrastructure in Canada, 1950-1965", Department of History, Carleton University
- Link to this page:
- https://cuhistory.github.io/grads/items/hist_153.html
Rights
- Rights:
- Copyright the author, all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.