SPATIAL INTERLOCKING DIRECTORATES IN THE CANADIAN URBAN SYSTEM, 1971–1989 |
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| Abstract: | This research investigates the evolution of the system of Canadian decision-making centers using the location of corporate board members as a surrogate for the location of economic control. The major premise examined by this study states that, through much of the study period, board linkages should tend to concentrate on Toronto, Canada's dominant corporate administration center. While Toronto gains importance, Montreal loses connections, devolving from close competition with Toronto for national influence to become a major regional center for Quebec. At the same time, cities in other parts of the country gain importance as they evolve into major centers for their region. The result of these changes is the emergence of a dominant national center, along with a second tier of cities of regional importance. The results of the board member analysis reveal that the economy as a whole increasingly concentrates control in Toronto through the 1970s and 1980s. Montreal loses director connections with the rest of the country through the same period. While the economy as a whole centralizes in Toronto, certain sectors of the economy decentralize their directors to regional centers. Calgary, in particular, emerges as a major regional center for western Canada. The paper relates these observations to the dual conceptual frameworks of quaternary location theory and the resource dependence perspective. |
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