For forty years, historians have argued that early twentieth-century provincial governments in Canada were easily manipulated by the industrialists who developed Canada’s natural resources, such as pulpwood, water power, and minerals. With In the Power of the Government, Mark Kuhlberg uses the case of the Ontario pulp and paper industry to challenge that interpretation of Canadian provincial politics.

Examining the relationship between the corporations which ran the province’s pulp and paper mills and the politicians at Queen’s Park, Kuhlberg concludes that the Ontario government frequently rebuffed the demands of the industrialists who wanted to tap Ontario’s spruce timber and hydro-electric potential. A sophisticated empirical challenge to the orthodox literature on this issue, In the Power of the Government will be essential reading for historians and political scientists interested in the history of Canadian industrial development.

Mark Kuhlberg is a professor and MA Coordinator in the Department of History at Laurentian University and is a leading authority on Canada’s forest history.

Mark Kuhlberg's profile page

• Winner, Best Book in Canadian Business History awarded by the Canadian Business History Association
• Winner, Political History Group Book Prize awarded by the Canadian Historical Association

‘A fascinating survey of the management of timber resources in Ontario in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.'

Business History Review vol 90:01:2016

‘The archival research undertaken by Kuhlberg is most impressive…. His understanding of forest species and the ecosystems of northern Ontario accents his work with insights that fuse business history with environmental history writing.’

Canadian Historical Review vol 98:02:2017

‘The book stands out for the originality of its argument and the truly prodigious amount of research that informs it.’

Canadian Historical Society Bulletin vol 42:02:2016