The Canso Causeway: Tartan Tourism, Industrial Development, and the Promise of Progress for Cape Breton
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How to Cite

Beaton, M., & Muise, D. (2008). The Canso Causeway: Tartan Tourism, Industrial Development, and the Promise of Progress for Cape Breton. Acadiensis, 37(2), 39. Retrieved from https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/Acadiensis/article/view/11148

Abstract

This article assesses the conceptualization, construction, and mythologizing of the Canso Causeway, a major post-Second World War reconstruction project that joined mainland Nova Scotia to Cape Breton Island in 1955. Sought after in order to help improve the waning prospects of Cape Breton’s coal and steel industries, the causeway also had a tremendous impact on increasing tourism as a viable industry based on Cape Breton as a traditional but accessible Scottish community. Both tourism and industrial expansion were closely tied to and benefited from a significant policy shift as the federal government began to assume a more interventionist role in regional economic development planning. Résumé Cet article évalue la conceptualisation, la construction et la mythologisation de la chaussée de Canso, un important projet de reconstruction réalisé après la Seconde Guerre mondiale, qui a permis de relier la partie continentale de la Nouvelle-Écosse et le Cap-Breton en 1955. Réclamée pour aider à améliorer les perspectives décroissantes des industries du charbon et de l’acier du Cap-Breton, la chaussée a aussi eu un impact immense en élevant le tourisme au rang d’une industrie viable, le Cap-Breton étant une communauté écossaise traditionnelle et désormais accessible. Le tourisme et l’expansion industrielle ont été étroitement liés à un important changement de cap des politiques du gouvernement fédéral, qui a alors commencé à assumer un rôle plus interventionniste dans la planification du développement économique régional, ce qui leur a été profitable.
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