Editing Upper Canada (section)

===Trade===
{{main|Metropolitan thesis}}

After the Napoleonic Wars, as industrial production in Britain took off, English manufacturers began dumping cheap goods in Montreal; this allowed an increasing number of shopkeepers in York to obtain their goods competitively from Montreal wholesalers. It was during this period that the three largest pre-war merchants who imported directly from Britain retired from business as a result; Quetton St. George in 1815, [[Alexander Wood (merchant)|Alexander Wood]] in 1821, and [[William Allan (banker)|William Allan]] in 1822. Toronto and Kingston then underwent a boom in the number of increasingly specialized shops and wholesalers.<ref>{{harvp|Schrauwers|2009|page=107}}</ref> The Toronto wholesale firm of [[Isaac Buchanan]] and Company were one of the largest of the new wholesalers. Isaac Buchanan was a Scots merchant in Toronto, in partnership with his brother Peter, who remained in Glasgow to manage the British end of the firm. They established their business in Toronto in 1835, having bought out Isaac's previous partners, William Guild and Co., who had established themselves in Toronto in 1832. As a wholesale firm, the Buchanan's had invested more than £10,000 in their business.<ref>{{harvp|McCalla|1979|p=28}}</ref>

Another of those new wholesale businesses was the [[Farmers' Storehouse Company]]. The Farmers Storehouse Company was formed in the Home District and is probably Canada's first [[Farmers' cooperatives|Farmers' Cooperative]]. The Storehouse expedited the sale of farmer's wheat to Montreal, and provided them with cheaper consumer goods.<ref>{{harvp|Schrauwers|2009|pages=102–106}}</ref>

====Wheat and grains====
{{main|Agriculture in Upper Canada|Corn Laws}}
Upper Canada was in the unenviable position of having few exports with which to pay for all its imported manufactured needs. For the vast majority of those who settled in rural areas, debt could be paid off only through the sale of wheat and flour; yet, throughout much of the 1820s, the price of wheat went through periodic cycles of boom and bust depending upon the British markets that ultimately provided the credit upon which the farmer lived.
In the decade 1830–39, exports of wheat averaged less than £1 per person a year (less than £6 per household), and in the 1820s just half that.<ref>{{harvp|McCalla|1993|p=75}}</ref>

Given the small amounts of saleable wheat and flour, and the rarity of cash, some have questioned how market oriented these early farmers were. Instead of depending on the market to meet their needs, many of these farmers depended on networks of shared resources and cooperative marketing. For example, rather than hire labour, they met their labour needs through "work bees." such farmers are said to be 'subsistence oriented' and not to respond to market cues; rather, they engage in a [[moral economy]] seeking 'subsistence insurance' and a '[[just price]]'. [[The Children of Peace]] in the village of Hope (now [[Sharon, Ontario|Sharon]]) are a well documented example. They were the most prosperous agricultural community in [[Canada West]] by 1851.<ref>{{harvp|Schrauwers|2009|pages=41–50}}</ref>

====Timber====
{{main|Ottawa River timber trade}}

The Ottawa River timber trade resulted from Napoleon's 1806 [[Continental Blockade]] in Europe. The United Kingdom required a new source of timber for its navy and shipbuilding. Later the UK's application of gradually increasing preferential tariffs increased Canadian imports. The trade in squared timber lasted until the 1850s. The transportation of raw timber by means of [[Timber rafting|floating]] down the Ottawa River was proved possible in 1806 by [[Philemon Wright]].<ref>{{harvp|Woods|1980|p=89}}</ref> Squared timber would be assembled into [[timber rafting|large rafts]] which held living quarters for men on their six-week journey to [[Quebec City]], which had large exporting facilities and easy access to the Atlantic Ocean.

The timber trade was Upper and [[Lower Canada]]'s major industry in terms of employment and value of the product.<ref>{{harvp|Greening|1961|pp=111}}</ref> The largest supplier of square red and white pine to the British market was the [[Ottawa River]]<ref>{{harvp|Greening|1961|p=111}}</ref> and the [[Ottawa Valley]]. They had "rich [[red pine|red]] and [[eastern white pine|white pine]] forests."<ref>{{harvp|Bond|1984|p=43}}</ref> [[Bytown]] (later called [[Ottawa]]), was a major lumber and sawmill centre of Canada.<ref>{{harv|Mika|1982|p=121}}</ref>