Chapter 4 The changing character of small town Ontario: Transnational capital/labour flows in a not so globalized world

João-Paulo Bola Sousa

doi:10.1108/S1057-1922(2011)0000017007

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Research in Rural Sociology and Development

ISSN: 1057-1922
Series editor(s): Professor Terry Marsden

Subject Area: Sociology and Public Policy

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Chapter 4 The changing character of small town Ontario: Transnational capital/labour flows in a not so globalized world

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Title:	Chapter 4 The changing character of small town Ontario: Transnational capital/labour flows in a not so globalized world
Author(s):	João-Paulo Bola Sousa
Volume:	17 Editor(s): Alessandro Bonanno, Josefa Salete Barbosa Cavalcanti ISBN: 978-0-85724-317-1 eISBN: 978-0-85724-318-8
Citation:	João-Paulo Bola Sousa (2011), Chapter 4 The changing character of small town Ontario: Transnational capital/labour flows in a not so globalized world, in Alessandro Bonanno, Josefa Salete Barbosa Cavalcanti (ed.) Globalization and the Time–Space Reorganization (Research in Rural Sociology and Development, Volume 17), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, pp.109-145
DOI:	10.1108/S1057-1922(2011)0000017007 (Permanent URL)
Publisher:	Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Article type:	Chapter Item
Abstract:	Canada's rural economy today is a dynamic source of economic growth and jobs are available in the natural resource extraction, manufacturing, agri-food and service sectors, yet despite this relatively favourable outlook, a profound socio-economic transformation is taking place. Within Ontario, the nation's largest and most economically diversified province and the focus of this study, the agri-food sector seeks new ways to deal with heightened competitive pressures and unstable commodity prices, in part by securing a relatively inexpensive and reliable labour force, while transnational auto-parts firms have looked increasingly to small town Ontario as fertile ground to transplant new ‘flexible’, niche manufacturing facilities. This multifaceted process has had a distinct impact on the regional economy, migratory labour flows and community social dynamics. As Harvey (1996) makes note, the effects of capital's re-spatialization have been uneven, and the state's role in this process contradictory, simultaneously facilitating capital mobility while regulating labour's (im)mobility (see also, Peck, 1996; Antonio & Bonanno, 2000). This chapter presents research findings and examines the impact of capital/labour flows on the changing character of three small communities in the heart of rural south-western Ontario – Bradford, Strathroy and Tillsonburg – with a particular focus on the conditions under which migrants and immigrants are socially included and excluded from the communities where they work. Based on these case studies, I argue that while small town Canada has managed to benefit partially from opportunities linked to a globalizing economy, the formal and informal means of socially incorporating this new transnationalized labour force is lagging significantly behind, reflecting in fact a regressive turn in Canadian labour-market regulation, while the concern for sustainable community development is largely ignored.