By Arif Jinha

Globalization and International Development, M.A. program.
Faculty of Graduate and Post-Doctoral Studies

University of Ottawa

This is the pre-publication author's version. The article has now been published in Just Labour: A Canadian Journal of Work and Society here is the link. Many thanks to Just Labour for the work towards a more polished version.

Acknowledgments: Glenn Lockwood, author of Smiths Falls Social History and Youth in Power (www.youthinpower.ca)

Dedicated to the people of Smiths Falls.

April 30, 2008.

Abstract

In early February, 2007, Hershey’s Chocolate Company announced its global supply-chain transformation plan that would cut more than 1500 jobs from its plants in Canada and the United States. Smiths Falls, the Chocolate Capital of Canada, is losing its Hershey factory in the next year together with the closure of the Rideau Regional Centre. Along with other recent layoffs, this Eastern Ontario town of roughly 10,000 people is facing the loss of close to 1500 jobs in total or 15% of its population. Globalization, despite the confusion generated by the word, must be considered as a core factor in the economic and social situation. Smiths Falls confronts these lay-offs from a position of economic and social strain already. The paper will examine the broader changes in the world occuring through globalization, how the local society of Smiths Falls has adjusted in tandem. Such an analysis has likely been relevant to Smiths Falls since its inception, with its position as a meeting point of transcontinental trade and a centre of manufacturing within an ever-expanding and more complex supply chain.

Paper submitted to Just Labour - see full-text below.