1937 - Convention Report

              60 ALBERTA WOMEN'S INSTITUTES
" Coal is produced in large quantities in Alberta— at Druraheller, Mountain
Park, Nordegg, Lethbridge, Edmonton, and Smoky River. From Canada comes
over 90 per cent of the world's nickel supply, centred exclusively around Sudbury,
Ontario. Alberta continues to be the leading producer in Canada of natural
gas, accounting for over 65 per cent of the total. The chief Alberta field is at
Turner Valley, with a gas field at Medicine Hat supplying both the domestic
requirements and industrial needs of the huge pottery works located there.
Other fields are scattered throughout the province, and development work is
being carried on rapidly at present in a number of test fields."
The manufacturing industry has developed rapidly in Canada during recent
years. This expansion has largely been confined to the older provinces, Ontario
ranking highest, followed by Quebec and British Columbia. The industrial
outputs exhibit a wide variety of products, the most important of which is news­print
material, for which Canada leads the world. We are fourth largest manu­facturer
of rubber products. The fur trade constituted Canada's earliest com­mercial
interest, and now fur farming gives a rapidly growing new industry.
Production and marketing of milk has become one of Alberta's greatest
industries, now exceeding even wheat in returns. The Central Alberta Dairy
Pool opened a new $ 125,000 milk condensery at Red Deer, with the most modern
machinery for weighing, cleaning, sterilizing, evaporating, and canning the milk
and packing it for shipment, with a production capacity of 60,000 pounds of
milk per day.
An addition to the bitumin refinery at MacMurray was built, to give a
capacity of 700 barrels per day of bitumin, to produce gasoline, two grades of
Diesel oil and two grades of asphalt.
The new plant of Canada Packers Limited at Edmonton represents about
the last word in packing plant efficiency. About 150 men were employed. A new
venture in raising broom corn, which was considered a success from an agricul­tural
standpoint, led to the opening of a branch at Taber of the Queen City Broom
works. At first only five or six were employed, but an increase was expected.
For much information as to Canadian Industries I am indebted to the
magazine, " Industrial Canada," which has been sent me free of charge by the
publishers, and which contains all the latest available news each month concern­ing
new industries and concerns started throughout the Dominion, and activities
and developments in old industries. One issue complimented Canadian Women's
Institutes for the way in which they were spreading information among members
concerning . Canada's industries. They consider our work of as great importance
as we do, and it is to be hoped that the future will see even greater interest in this
line than the past.
I would like to close my report by suggesting closer co- operation between
the Branches and your Conveners. Is it asking too much for the Conveners of
each Standing Committee to send a report of what has been done at their meeting
to their Constituency Convener at once, while it is fresh news, and include paper,
if one was given? Many of the papers have taken considerable time and study
to prepare and are well worth passing on. Then, if each Constituency Convener
sends these papers to your Provincial Convener, it will be an easy matter to give
an accurate report of the work that has been covered.