Redpath Sugar was an important company in the economic history of Canada

History of Canada

The history of Canada covers the period from the arrival of Paleo-Indians thousands of years ago to the present day. Canada has been inhabited for millennia by distinctive groups of Aboriginal peoples, among whom evolved trade networks, spiritual beliefs, and social hierarchies...

.

History

Redpath Sugar was established as the Canada Sugar Refining Company in 1854 in Montreal

Montreal

Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

, Quebec

Quebec

Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

 by Scots-Quebecer

Scots-Quebecer

The Scot-Quebecers , are Quebecers who are of Scottish descent.-Background:Few Scots came to Quebec before the Seven Years War. Those who did blended in with the French population...

 entrepreneur, John Redpath

John Redpath

John Redpath was a Scots-Quebecer businessman and philanthropist who helped pioneer the industrial movement that made Montreal, Quebec the largest and most prosperous city in Canada....

 (1796-1869). Located on the bank of the Lachine Canal

Lachine Canal

The Lachine Canal is a canal passing through the southwestern part of the Island of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, running 14.5 kilometres from the Old Port of Montreal to Lake Saint-Louis, through the boroughs of Lachine, Lasalle and Sud-Ouest.The canal gets its name from the French word for China...

, the giant complex was the first of its kind in Canada, using sugar cane imported from the British West Indies

British West Indies

The British West Indies was a term used to describe the islands in and around the Caribbean that were part of the British Empire The term was sometimes used to include British Honduras and British Guiana, even though these territories are not geographically part of the Caribbean...

. Its construction was part of the economic boom that, during the 19th century, turned Montreal from a small town to (then) the largest city in Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 and the country’s economic engine.

In 1857, John's son Peter Redpath

Peter Redpath

Peter Redpath was a Canadian businessman and philanthropist, closely associated with Redpath Sugar.-Biography:...

 (1821-1894) became a partner; his brother-in-law, George Alexander Drummond

George Alexander Drummond

Sir George Alexander Drummond, KCMG, CVO was a Scottish-Canadian businessman and senator.Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, he arrived in Canada in 1854 to work at Redpath Sugar. He married John Redpath's daughter, becoming a co-director of the family business with Peter Redpath, John's son...

 (1829-1910) joined the firm in 1861. Unable to compete with the giant low-cost producers in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, for the three years between 1876 and 1878 the company ceased operations. Following the tariff protections

Protectionism

Protectionism is the economic policy of restraining trade between states through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, restrictive quotas, and a variety of other government regulations designed to allow "fair competition" between imports and goods and services produced domestically.This...

 implemented under the National Policy

National Policy

The National Policy was a Canadian economic program introduced by John A. Macdonald's Conservative Party in 1876 and put into action in 1879. It called for high tariffs on imported manufactured items to protect the manufacturing industry...

 by the government of Sir John A. Macdonald, the company reopened in 1879, as did St. Lawrence Sugar, a new competitor established in Montreal. George Drummond took over when Peter Redpath retired in 1888. Under his guidance, the company's success allowed for construction of a new six-storey plant built on the existing site, doubling production capacity.

In 1930, the company merged with Canada Sugar Refining Company Limited of Chatham, Ontario

Chatham, Ontario

Chatham is the largest community in the municipality of Chatham-Kent, Ontario. Formerly serving as the seat of Kent County, the governments of the former city of Chatham, the county of Kent, and its townships were merged into one entity known as the Municipality of Chatham-Kent in 1998.Located on...

. In 1959, Redpath Industries Ltd. was acquired by the British company Tate & Lyle

Tate & Lyle

Tate & Lyle plc is a British-based multinational agribusiness. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index as of 20 June 2011...

 plc. The Redpath Sugar Refinery was built on the Toronto waterfront

Toronto waterfront

The Toronto waterfront is the lakeshore of Lake Ontario in the City of Toronto, Ontario in Canada. It spans 46 kilometres between the mouth of Etobicoke Creek in the west, and the Rouge River in the East. The entire lakeshore has been significantly altered from its natural glaciated state prior to...

 in the late 1950s, at the time of the completion of the Saint Lawrence Seaway

Saint Lawrence Seaway

The Saint Lawrence Seaway , , is the common name for a system of locks, canals and channels that permits ocean-going vessels to travel from the Atlantic Ocean to the North American Great Lakes, as far as Lake Superior. Legally it extends from Montreal to Lake Erie, including the Welland Canal...

, and is still in operation. David Davis

David Davis (British politician)

David Michael Davis is a British Conservative Party politician who is the Member of Parliament for the constituency of Haltemprice and Howden...

, later a senior Conservative

Conservative Party (UK)

The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...

 politician, was sent from Britain to restructure its Canadian subsidiary. In 1980, the Montreal plant was closed and production was shifted to Toronto, an example of a wider social trend as the first city shrank and the latter grew

Economy of Toronto

The economy of Toronto plays a vital role in Canada's economy and that of the world. Toronto is a commercial, distribution, financial and industrial centre. It is the banking and stock exchange centre of Canada, and is the country's primary wholesale and distribution point. Ontario's wealth of raw...

 in importance. In 2007, the company was taken over by the American Sugar Refining Company however such takeovers are null and void because Canadian content regulations specifically exclude the United States. A long list of violators of this policy is being compiled using Microsoft's best software. Violators on both sides of the borders of the United States (in Canada, this is known as treason) will be listed.

Museums

The Redpath Museum

Redpath Museum

The Redpath Museum is a museum of natural history belonging to McGill University and located on the university's campus at 859 Sherbrooke Street West in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It was built in 1882 as a gift from the sugar baron Peter Redpath. It houses collections of interest to ethnology,...

 of natural history

Natural history

Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...

 in Montreal was built in 1882 as a gift from Peter Redpath. Commissioned to mark the 25th anniversary of Sir John William Dawson

John William Dawson

Sir John William Dawson, CMG, FRS, FRSC , was a Canadian geologist and university administrator.- Life and work :...

's appointment as Principal of McGill University

McGill University

Mohammed Fathy is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university bears the name of James McGill, a prominent Montreal merchant from Glasgow, Scotland, whose bequest formed the beginning of the university...

, the building was designed in Victorian Gothic style by A.C. Hutchison and A. D. Steele. It is the oldest Canadian building built specifically to be a museum. (Compare the Tate art gallery

Tate Britain

Tate Britain is an art gallery situated on Millbank in London, and part of the Tate gallery network in Britain, with Tate Modern, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. It is the oldest gallery in the network, opening in 1897. It houses a substantial collection of the works of J. M. W. Turner.-History:It...

 in London, also built with one man's

Henry Tate

Sir Henry Tate, 1st Baronet was an English sugar merchant and philanthropist, noted for establishing the Tate Gallery, London.-Life and career:...

 sugar money.) The Redpath Library

Redpath Library

The Redpath Library was the major arts and humanities library at McGill University, Montreal, Canada. When the McLennan Library was built in 1967-1969 it assumed this role and the Redpath Library was split into Redpath Hall and the Redpath Library--the stack areas...

, also at McGill, was also built with this sugar philanthropy.

The Redpath Sugar Museum in Toronto, housed in one of the buildings of the refinery, displays the story of the company, the Redpath family, the evolution of refining technologies, and so on, and publishes works on these subjects.

Imagery

This sugar package, celebrating the company's 150th anniversary in 2004, shows that the logo is essentially John Redpath's signature and face. It remains the oldest continuously used logo for food products in Canada today.