Cape Breton Development Corporation : The existence of coal in Nova Scotia was reported as early as 1637. However, coal mining did not begin with large scale production until 1827 when the General Mining Association (GMA) obtained a monopoly for mining leases in Nova Scotia. With the end of the GMA monopoly, a period of competition in the mining industry ensued from 1858 to 1865 with the opening of fourteen mines in Cape Breton. Rapid expansion and a series of mergers continued into the 1890s.
In 1893 The Dominion Coal Company (Domco) was created. Domco received a 99 year lease on the South Sydney coal field. In the late 1890s Domco President, Henry M. Whitney, proposed a merger of operations with the Nova Scotia Steel and Coal Company (Scotia). Although the merger did not go through, the Whitney syndicate purchased half of Scotia's Newfoundland iron mining rights and in 1899, the Whitney syndicate began the construction of a steel plant at Sydney - the Dominion Iron and Steel Company (Disco).
In 1901 Scotia began to purchase the remaining coal holdings of the GMA in the Sydney mine area and proceeded to build its own iron and steel plant at Sydney Mines. By 1901 coal royalties provided over 40 percent of provincial revenues, surpassing federal subsidies as the greatest single source of the Nova Scotia government. In 1909 Domco and Disco merged under a holding company called the Dominion Steel Corporation controlled by financiers from Montreal and Toronto.
From the 1890s to 1967 coal production fluctuated, peaking just before World War I. In 1920 the majority of Nova Scotia's heavy industry came under the control of one corporation, the British Empire and Steel Company (Besco), which was created through the merger of Dominion Steel Corporation and Scotia. In the late 1920s due to financial problems, Besco was reorganized as the Dominion Steel and Coal Corporation (Dosco). The Cape Breton coal industry suffered severe financial problems from the 1920s to the 1960s and received federal attention through several federal royal commissions. In 1965, Dosco estimated that the Sydney mines had fifteen years remaining in coal production and announced they wanted out of the coal industry.
The 1960s federal royal commission on the Cape Breton coal mining industry, also known as the Donald Commission, recommended federal intervention in the management of coal operations in Cape Breton. Various initiatives in the 1960s had legitimized the federal government's interventions in regional economies through financial assistance, both directly and indirectly. The Donald Commission recommendations however, went further than any previous initiative. The Commission recommended that the federal government take over the mines and run them as a crown corporation, with the long-term goal of phasing out the mines while another federal crown corporation worked to find alternative employment for miners.
In 1967 the government set up a single body, the Cape Breton Development Corporation, to operate the mines and to promote new industry in Cape Breton. The province of Nova Scotia granted mineral rights to the Cape Breton Development Corporation, subject to certain terms and conditions as set out in provincial legislation, namely the Mineral Resources Act. Cape Breton Development Corporation was incorporated in 1967 by the Cape Breton Development Corporation Act (RSC 1985, c. C-25); Schedule III, part I of the FAA; as an agent of Her Majesty. The Minister of Industry Science and Technology was designated as the Minister for the Corporation as per Privy Council decision 1990-396. PC decision 1995-612 designates the Minister of Natural Resources as the Minister responsible.
Initially CBDC was mandated to operate the coal mines and related operations in the Sydney coal-field (the coal mining operations of the former Dosco) and to promote new industry in Cape Breton. CBDC was the largest producer of coal in Eastern Canada, operating two underground mines, a coal preparation plant and transportation facilities on Cape Breton Island. CBDC was never intended to be a long term operation but rather a transitional body until such a time that the coal mines were closed or brought to a viable commercial level with operations transferred to another operator, and when the Cape Breton economy no longer required assistance through the Corporation. As a result of shifts in the federal government's regional economic development policy and the reality of the commercial viability of the Sydney coal fields, the Cape Breton Development Corporation's mandate changed. In 1988 CBDC roles and responsibilities for economic development were transferred to the newly established Enterprise Cape Breton Corporation (ECBC) while CBDC retained an active role in the management of the coal mining operations. In June of 2000 Bill C-11 (36/2) was passed to authorize the divestiture of CBDC's assets and to provide for the Corporation's eventual dissolution.
In 2001 CBDC closed the last of its active coal mines and as an agent of the Crown began to sell its own assets. The Corporation's mandate is currently to administer and fund the closure of the mining operations and related workforce reduction programs. CBDC manages the reclamation of contaminated lands as a result of its coal mining and industrial operations and continues to manage and administer employee pensions, benefits and worker's compensation.
With the assistance of Public Works Government Services Canada (PWGSC), CBDC has developed a long-term strategy for addressing environmental liabilities. Activities continue on the multi-year remediation and site closure program which include project management, environmental assessment and remediation, hazardous material management, as well as demolition and decommissioning.
Researchers may wish to consult the following sources used in preparing this history:
Earle, Michael. "Coal in the History of Nova Scotia," in James E. Candow, Ed. Industry
and Society in Nova Scotia, an Illustrated History. Halifax: Fernwood Publishing
Company, 2001.
Roy, George. "The Cape Breton Development Corporation," in A. Tupper and G.B.
Doern, Eds. Public Corporations and Public Policy in Canada. Montreal: Institute for
Research on Public Policy, 1981.
CBDC was ultimately dissolved on December 31, 2009 and its remaining assets and liabilities, and records, were transferred to Enterprise Cape Breton Corporation (ECBC) - see ECBC series (R2103-4-9-E ) in Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency fonds.
