Vancouver Ltd.

Front Cover
James Lorimer Limited, Publishers, 1975 - History - 192 pages

This classic book, first published in 1975, paved the way for Vancouverites to understand who runs their city and who owns it. It marks the start of Donald Gutstein’s lifetime career as a corporate researcher dedicated to the public interest, tracking the investors, entrepreneurs, and corporations earning riches from Vancouver’s valuable real estate.

It also stands as a leading early example documenting the links between the real estate and land development industry and the local politicians who run the city on their behalf.

In this book Donald Gutstein reveals the tangled web of corporate ownership and influence, family relationships and social contacts which held the Vancouver business establishment together in the 1970s – and readers 50 years later will recognize many names still familiar today.

Highlights include:

  • A brief history of the CPR’s long and intimate association with Vancouver
  • The Royal Bank’s Vancouver connections which help make it the single most powerful Canadian financial institution
  • Details of how citizen groups successfully tackled city hall on many issues

Vancouver Ltd. offers a clear picture of the forces which have and are still determining the kind of city we live and work in.

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About the author (1975)

DONALD GUTSTEIN is a former professor in the School of Communication at Simon Fraser University and co-director of NewsWatch Canada, a media-monitoring project at the university. He is author o f The Big Stall: How Big Oil and Think Tanks are Blocking Action on Climate Change in Canada, Harperism: How Stephen Harper and His Think Tanks Transformed Canada and Vancouver Ltd. Donald lives in Vancouver.

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