Interesting. Your introduction pretty much describes what actually happened RW ... at least on the surface. Like Victory Aircraft (not mentioned), Canadair was a product of C.D. Howe's firesale mentality towards all Canadian industries built up during WW2. So, the post-WW2 Canadian aircraft industry was a product of the policies of 'Minister-of-Everything' Howe.
As a result, former Crown Corporations like Victory or Canadair could be picked up for a song but their Hawker-Siddeley or Electric Boat/GD top management knew they could rely upon GoC favouritism as well as subsidies and bailouts. As a result, the GoC found itself needing to pay extra for licensed-production or for local parts work to avoid layoffs. Hardly a recipe for industrial success let alone innovation.
Only one Canadian-designed aircraft was produced in any numbers during the war - the Noorduyn Norseman. But C.D. Howe wasn't interested in investing in private firms like Noorduyn Aviation Ltd. When the GoC bought the Cartierville airport to facilitate Canadair expansion, the writing was on the wall. So, Dutch-American designer, RBC Noorduyn, moved back to the US. [1] Noorduyn's rights to the Norseman and licence for the North American Harvard went to Canadian Car and Foundry - quite a coup for one of the worse-managed aircraft makers in Canada.
Canadian Car and Foundry, it should be mentioned, had its major plant in Fort William, ON (now part of Thunder Bay). That plant had been funded by the taxpayers of Fort William during WWI but, from 1922 to 1936, the millionaire owners of CCF simply refused to honour their contract obligations to this small town. Once CCF management caught 'aviation fever', they were happy to resume tax-subsidized operations at Fort William. Oh, did I mention this? That CCF plant fell within the federal riding of The Honourable C.D. Howe, MP.
Did C.D. Howe favour an inept CCF? Maybe. But the real point is that neither C.D. Howe nor anyone else in Cabinet was equipped or qualified to oversee modern industry (and that was true across all major political parties). Neither were the Lord Beaverbrook-connected Maritime railway-baron scions who ran firms like CCF. My conclusion here is that neither industry nor politics were the key issue ... except as part of larger, overall Canadian cultural baggage. That CB has to be tackled before any convincing AH can be 'imagineered'.
Sorry, this has turned into a bit of ramble. Anyhoo, the branch-plant industry approach has surely been proven a failure ... if our collective goal was a self-supporting, vibrant industrial base. In aviation, Canada has tried variations on the branch-plant theme for over a century. Probably past time to knock that concept on the head.
______________________________________________
[1] I'm not sure about co-designer Walter C. Clayton. He had been chief engineer at Pitcairn Aircraft Inc. but what happened to him after helping to set up Noorduyn Aircraft? Anyone know?
