DOCSLIB.ORG

Sandford Fleming's Battles Over Materials

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Sandford Fleming's Battles Over Materials VO('I! NO-S ) Articles of Confederation. The new Ca- Sandford Fleming's nadian government appointed four commissioners to direct the railroad project and engineer-in-chief Sandford Battles Over Materials Fleming to advise the commissioners and control construction. Fleming's re- sponsibility with limited authority made a poor recipe for success, one worsened by the commissioners' per- As the story of the Intercolonial Railway shows, questions on the sonal agendas, which often clashed with what should have been the over- choice, quality and suitability of materials go back a long way. When riding goal of producing the best rail- Sandford Fleming proposed steel rails over iron ones in 1871, and way at the least cost. iron bridges instead of wood, he was fighting battles similar to those faced by advocates of today's new industrial composites. Meeting Specifications Overriding Fleming's advice on many occasions, the commissioners helped friends and paid off political favours by giving out surveying and inspection he Intercolonial Railway, built value-even if the client seems not to jobs-even to those who refused to do "in a series of incessant strug- care or know the difference. Many of the work required. Even worse, the gles against difficult terrain, Fleming's arguments centred on mate- system of tenders and contracting defective tools and faulty rials, particularly their quality and ap- looked good, but ignored the real prob- Ttechniques, venal and ignorant con- propriateness. lems of railway construction. Fleming tractors, interfering and self-seeking The obligation to complete the Inter- correctly predicted that the system politicians,'" was a monument to Sir colonial, which on July 6, 1876 carried would produce "the least perfect rail- Sandford Fleming's extraordinary te- the first train between Quebec City way at the largest outlay."2 A frustrated nacity, political skills and immovable and Halifax, is part of section 145 of the Fleming sadly declared that the faith in the engineer's duty to give British North America Act of 1867, the Intercolonial's first section was This Intercolonial Railway bridge over the' Miramichi River in New Brunswick is a credit to Sandford Fleming's victory over more con- servative colleagues. (National Archiv'es of Canada C-77821) .•.. /f-- J-ICA; "J; ?Ct/lJ. (;rJ C~7-02Jf?;;> iron bridges. He and his colleagues claimed Canadian railway bridges were always made of wood; iron would crack under load, particularly in the cold, and a fire's intense heat would buckle iron bridges. Besides, Brydges said, during his years with the Grand Trunk Railway, no bridge had been destroyed by fire. These op- ponents of iron even dragged the Ca- nadian prime minister and the Rail- way Committee of the Privy Council in London into the fray. Understandably, many details are unclear; the prime minister wanted nqthing to do with an engineering squabble and refused to be drawn into public debate. But apparently with the support of the Privy Council, the highest court of appeal for colo- nial matters, Fleming triumphed. It might have had something to do with his keeping the government informed of his inability to be responsible for accidents if wood won the day. Or it might have been his writing to the prime minister that despite Brydges' claims, "two bridges on the Grand Iron and stone at Trois Pistoles, Quebec, another Intercolonial Railway tribute to the Trunk Railway have just burned."6 judgment and tenacity of Sanford Fleming. (National Archives of Canada PA-22068) When 'completed, the Intercolonial had 14,410 lineal feet of iron bridges and 830 feet of timber bridges. But before the railway was finished, "crooked, the curves sharp, the grades the price of steel, which started dis- Fleming invited the commissioners to steep."3Gradually, Fleming won greater placing iron for many uses. As con- a picnic, seating them beneath an iron control over such technical matters struction of the Intercolonial drew bridge. Brydges chided Fleming "that as quality of materials. closer, steel rails were proving them- the first train to go over it would crack But before being allowed to choose selves; in 1871, Fleming wrote a long the bridge,"? but moments later a his own surveying and inspection staff, technical report that successfully ar- train safely crossed the structure- Fleming suffered grievously from gued the case for "Bessemer steel rails, and shunted back and forth over the others' crookedness and incompe- weighing 57 1/4 lbs. to the yard." After commissioners' heads for the rest of tence. There were "nonexistent em- the-all- teel-iail lntercoloni~1 opened, , their meal. This demonstration effec- ployees whose wages inspecting engi- Fleming wrote .that the rails wer~ t1vely ended the iron bridge debate. neers drew," but worst of all was the "nearly 20% lighter than the iron raits This lesson in "modern engineer- quality of such local materials as ties originally proposed, but owing to the ing," shows that the engineer who won that suppliers and inspectors said were character of the material, the steel rails possessed sound, current technical up to specification, but Fleming are in reality stronger and much more knowledge, openness to justifiable claimed came nowhere near the mark. durable."s Departing from tradition in change, and a commitment to using On one occasion, he found not more choosing' materials to build the engineering and technology to benefit than 4% were as specified, "some of railway's bridges, however, wasn't as humanity. A sense of humour didn't them being under half the required easy. hurt either. These elements are engi- width."4 neering constants. 0 Battles Over Bridges Fighting For Plentiful timber, severe financial diffi- References The Best Materials culties, distance from sources of struc- 1. Stevens, G.R. Canadian National Railways. Changing technology and the pecu- tural iron and consequent prohibitive Volume 1. Sixty Years of Trial and Error (1836- liarities of railway building in Canada transportation costs had traditionally 1896), Toronto: Clarke, Irwin & Company, 1960, p. 193. made choosing materials for the meant that Canadian railway bridges 2. Ibid, p. 190 Intercolonial a contentious issue, as were often built first of timber and later 3. Ibid, p. 194. was the right of the chief engineer to replaced in iron. Fleming, a deep 4. Ibid, p. 192. choose the materials. In 1865, "steel thinker open to change, believed that 5. Fleming, Sandford. The Intercolonial. A His- rails were but little known" and lower iron costs and ease of shipping torical Sketch, Montreal: Dawson Brothers, Fleming recommended "iron rails, meant the Intercolonial should start 1876, p. 112. weighing with the joint fastenings, 70 with iron bridges, supporting his claim 6. Maclean, Hugh. Man of Steel. The Story of Sir Ibs. per lineal yard." He also wanted with impeccable cost estimates. Sandford Fleming, Toronto: The Ryerson the iron to be "the best manufac- C.]. Brydges, who had served with Press, 1969, p. 41. tured," believing the costs of "ship- the Grand Trunk and Great Western }. Ibid, p. 45. ping, transporting, handling, laying railways, was one of the four In- track and other expenditures are the tercolonial commissioners, and a con- Norman R. Ball, PhD, is Northern same whatever the quality of iron."s servative in engineering matters. Telecom Professor of Engineering Im- The Bessemer process, first an- Brydges would have nothing of pact on Society, Department of Civil nounced in 1856,dramatically reduced change, leading the charge against Engineering, University of Waterloo..
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Ocean to Ocean G
    OCEAN TO OCEAN G. M. Grant's 'roundunvarnisk'd tale' David Jackel GIEORGE MONRO GRANT'S Ocean to Ocean has often been described as a classic Canadian travel book, and rightly so. Few other works of its kind retain their appeal three generations after publication, when the novelty of the experiences described has long dissipated and the writer himself has long ceased to be a figure in the popular mind. Grant still speaks to us, more than a hundred years after his journey, and his book would, I think, stand comparison with such non-Canadian classics of the genre as Defoe's Tour through the Whole Island of Great Britain and Boswell's Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides. Such a comparison is not, however, my purpose here. Although Grant's Ocean to Ocean is, indeed, a masterful travel narrative, it is also much more than that, and just how much more does not seem to have been recognized. In the revised Literary History of Canada R. G. Moyles does make brief reference to Grant's "narrative stances" and proposes that we view the book as a "combination of adventure- story and mythic chronicle."1 These comments are suggestive, but they do not go nearly far enough to explain either the significance of Grant's ideas or his artistry in expressing them. The word artistry I choose deliberately, because a literary analysis of Ocean to Ocean reveals that Grant has, notwithstanding his disclaimers, done more than simply forward to the printer the notes hastily taken during his transcontinental journey.
    [Show full text]
  • Inhuman Power: Infrastructural Modernism and the Fiction of Social Form
    University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations 2019 Inhuman Power: Infrastructural Modernism And The Fiction Of Social Form Natalie Amleshi University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations Part of the Modern Literature Commons, and the Other History Commons Recommended Citation Amleshi, Natalie, "Inhuman Power: Infrastructural Modernism And The Fiction Of Social Form" (2019). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations. 3442. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/3442 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/3442 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Inhuman Power: Infrastructural Modernism And The Fiction Of Social Form Abstract E.M. Forster’s imperative to “only connect” has long been read as modernist slogan for the rarefied depth of authentic interpersonal intimacy. Reframing the historical co-emergence of literary modernism and modern social science, this project tells a different story—not of connections between exceptional humans, but of connections between persons and environments. The prevailing canons of modernism have not yet grasped the internal complexity of early-twentieth-century debates regarding the interdependence of human and nonhuman agency. Early-twentieth-century sociologists like Émile Durkheim grounded both the autonomy of human culture and the disciplinary authority of sociology on the premise of species exceptionalism—the independence
    [Show full text]
  • A Ofsaa History
    OFSAA “A” TOURNAMENT PARTICIPATE’S 1949 - PRESENT *THE FIRST ORGANIZED ALL ONTARIO HIGH SCHOOL CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT THAT RECOGNIZED OFFICIALLY ONE PROVINCIAL CHAMPION, TOOK PLACE AT HART HOUSE ON THE CAMPUS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO AND UNDER THE DIRECTION OF MR. DALT WHITE OF TORONTO WESTERN TECH C.I.. HART HOUSE WOULD BE THE SITE FOR THE FIRST 5 YEARS UNTIL IT WAS DECIDED TO OFFER THE TOURNAMENT TO OTHER COMMUNITIES IN THE PROVINCE. THE EVENT WAS FIRST CALLED THE “GOLDEN BALL” AND FROM 1949 TO 1966 THE TROPHY WAS SPONSORED BY THE TORONTO TELEGRAM PAPER WHICH ALSO REFERRED TO IT AS THE “TELE” CHAMPIONSHIP. PRIOR TO 1949 ONTARIO CHAMPIONS WERE UNDER THE UMBRELLA OF THE CANADIAN SECONDARY SCHOOL ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION. **ALSO PLEASE NOTE ALL SCHOOL NAMES HAVE BEEN RECORDED AS THEY WERE REPORTED IN THE LOCAL HOSTING AREA PAPER. SOME SCHOOLS MAY HAVE BEEN INCORRECTLY ASSOCIATED WITH THE WRONG CITY, IE: OTTAWA RIDEAU MAY HAVE BEEN ELGIN RIDEAU BUT I TRUST THE REPORTER’S DID THEIR FACT FINDING FOR THEIR COVERAGE 1949: LOCATION - TORONTO - MARCH 30 - APRIL 2 EAST YORK CI - CHAMPION - 41 {OT} SUDBURY TECH - SILVER MEDAL - 37 PETERBOROUGH C.I. - SEMI’S WINDSOR PATTERSON C.I. - SEMI’S OTTAWA TECH SAULT STE. MARIE C.I. HAMILTON WESTDALE H.S. TORONTO WESTERN TECH C.I. *{NO CONSOLATION GAME REPORTED} 1950: LOCATION - TORONTO - APRIL 10-13 SAULT STE. MARIE CI - CHAMPION - 54 NIAGARA FALL C.V.I. - SILVER MEDAL - 35 SUDBURY C.I. - CONSOLATION CHAMPION - 41 HAMILTON WESTDALE H.S. - CONSOLATION FINAL - 38 WINDSOR PATTERSON C.I. - SEMI’S OTTAWA LISGAR C.I.
    [Show full text]
  • Heritage· Gazette ,, of the Trent Valley
    • The Heritage· Gazette ,, of the Trent Valley ... FEBRUARY 2004 • VOLUME 8, NUMBER 4 • ISSN 1206-4394 - • TRENT yALLEY ARCHIVES 567 CARNEGIE AVE, , PETERBO.ROUGH, ON, CANADA K9L 1N1 .. •.• • , The Heritage Gazette th of e Trent Valley February 2004 • Volume 8, Number 4 • ISSN 1206-4394 IN THIS ISSUE A message from the President ...............................•......................................2 The War years at Peterborough Collegiate ..........................Gina Martin .................... .3 The naming of Peterborough .....................................Elwood Jones ...................5 Teaching English to Peterborough's Chinese ........................ Gail Corbett Collection ..........9 The vindication of R.B.Rogers .....................................Gordon Young ..................1 0 The places we meet ..............................................Brooke Pratt ....................12 Names & Names ................................................ .Delledonne Collection .......... 14 Peterborough and famine relief in Ireland and Scotland .............Martha Kidd Collection .........15 City of Kawartha Lakes archives ...................................Dr. R.B. Fleming .................19 Love notes to a schoolgirl .........................................TVA library .....................21 Haliburton settlers 1901 ..........................................Union Publishing ...............22 The mysterious death of David Scully ..............................Patricia Marchen ................24 Peterborough journalism .........................................Elwood
    [Show full text]
  • "Sandford Fleming and Universal Time"
    Article "Sandford Fleming and Universal Time" Mario Creet Scientia Canadensis: Canadian Journal of the History of Science, Technology and Medicine / Scientia Canadensis : revue canadienne d'histoire des sciences, des techniques et de la médecine , vol. 14, n°1- 2, (38-39) 1990, p. 66-89. Pour citer cet article, utiliser l'information suivante : URI: http://id.erudit.org/iderudit/800302ar DOI: 10.7202/800302ar Note : les règles d'écriture des références bibliographiques peuvent varier selon les différents domaines du savoir. Ce document est protégé par la loi sur le droit d'auteur. L'utilisation des services d'Érudit (y compris la reproduction) est assujettie à sa politique d'utilisation que vous pouvez consulter à l'URI https://apropos.erudit.org/fr/usagers/politique-dutilisation/ Érudit est un consortium interuniversitaire sans but lucratif composé de l'Université de Montréal, l'Université Laval et l'Université du Québec à Montréal. Il a pour mission la promotion et la valorisation de la recherche. Érudit offre des services d'édition numérique de documents scientifiques depuis 1998. Pour communiquer avec les responsables d'Érudit : [email protected] Document téléchargé le 14 février 2017 07:45 SANDFORD FLEMING AND UNIVERSAL TIME Mario Creet1 ABSTRACT In 1884, consensus was reached to extend the system of time zones based on Greenwich that been adopted a year before in North America. The event has not been explained well in other accounts. This article shows how and why agreement came about; it was the result of efforts made by key individuals, among whom was Sandford Fleming, using professional and scientific organizations new to North America.
    [Show full text]
  • Railway Background V3
    BACKGROUND READING for “Irrational Exuberance:” The Creation of the CNR, 1917 – 1919 The Impact of Railways on the World MGT 2917 Canadian Business History Professor Joe Martin This reading was prepared by Professor Joe Martin to supplement the class discussion on The Creation of the CNR case. Copyright © 2005 by the Governing Council of the University of Toronto.To order copies or request permission to reproduce materials write to the Joseph L. Rotman School of Management, Business Information Centre,Toronto, M5S 3E6, or go to www.rotman.utoronto.ca/bic. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system, used in a spreadsheet, or transmitted in any form or by any means, whether by photocopying, recording or by electronic or mechanical means, or otherwise, without the written permission of the Joseph L. Rotman School of Management. The Impact of Railways on the World Railroads first appeared in the United Kingdom in the early 19th Century.This new transportation technology turned out to be revolutionary in more than one sense. Railroads not only reduced travel time for individuals and dramatically cut the costs of shipped goods, they also contributed to the creation of modern capitalism and even led to the acceptance of standardized time. Simply put, the demands for capital were so great (“about $36,000 a mile on average at a time when $1,000 a year was a middle class income”)1 old ways of providing capital, usually from wholesale merchants, were no longer sufficient. As for the standardization of time, a uniquely Canadian contribution,2 railway travel spanning thousands of miles and several time zones (as was the case in Canada) required that time be synchronized on a more widespread standard basis, rather than varying from city to city, as had been the case prior to the adoption of Standard Time.
    [Show full text]
  • Collèges Colleges
    Disclosure for 2012 under the Public Sector Salary Disclosure Act, 1996 Colleges This category includes Ontario Colleges. Divulgation pour 2012 en vertu de la Loi de 1996 sur la divulgation des traitements dans le secteur public Collèges Cette catégorie contient les collèges de l’Ontario. Taxable Surname/Nom de Given Name/ Salary Paid/ Benefits/ Employer/Employeur famille Prénom Position/Poste Traitement Avant. impos. Algonquin College ABBAS SADIQ Professor $102,185.98 $119.88 Algonquin College AGATE JEFFERY MICHAEL Manager, Counselling and Testing Services$104,656.60 $335.15 Algonquin College AL-AZZAWI ABDUL Professor $103,133.47 $185.88 Algonquin College ALLAN GAIL Professor $104,893.10 $185.88 Algonquin College ALLEN IAN D. Professor $104,140.79 $119.88 Algonquin College ALMUHTADI WAHAB Professor $104,893.10 $185.88 Algonquin College ANDERSON DANIEL Professor $102,185.98 $119.88 Algonquin College ANDERSON MICHAEL Professor $104,573.33 $185.88 Algonquin College ASSELIN JACQUELINE Professor $103,539.54 $185.88 Algonquin College AUBIN JERRY A. Professor $108,961.50 $119.88 Algonquin College AUBUT JOANN Dean, Academic Development $139,301.88 $445.83 Algonquin College BAIN RODNEY Professor $102,269.74 $185.88 Algonquin College BALASEVICIUS DEBRA Chair, Health and Community Studies Department$118,961.88 $389.52 Algonquin College BALLARD MICHAEL Professor $104,893.10 $185.88 Algonquin College BARKER GERRY A. Vice President, Human Resources $204,434.22 $585.94 Algonquin College BAUCOM ALFRED Professor $102,216.63 $119.88 Algonquin College BELANGER MARIA Professor $103,611.47 $119.88 Algonquin College BERRY LYNN M. Professor $108,381.94 $185.88 Algonquin College BEST DAVE Professor $100,506.36 $185.88 Algonquin College BONANG COLIN Associate Director, Safety, Security and Emergency Management$108,989.51 $352.32 Algonquin College BOND ANTHONY R.
    [Show full text]
  • The Printing and Publishing of Maps in Ontario Before Confederation
    The Printing and Publishing of Maps in Ontario Before Confederation Joan Winearlst In trodu ction The completion of a major bibliography, Mapping Upper Canada S780-r 867: An Annota ted Bibliography of Manuscriptand P3rinted Maps, I gives ample opportunities for the analysis of the work of local map printers and publishers in the eighty-some years of Ontario'ssettled existence as a British colony before Confederation. The bibliography includes all significant manuscript and printed maps in the period and is divided into three sections, for general, regional, and town maps; extensive appendices include listings for original township surveys, regist'ered subdivision plans of towns, nautical charts of the Great Lakes, and boundary surveys. Of the some 7,ooo maps included in the book, only about I,500 are printed, and except for some printed items in Appendix C and D such as nautical charts, most of them are found in the main body of the work. The entries for printed maps provide reasonably detailed transcription of title and imprint information; the section on phys- ical details provides information on format, prlinting methodology (e.g. engraving,lithograph, wood engraving, etc.), size, scale, and the identification of watermarks. The notes provide sources for maps in books and atlases and a description of the contents of the map, including areas covered, specific subjects, and lists of views, insets, tables, subscribers, dir·ectories, etc. Full location information is given for copies where available and generally locations are given for printed maps at least in the major collections. The maps have been compared with similar maps or later states both for content and bibliographically, so that the derivation of most maps and the re-use or revision of plates by a variety of methods have been noted.
    [Show full text]
  • Paper Trans-Canada Railway
    M PAPER ON THE TRANS-CANADA RAILWAY READ BEFORE THE Literary and Historical Society OF QUEBEC BY MR. J. G. SCOTT General Manager of the Quebec and Lake St. John Railway and of the Great Northern Railway of Canada Tuesday, 13th January, 1903 Together with Extracts FROM SOME REMARKS MADE BY MR. HENRY OSULLIVAN, C.E. Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society of London On the same Occasion QUEBEC CHRONICLE PRINTING CO. um r J PAPER ON THE TRANS-CANADA RAILWAY READ BEFORE THE LITERARY AND HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF QUEBEC On 13th January, 1903 BY IM-I*. J. Gk SCOTT General Manager of the Quebec and Lake St. John Railway and of the Great Not them Railway of Canada Sir James LeMoine, Ladies and Gentlemen: The Literary and Historical Society have been kind enough to call upon me to read a paper on the subject of the proposed Trans- Canada Railway, a question which has naturally aroused a great deal of attention in Quebec, and which is commencing to command almost equal attention all over the Dominion, seeing that the enormous crops of the far West absolutely demand additional means of transportation. The Society could, I think, have found many persons in Quebec more familiar with this subject and better qualified than I to address you, as I need hardly say that an effort of this kind is entirely out, of my line. However, if you will be lenient as to shortcomings, 1 shall endeavor to give you a summary of the merits of the proposed railway, and of the nature of the country it will traverse, condensed from the different reports which have been published from time to time.
    [Show full text]
  • Third Juncturesome THOUGHTS on the PAST, PRESENT and FUTURE of QUEEN’S UNIVERSITY OVER the NEXT DECADE1 by Daniel Woolf Principal and Vice-Chancellor
    The Third JuncSOME THOUGHTSture ON THE PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE OF QUEEN’S UNIVERSITY OVER THE NEXT DECADE Daniel Woolf, Principal and Vice-Chancellor The Third JunctureSOME THOUGHTS ON THE PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE OF QUEEN’S UNIVERSITY OVER THE NEXT DECADE1 by Daniel Woolf Principal and Vice-Chancellor n our storied 171-year past, we have seen two prior major inflection points, or ‘junctures’, that have fundamentally al- tered the shape and direction of Queen’s University. At both points, a combination of internal factors and external circumstances both triggered and facilitated dramatic change; and, at both points, the University was prepared to depart from its Ipast in order to secure its future. the first of these junctures occurred in the 1880s and ‘90s. Principal THE FIRST JUNCTURE George Monro Grant and Chancellor Sir Sandford Fleming, in the midst of a brutal worldwide recession, and having seen the role that a national educa- tional institution could play in the building of a young country, turned a small liberal arts and divinity college – then just barely avoiding merger with larger institutions to the west or east – into a comprehensive undergraduate univer- sity with a Canada-wide purview. This satisfied both the need to broaden the 1 The following essay has been written in the after- University’s reach and ambition, and the national need for a school of leader- math of the two-year Academic Planning exercise ship, initiative and achievement which could draw young men and women and represents my own thoughts on the future at to Kingston, from cities and rural communities lying coast to coast, and pre- the half-way point in my current term as Principal.
    [Show full text]
  • Researching the Petun by Charles Garrad
    Garrad Researching the Petun 3 Researching the Petun Charles Garrad More than a century of research has led to the present state of knowledge of the Petun occupation of the Petun Country, in the former Collingwood, Nottawasaga, and Mulmur townships. Many individuals, with different skills and interests, have contributed to the study of the Petun between ca. AD 1580 and 1650. This paper outlines the history of investigation of the Petun, describing the work of the more notable contributors. Introduction identification, and interpretation of at least the principal archaeological sites there. This was done The area of Ontario between the Nottawasaga withs a little damage to the resource as possible River and the Blue Mountains, south of andn i co-operation with Petun descendants. Nottawasaga Bay, part of Georgian Bay of Lake The f story o how we arrived at our current Huron, has been occupied intermittently since understanding of Petun history involves the Ice Age. It was occupied historically by the documenting the contributions of many several Iroquoian tribes that were collectively individuals. It is presented here mostly in nicknamed “Petun” by the French.1 The Petun chronological order, while acknowledging thematic were present for only about 70 years (ca. AD trends. Owing to the long-lasting nature of the 1580–1650) but left abundant evidence of their workf o certain researchers, the story at times presence, their role in the fur trade and of the jumps ahead or returns to the work of earlier destructive diseases of the period. Because of the researchers. This history also indicates in the absence of large-scale archaeology, not one Petun footnotes the current locations of many of the house, let alone a village, has been completely notes and collections discussed.
    [Show full text]
  • Annual Report
    BOURSIERS SCHOLARS 2013 ANNUAL REPORT 2013 ANNUAL REPORT | 1 mission RIGOROUS SELECTION PROCESS We look for qualities in our scholars that a transcript alone cannot show: personal The Canadian Merit Scholarship Foundation, founded in 1988, is a national integrity and character; commitment to service and an entrepreneurial spirit; breadth charity that works in partnership with Canadian universities, donors in academic and extra-curricular interests; strongly developed inner-directedness; and outstanding overall potential for leadership. Through a series of assessment and and volunteers throughout the country to invest in young Canadians who personal interviews, we select the top 30 of approximately 3,800 applicants as Loran demonstrate character, commitment to service and leadership potential. Scholars. We also grant up to 80 one-time entrance awards. The foundation is governed by an independent board of directors. LONG-TERM INVESTMENT IN POTENTIAL MISSION STATEMENT We provide Loran Scholars with a renewable award comprising a $9,000 living We are committed to the greatest of Canada’s natural resources: our youth. stipend and a matching tuition waiver from one of our 25 partner universities. We encourage scholars to resist the temptation to take easy or conventional paths and to We work to identify and support talented students who show promise of seek out, instead, how they can most effectively contribute to society. To this end, we leadership and a strong commitment to service in the community. provide $8,500 in funding for three kinds of scholar-initiated summer internships (private sector, public policy and personal/community development). We also pair We fund these citizens to study on Canadian campuses, to the benefit of their scholars with mentors who will challenge them and introduce them to their new future and ours.
    [Show full text]