During the 1850s new industries were growing up in Canada. First of all, there were all the businesses that were associated with railway development - engine foundries, metal workshops, rolling mills, and thousands of workers to build and maintain the tracks. Then, as towns began to appear along the route of the railway, other industries were added - flour mills, breweries, boot factories, wagon manufacturers. Ironworks were particularly important during this rising
industrial economy: involving business and manufacturing, where goods are produced with labour and machinery, usually on a large scale, like in a factory.industrial age. And the production of tools and machines for farming would become another major industry, serving the rich agricultural lands of Canada West.

The beginnings of industry in the colonies coincided with the decline of the old
mercantilism: an economic system in which a nation depends on its colonies to provide cheap raw materials and a market for its manufactured goods. This creates an economy that has more exports than imports. Mercantilism replaced feudalism.mercantile system where Canada traded its wheat, lumber and other raw materials for manufactured goods from England.