Canadian Westinghouse produced the first TV's in Canada from its factory in Hamilton, Ontario in 1948. Canadian General Electric (CGE) was another early entrant, manufacturing from their plant in Peterborough, Ontario. CGE's engineers were the first Canadians to witness a TV broadcast across the border from a TV station in Detroit before the war. In 1949, Canadian manufacturer, Electrohome started producing TV's from their main plant in Kitchener, Ontario.

Although CGE and Electrohome continued making TV's for many years, a number of Canadian companies began production in 1950 only to pull out around 1959. Northern Electric (now known as Nortel Networks) began assembling TV's using RCA tubes in Montreal, continuing production until at least 1957. Marconi of Canada, in addition to TV's, supplied many of the CBC's early television cameras. Rogers Majestic, the predecessor of Rogers Communications, a major Canadian cable, cellphone and internet provider and video rental chain, also marketed TV's made by Philips Electronics Canada for most of the decade. Electric Products Manufacturing made TV's in Montreal under the Fleetwood brand name. Fairbanks-Morse, a multinational which made radios in the U.S., and Sparton were other makers.

Three companies managed to continue production past 1959. The Canadian branch of U.S. giant RCA opened its first plant in Prescott, Ontario in 1953, and later established plants in Montreal, Windsor and Midland. The next year, the Canadian branch of U.S. Philco started production in Don Mills in Toronto. In 1958, stereo maker Clairtone of Canada also entered the market.

In the 1960's, the big five of TV production in Canada were the Canadian subsidiaries of American giants: Canadian General Electric , RCA Victor Canada , Canadian Westinghouse , Philco Canada (owned by Ford from 1961) and Sylvania Canada . By the end of the decade, they were coming under increasing pressure from Japanese imports most notably Sony, which had a strong partner in the form of Canada's Gendis . They tried to pressure the Canadian government for protection, but instead the government responded by lowering tariffs just exacerbating their problems. Canadian Westinghouse withdrew from the TV market in 1969.

In 1971, Clairtone withdrew as well, leaving Electrohome as the last native Canadian maker. In 1972, Matsushita Industrial Canada opened a TV plant in Etobicoke in Toronto, marketing its TV's under the Panasonic brand name. (Matsushita later bought out Motorola's plants in the U.S. and began using the Quasar brand name to market its TV's in Canada). Also, in 1972, Hitachi opened a TV and VCR plant in Pointe Claire, Quebec, and Sanyo acquired RCA Victor's Montreal plant. In the 1970's, there were 12 television plants in Montreal in total. In 1974, Ford Philco sold its consumer electronics wing to fellow U.S. company, GTE Sylvania .

In 1981, Dutch multinational Philips Electronics purchased the TV producing wing of GTE Sylvania. Philips stopped producing Sylvania TV's in 1983, but continued to use the trademark for its Canadian VCR's and camcorders through 1993 (Since 1997, Funai of Japan has been marketing TV's under the Sylvania brand). In 1983, Mitsubishi Electronics Industries Canada bought RCA Canada 's Windsor and Midland plants. In 1984, Electrohome sold its Kitchener TV plant, and licensed the Electrohome brand name to Mitsubishi. In 1986, in the U.S., General Electric acquired RCA and then sold it to the French conglomerate, Thomson, giving the latter company control of RCA's Prescott, Ontario plant.

In 1993, the Hong Kong company Wellfund Audio-visual opened up a TV assembly plant on Annacis Island, British Columbia which apparently later moved to Alberta. The mid 1990's witnessed a rash of closings as the TV market reached near maturity and producers sought economies of scale, taking advantage of the North American Free Trade Agreement to centralize production in the southern U.S. or Mexico where wages are presumably less. In 1995, Hitachi closed its Point Claire plant, Sanyo closed its Montreal plant and Mitsubishi closed its Kitchener and Midland plants shifting its operations to Georgia and Mexico. In 1996, Mitsubishi closed its Windsor plant, and in the following year, Thomson closed the Prescott plant, inherited from GE/RCA. Matsushita seems to be the only major maker still producing TV's in Canada, from its factory in Toronto.

Web sites

Television History - The First 75 Years

Bibliography

Visionary Thinking ~ The Story of Canada's own Electrohome by Raymond Stanton

Ian Anthony. 2002. "The roots of Canadian television: how it all began and where it's headed." Broadcaster. Don Mills: Oct. Vol.61, Iss. 9; pg. 10