The Rise and Fall of the Cities the Welland Canal Built: St. Catharines & Niagara

This excellent documentary tells the story of the Welland Canal and the cities it built: how a waterway transformed Niagara, why St. Catharines became so important, how industry rose along the canal, and why many of these once-powerful canal towns began to fade. I moved to Niagara on the Lake in 1986 and to St. Catharines in 2024. I worked in constituency offices in St. Catharines, Welland, and Thorold and saw the decline of industry during this time and the effect it had on the people who lived, and still live, here. But the cities along the Welland Canal Corridor (St. Catharines, Thorold, Welland, and Port Colborne) are now experiencing a multi-faceted economic and demographic resurgence and I’m happy to be here to see it.