It is not easy to establish a set of working standards with which to appraise the efficiency of Canadian business in the war economy. The industrial revolution through which this country has been passing for three years has changed the pattern of our economy to such an extent that profit, the conventional yardstick of efficiency, ceases to be significant.

The rules of the game have been rewritten and are still under revision. Free private enterprise is hardly free, nor is it altogether private. Most of the business done today is on government account and under government control. Government is engaged in the largest business enterprise in Canada's history. It owns $865,000,000 of the new plant that has been created for war production, or about 80-5 per cent of the nation's total new productive capacity. Its 1943-4 war budget of $4,490,000,000 exceeds the 1939 national income.

Government is the nation's greatest order-placer, employer, and producer. Canada's war production is estimated to reach a new peak of $3,600,000,000 in 1943. This figure represents a 75 per cent increase over the total net value of Canada's manufactured products, mining output, and construction projects in 1938, the last full year of peace.

The pre-war pattern of the Canadian business system has become so interwoven with government business, government controls over wages, man-power, raw materials, tools, power, and prices, that it presents a difficult analytical problem. None of the factors involved is constant, and the pattern will undoubtedly continue to be one of transition.