Vancouver was always a city that was dominated by trade. Incorporated as a city in 1886, Vancouver's connection to the Canadian Pacific Railroad that same year made it Canada's preeminent port of the West Coast. This opened the city to international trade and the city grew in wealth and size because of this trade.

But the end of the Second World War and the division of the world between fascist regimes and democracies signaled a decline for Vancouver. When the United States led the OFN to embargo the Co-Prosperity Sphere in the 50's, Pacific trade dried up and now every year fewer and fewer ships pass through the Port of Vancouver. It would take a drastic change in policy to improve this sorry state of affairs.