Upper Canada
Corporations
### Corporations

There were two types of corporate actors at work in the Upper Canadian economy: the legislatively [chartered companies](/wiki/Chartered_companies "Chartered companies") and the unregulated [joint\-stock companies](/wiki/Joint-stock_company "Joint-stock company"). The joint stock company was popular in building public works, since it should be for general public benefit, as the benefit would otherwise be sacrificed to legislated monopolies with exclusive privileges. or lie dormant. An example of the legislated monopoly is found in the [Bank of Upper Canada](/wiki/Bank_of_Upper_Canada "Bank of Upper Canada"). However, the benefit of the joint\-stock shareholders, as the risk takers, was whole and entire; and the general public benefitted only indirectly. As late as 1849, even the moderate reform politician [Robert Baldwin](/wiki/Robert_Baldwin "Robert Baldwin") was to complain that "unless a stop were made to it, there would be nothing but corporations from one end of the country to the other." Radical reformers, like [William Lyon Mackenzie](/wiki/William_Lyon_Mackenzie "William Lyon Mackenzie"), who opposed all "legislated monopolies," saw joint stock associations as the only protection against "the whole property of the country... being tied up as an irredeemable appendage to incorporated institutions, and put beyond the reach of individual possession." As a result, most of the joint\-stock companies formed in this period were created by [political reformers](/wiki/The_Reform_Movement_%28Upper_Canada%29 "The Reform Movement (Upper Canada)") who objected to the legislated monopolies granted to members of the [Family Compact](/wiki/Family_Compact "Family Compact").


Why were legislated monopolies a concern for politicians like Robert Baldwin?