Polymer Corporation was a Canadian federal crown corporation established in 1942 to produce artificial rubber to substitute for overseas supply cut off by World War II. After the Japanese captured the Dutch East Indies in 1942, most of the world's supply of natural rubber was out of Allied hands. Due to the importance of rubber products for both modern life and modern warfare, the loss of such an important resource at this phase in the war was a crisis. A factory was established in Sarnia, Ontario, using German patents from an American licensee. Polymer produced approximately 3,300 tons of synthetic rubber from oil every month from when production first began at the end of 1943 to the wars end in 1945. Sarnia was chosen because it is the point of intake the most secure and reliable source of crude oil coming into Canada; a type suitable for the synthetic rubber making process. The site was also chosen due to the adjacent St. Clair River which provides the necessary water supply for the production of synthetic rubber. The product was used in everything from tires to airplane parts and much of it was sold to the US as part of the common war effort. With the combination of synthetic rubber produced by Polymer, reclaimed rubber, and rubber product rationing, Canada was able to meet its war-time needs. The company was considered a roaring success, more efficient than its American counterparts and a national asset. Clarence Decatur Howe, under whose Department of Munitions and Supply the company fell, decided to keep Polymer going as a Crown corporation after the war. Even as early as 1942, Howe said, "I don't think we will ever go back to crude rubber." It was a highly profitable enterprise, and he was not convinced that any buyer would pay a proper price or keep it going. Polymer therefore survived the war, reporting through Howe and his successors to Parliament until 1971 when it was sold to the Canada Development Corporation which was a government controlled enterprise. The company was also involved in the petrochemicals industry, primarily in the production of polyurethane. It was renamed Polysar in 1976 and the rubber component became a subsidiary, Polysar Rubber Corp. The company became infamous for its pollution spills, including 48 spills reported in the Sarnia area between 1972 and 1984 alone. After a 1985 report showing that Polysar had more