Canada’s Economic Identity

How Is It Defined?

How Has It Changed?

History Canada traded primary resources to

countries who converted them into semi-manufactured goods or end products

Canada often buys back its own resources that have been transformed

Industries based on primary resources are capital intensive not labour intensive

History (Cont’d) It is economically feasible to trade raw

materials that can be extracted by semi-skilled workers using expensive machinery to countries that use cheap, skilled labour to convert the raw materials into finished products

Economic Identity Canada’s international trade has shifted Primary resource-based exports have fallen

as a proportion of total merchandise exports, from 43% to 18% over the past 32 years

Semi-manufactured and end-product exports increased from 57% to 82%

Natural Resources Extraction of natural resources from

Canadian lands and waters is no longer an unskilled, low-technology task

ALL of Canada’s primary resource-based industries are increasingly adopting advanced technology

Wage rates are forced higher in order to attract skilled and knowledgeable workers

Canada’s Major Industries Primary industries (extractive industries)-

take raw materials from nature, process them slightly and sell them to other businesses

E.G. Agriculture (wheat farming); Fishing and trapping (fish, furs); Forestry/logging (lumber); Energy/mining (nickel, natural gas) (Figure 1-16, p. 18)

Canada’s Major Industries Manufacturing – include both the

processing and fabrication sectors E.g. Processing – grinding wheat into

crude flour; fabrication - refining and enriching flour to produce the final good

Well known goods e.g. Clover Leaf tuna, Alcan foil, Petro-Canada fuels

(Figure 1-17, p. 20)

Service Industries Do not sell tangible items Fastest growing sectors of service industry

is in consulting services Canadian consultants are popular all over

the world …e.g. in communication, construction and energy

(Figure 1-18, p. 21)