Canada: Economic and Political Outline

Economic Overview

After contracting due to the global recession, Canada's GDP rebounded with growth estimated at over 3% in 2010 due to the economic stimulus measures, the recovery of foreign trade and the renewed confidence of households. In 2011, the rate of growth was uneven and generally weaker. Due to weak U.S. demand (on which Canada depends for its exports), high degree of household debt, the possible drop in property prices, and worries about the debt crisis in the eurozone, growth is expected to slow down in 2012.

As the only G7 country to have recovered its growth rate and jobs lost during the recession, Canada has a sound economic foundation. The government therefore plans to phase out tax incentives, setting itself the goal of balancing the 2015-16 budget by reducing spending while lowering taxes to stimulate growth and employment. Measures have been taken to monitor the rise of mortgage loans. The main danger is the possible worsening of the crisis in the eurozone and its impact on global financial markets. In the medium term, Canada will focus on improving the business environment and increasing productivity, in order to counter the growing trend of decreasing competitiveness. Another concern is population again, which has been increasing the costs of medical care.

Canada is a rich country with a very good living standard. Its unemployment rate, after having reached more than 8% in 2009 following the global recession, has again been decreasing, although it remains above its pre-crisis level.

Main Sectors of Industry

Accounting for almost two thirds of the GDP, the service sector dominates the Canadian economy. Its most dynamic areas are: telecommunications, tourism, Internet (almost 65% of Canadian households regularly use the Internet) and the aeronautical industry.

The agricultural sector represents a little more than 2% of the GDP and employs less than 2% of the population. Canada is one of the largest exporters of agricultural products in the world, wheat in particular. It produces 10% of the world's GMO harvests. Fishing is an important sector. Canada is one of the main producers of minerals, namely nickel, zinc and uranium. The country also has large reserves of oil and natural gas.

Canada has 6 strong sectors of primary industry: renewable energies (mainly wind), forestry sector, hydrogen and fuel cells, mines, metals and minerals, fishing, oil and gas. The manufacturing sector represents approximately a third of the GDP.

Source: World Bank - Last Available Data.

Indicator of Economic Freedom

Score:

80.8/100

Position:

Free

World Rank:

6/179

Regional Rank:

1/3

Distribution of Economic freedom in the world
Source: 2011 Index of Economic freedom, Heritage Foundation

Note: The Economic freedom index measure ten components of economic freedom, grouped into four broad categories or pillars of economic freedom: Rule of Law (property rights, freedom from corruption); Limited Government (fiscal freedom, government spending); Regulatory Efficiency (business freedom, labor freedom, monetary freedom); and Open Markets (trade freedom, investment freedom, financial freedom). Each of the freedoms within these four broad categories is individually scored on a scale of 0 to 100. A country’s overall economic freedom score is a simple average of its scores on the 10 individual freedoms.

Sources of General Economic Information

Ministries

Treasury Board of Canada
Department of Finance Canada
Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada (DFAIT)
Industry Canada
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAC)

Statistical Office

Statistics Canada

Central Bank

Bank of Canada

Stock Exchange

Montreal Stock Exchange
Canadian Stock Review
TSX Group - Toronto Stock Exchange

Other Useful Resources

Canada Revenue Agency
Government of Canada : Provinces and Territories

Main Online Newspapers

Ottawa business journal
Canadian Content
Le Devoir
On-line Canadian newspapers
Les Affaires
Canoe - Portal for information on news and entertainment

Economic Portals

Quebec social economy
Canadian Arboriginals Portal
Libraries of the UQAM
Canoe - Portal for information on news and entertainment

Political Outline

Type of State

Constitutional monarchy, parliamentary democracy and federation.

Executive Power

Queen Elizabeth II is the Head of State. She appoints the Governor General of the country for 5 years. The Governor General appoints the Prime Minister as well as the Ministry (however, this is chosen by the Prime Minister). The Prime Minister is the head of the government. He holds the executive power. The leader of the majority party or coalition in the House of Commons is automatically chosen to be Prime Minister. The Prime Minister and his Ministry stay in power as long as they have the support of the majority in the House of Commons.

Legislative Power

The legislative power in Canada is composed of a two-chamber federal parliament made up of: the Senate (upper house) whose members are appointed by the Governor General on the advice of the Prime Minister; the House of Commons (lower house), whose members are elected by universal suffrage. The Governor General calls a general election when the Prime Minister advises him to do so. Most legislative practices are derived from the British Parliament.

Main Political Parties

The four main parties in Canada are: the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC), the Liberal Party of Canada (LPC), the New Democratic Party (NDP), and the Bloc Québécois.

Current Political Leaders

Governor General: David Johnston (since October 2010)
Prime Minister: Stephen HARPER (since February 2006) – Conservative Party

Next Election Dates

House of Commons: January 2011

Indicator of Freedom of the Press

World Rank:

10/179

Evolution:

11 places up compared to 2010

Source: Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2011, Reporters Without Borders

Note: The world rankings, published annually, measures the violations of press freedom worldwide. It reflects the degree of freedom enjoyed by journalists, the media and digital citizens of each country and the means used by states to respect and uphold this freedom. Finally, a note and a position is assigned to each country. To compile this index, Reporters Without Borders (RWB) prepared a questionnaire sent to partner organizations,150 RWB correspondents, journalists, researchers, jurists and activists of human rights, including the main criteria - 44 in total - to assess the situation of press freedom in a given country. It includes every kind of direct attacks against journalists and digital citizens (murders, imprisonment, assault, threats, etc.) or against the media (censorship, confiscation, searches and harassment etc.).