An Introduction to Canada
The second largest country in the world by land and water area, Canada was inhabited by aboriginal peoples for millennia before the British and French settled areas from the early sixteenth century - this dual origin is still a major factor in Canadian politics today, although formally the French ceded most of their North American territories in 1763. According to the 2006 Census, 57.8% of Canadians speak English only, 22.1% speak French only, and 17.4% speak both. See full country profile.Latest Research News from Canada
GOVERNMENT: Federal parliamentary democracy with Queen Elizabeth II as head of state
AREA: 9,984,670 sq km (incl water)
POPULATION: 34,851,000 (2012 census)
MAJOR LANGUAGE: Official languages: English and French; other recognised languages: Chipewyan, Cree, Gwich'in, Inuinnaqtun, Inuktitut, Inuvialuktun, Slavey (North and South) and Tchǫ
Some business and general info
The Market Research Industry
Trade and Industry in Canada
The vast spread of land is handled using a federal system unique in many ways. Canada has ten provinces and three territories, with the latter having only 100,000 people between them and the former having more autonomy including responsibility for social programs such as health care, education, and welfare and between them collecting more revenue than the federal government.
The newest territory, Nunavut, split from the then-gigantic Northwest Territories in 1999. It is both the least populous of Canada's sub-divisions, and the largest in area: roughly the size of western Europe, it has a population of 31,906. Put another way, Greenland is 244th and last in the list of the world's sovereign states and dependent territories by population density and Nunavut is almost the size of Greenland with just over half its population.
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The second largest country in the world by land and water area, Canada was inhabited by aboriginal peoples for millennia before the British and French settled areas from the early sixteenth century - this dual origin is still a major factor in Canadian politics today, although formally the French ceded most of their North American territories in 1763. According to the 2006 Census, 57.8% of Canadians speak English only, 22.1% speak French only, and 17.4% speak both.
Canada expanded throughout the 18th and 19th centuries under British influence and it's difficult to put a date on 'independence' as such - it became a Confederation of four provinces in 1867 but Britain maintained control of Canada's foreign affairs until its independence was officially recognised in 1931 and its constitution was part of - and changeable only within - British Law until 1982. It remains part of the British Commonwealth with Queen Elizabeth as head of state. The current Prime Minister, Conservative Stephen Harper, has served in that office since 2006 and last year converted a minority government in a majority, the first since 2000.Canada has one of the world's biggest economies, a seat on key councils such as the G7, G8 and OECD, and has one of the world's highest standards of living and human development index scores. Despite its close ties with the USA, with whom it shares the world's longest land boundary, its vast arctic wilderness, complex coastline and the concentration of its population in small areas are comparable only to Russia.
GDP: $1.396tn (2011 est.); per capita $40,541
Religions Roman Catholic 42.6%, Protestant 23.3%, other Christian 4.4%, Muslim 1.9%, other and unspecified 11.8%, none 16% (2001 census)
Currency: Canadian Dollar: $1 CAD = $0.98 US
Telephone Code: +1
MR Association(s):
MRIA (The Marketing Research and Intelligence Association)
Canada is the 10th largest research market in the world. 80 percent of MR turnover comes from domestic clients and 20 percent from international. According to the ESOMAR Global Prices Study 2012 the country was the 3rd most expensive for carrying out research.
Source: ESOMAR
A highly globalised mixed economy near the top of the index for economic freedom. A hundred years has seen its transformation from a largely rural economy to an advanced, urbanized, industrial one, led by growth of the manufacturing, mining, and service sectors with the last of these now accounting for 75% of employment. However, logging and petroleum remain key industries in an important primary sector. It's a net exporter of energy, with large reserves of gas both off-shore and in Alberta.
Close links with the United States have been facilitated and recognised by NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreements) - with Mexico brought in in 1994. The country's balance of payments has swung between positive and negative in recent years, unlike the USA and most western European powers, although its gross external debt has risen rapidly of late and it has been affected by recent financial crises, with unemployment in particular rising fast between 2008 and'2010.
2010 exports of $393bn included machinery (especially auto and aircraft parts), energy and chemicals and three quarters (74.9%) went to the US. Imports of $401.7bn included machinery, oil and other energy, and consumer durables, with the US again prominent but less so (50.4%), and China (11%) and Mexico (5.5%) also supplying significant amounts.
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laurence@mrweb.com
