101 Useless Facts About Canada

Buisness Facts

  1. The North American market for software products accounts for half of the $70-billion worldwide market. Canada's market for software products is approximately $2 billion.
    _____________________________________
    (1)Investing and Doing Business with Canada, Ottawa: Prospectus Inc., January 1996, p.89.

  2. Canada ranked second behind Singapore in a seven-country comparison of telecommunication infrastructure. Canada led the field in telecommunication quality and service penetration, ahead of France, Germany, Japan, the UK and the US.
    _____________________________________
    (1)From DFAIT website:
    http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/english/HTML/60/60055.htm

  3. Canada's electricity and natural gas costs are the lowest in the G7. Industrial consumers in Canada pay half the price of their German counterparts and one-fifth the price charged in Japan.
    _____________________________________
    (1) Minister of Public Works and Government Services Canada. Canada Business Facts 1996. DFAIT: 1996, p.42.

  4. Canada's quality of life is unmatched. The United Nations quality of life index which measures standard of living, education and life expectancy ranked Canada first of the 173 countries surveyed in 1992, 1994 and 1996.
    _____________________________________
    (1) From Stentor Alliance's website:
    http://www.stentor.ca/scripts/dbml.exe?template=/stentor/body.dbm&page_id=landopp1.html
    (2) Nader, Ralph. Canada Firsts. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart Inc., 1996, p.112.

  5. The 1995 World Competitiveness Report ranked Canada's quality of life highest among G7 countries. The study looked at the political and social environment, security, culture, health, education, public services, recreation, consumer goods, housing and natural environment.
    _____________________________________
    (1) Minister of Public Works and Government Services Canada. Canada Business Facts 1996. DFAIT: 1996, p.47.

  6. Canada has the second highest gross domestic product (GDP) per capita among G7 countries. As a NAFTA signatory, Canadian-based companies now have unequalled access to a market of 386 million people with a combined GDP of over US$11 trillion.
    _____________________________________
    (1)     Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook, 1995.
    (2) NORACOM Consultants Inc., 1996.

  7. Over the past two years, the Canadian manufacturing industry has recorded the fastest growth in labour productivity among G7 countries. Canadian productivity levels in the automotive assembly sector are 5 percent above those in the United States.
    _____________________________________
    (1) From DFAIT website:
    http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/english/invest/imd/bl-chap2.html

  8. The World Economic Forum ranked Canada as the world's fourth most competitive country for doing business in 1997, up from eighth in 1996. Canada ranks just behind the US and well ahead of other G7 countries.
    _____________________________________
    (1)"Canada a good bet for investors," The Ottawa Sun. May 21, 1997, p.23.

  9. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) predicts that Canada and the UK will have the fastest-growing economies among the G7 in 1997, and that only Japan will outpace Canada in 1998.
    _____________________________________
    (1)From the DFAIT website:
    http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/english/HTML/60/60055.htm

  10. Canada welcomes research and development (R&D). According to a 1995 KPMG study, Canada ranked first among 23 industrialized nations as the best place in the world to carry out R&D.
    _____________________________________
    (1)From the DFAIT website:
    http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/english/HTML/60/60370.htm

  11. Canada's BioChem Pharma's anti-AIDS drug, 3TC, was approved for sale in 15 European countries in 1996 and has become the most-prescribed AIDS therapy in North America.
    _____________________________________
    (1)"Review 1996," The Financial Post. December 21, 1996, p.5.
    (2)"The Year in Review," The Montreal Gazette. December 16, 1996, p.6-7.

  12. Canada represents the eighth largest market for pharmaceuticals in the industrialized world. Canadians purchased $11.8 billion in pharmaceutical products in 1994.
    _____________________________________
    (1)From the DFAIT website:
    http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/english/HTML/60/60370.htm

  13. Pharmaceutical companies based in Canada have location-sensitive costs 15 percent lower than companies in the US, according to KPMG Canada's 1996 publication, The Competitive Alternative: A Comparison of Business Costs in Canada and the United States.
    _____________________________________
    (1) KPMG. The Competitive Alternative: A Comparison of Business Costs in Canada and the United States, Ottawa: Prospectus Inc., 1996, p.3.

  14. Joseph Armand Bombardier invented the first successful snowmobile on June 29, 1937. Bombardier is now the world's fourth largest commercial aircraft manufacturer and creator of the Global Express, the world's first corporate jet designed for high speed, long-range travel.
    _____________________________________
    (1)"Review 1996," The Financial Post. December 21, 1996, p.5.
    (2)"The Year in Review," The Montreal Gazette. December 16, 1996, pp.6-7.
    (3)"A Partnership in the Skies", CanadExport, Vol.15, No.6., April 7, 1997

  15. Canada's largest gum manufacturer, O-Pee-Chee Co., sells more than 7.5 million pounds of chewing gum annually - enough to blow a bubble twice the size of the earth!
    _____________________________________
    (1) Walker, Ian & Bellows, Keith. The Canuck Book. Don Mills: General Publishing Co. Ltd., 1978, p.48.

  16. The manufacture of kerosene oil from petroleum was invented by a native of Nova Scotia in 1846. In 1854, he patented the process which led to today's multi-billion dollar petrochemical industry.(1)
    _____________________________________
    (1) Russell, Paul & Jeffrey, Robert. The Queen on Moose. Agincourt: Methuen Publications, 1985, pp.26-27.

  17. Canada's first banking institution was the Bank of Montreal, chartered in 1818 with capital of $250,000. Today, the bank reports profits of over C$1 billion per year.
    _____________________________________
    (1)"Review 1996," The Financial Post. December 21, 1996, p.11.
    (2) Styles, William L. Unusual Facts of Canadian History. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart Ltd., 1947, p.59.

  18. In 1994, Canadians spent about C$454 billion on consumer goods and services - a value equal to nearly three-quarters of the gross national product (GNP), or an average of C$15,700 per person.
    _____________________________________
    (1)     Ministry of Industry. Canada - A Portrait. 1995, p.103.

  19. Canada is home to about one-quarter of the world's fresh water. Almost 75 percent of the country's electrical power is produced through hydroelectricity.
    _____________________________________
    (1) Thompson, Wayne C. Canada 1996. 12th edition. Harpers Ferry: Stryker-Post Publications, 1996.

  20. Canada has one of the most advantageous research and development (R&D) tax regimes among G7 countries. R&D tax incentives, including a 20 percent investment tax credit, are available from the provincial and federal governments.
    _____________________________________
    (1)Investing and Doing Business with Canada. Ottawa: Prospectus Inc., 1996, p.34.

  21. Two Canadian cities are ranked in the top five places in the world to live. Vancouver placed first while Toronto was rated third.
    _____________________________________
    (1) Corporate Resources Group, Geneva. 1997.

  22. Exports are critical to Canada. One in three jobs is export-dependent; it is estimated that every $1 billion of exports creates or maintains 11,000 Canadian jobs.
    _____________________________________
    (1) "Trade and Investment: Driving Canada's Economy", CanadExport, Vol.14, No.20, December 2, 1996.

  23. Seventeen of the world's 20 largest industrials (as ranked by Fortune) have production facilities in Canada. General Motors, Ford, Mitsui & Co., Honda, IBM, Imperial Oil, Shell, Sears all have Canadian plants.
    _____________________________________
    (1)From DFAIT website:
    http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/INVEST/english/bl-index.html

  24. Location-sensitive costs in 1996 were on average 15.7 percent lower in Canada than the United States. KPMG's recent study involved an in-depth look at costs in seven different industries using 13 Canadian and 10 US cities.
    _____________________________________
    (1)     KPMG. The Competitive Alternative: A Comparison of Business Costs in Canada and the United States, Ottawa: Prospectus Inc., 1996, p.3.

  25. The Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) ranks Canada among the top three countries for gross domestic product (GDP) devoted to publicly-funded education. Canada has the highest level of enrollment for post-secondary education among G7 countries.
    _____________________________________
    (1)     Minister of Public Works and Government Services Canada. Canada Business Facts 1996. DFAIT: 1996, p.47.

  26. The agri-food sector employs about one in seven Canadian workers, and provides about 8 percent of Canada's gross national product (GNP).
    _____________________________________
    (1) From DFAIT website:
    http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/english/HTML/60/60390.htm

  27. The stock of foreign direct investment in Canada's food, beverage and tobacco industries reached nearly C$16 billion in 1995, recording the fastest growth among all manufacturing industries over the 1990-1995 period.
    _____________________________________
    (1)From DFAIT website:
    http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/english/HTML/60/60390.htm

  28. For a model frozen-food processing facility, KPMG's comparison of business costs in Canada and the US found average annual location-sensitive costs to be 22 percent lower in Canada than in the United States.
    _____________________________________
    (1)     KPMG. The Competitive Alternative: A Comparison of Business Costs in Canada and the United States, Ottawa: Prospectus Inc., 1996.

  29. In 1994, Canada's economy expanded by 4.5 percent, as measured in real gross domestic product (GDP). This rate of growth put Canada ahead of most industrialized countries.
    _____________________________________
    (1) From Stentor Alliance's website:
    http://www.stentor.ca/scripts/dbml.exe?template=/stentor/body.dbm&page_id=landopp1.html

  30. On average, wages in Canada's commercial districts are lower than those in nearly all of the world's major business centres. Annual managerial salaries in Toronto are roughly $15,000 less than in New York.
    _____________________________________
    (1)     Investing and Doing Business with Canada. Ottawa: Prospectus Inc., 1996, p.4.

  31. Among 11 major industrialized countries, including all G7 countries, the after-tax cost of research and development (R&D) expenditures in 1993-1994 was the lowest in Canada.
    _____________________________________
    (1)     Investing and Doing Business with Canada. Ottawa: Prospectus Inc., 1996, pp.68-69.

  32. In 1996, Canada was the world's seventh largest exporter and the eighth largest importer.
    _____________________________________
    (1)World Trade Organization's website:
    http://www.wto.org/htbin/htimage/wto/map.map?511,259

  33. Most of the population speaks one of the two official languages, English (60.5 percent) and French (23.8 percent). Multilingual speakers account for 2.6 percent of the total population, followed by Italian, Chinese and German, each with 1.6 percent of the total.
    _____________________________________
    (1)     Minister of Public Works and Government Services Canada. Canada Business Facts 1996. DFAIT: 1996, p.10.

  34. Minimum wage varies from province to province. The range runs from C$4.75/hour in Newfoundland to C$6.70/hour in Ontario.
    _____________________________________
    (1) From Industry Canada's Strategis site:
    http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/cgi-bin/dec/wwwfetch?/sgml/mi03399e_pr201.sgml

  35. Canadian employer-paid health insurance premiums total only 1 percent of gross pay, compared with 8.2 percent in the United States.
    _____________________________________
    (1) From Canada InfoCentre website:
    http://www.infocan.gc.ca/text/facts/worldmarket-e.html

  36. The value of exports for Canadian sound recordings now totals C$111 million, an increase of 324 percent in 5 years!
    _____________________________________
    (1) From Canada InfoCentre website:
    http://www.infocan.gc.ca/text/facts/culturalind-e.html

  37. Intellectual property in Canada is protected by legislation governing rights to inventions (Patent Act); trademarks (Trademarks Act); literary, dramatic, musical or artistic works (Copyright Act); industrial design (Industrial Design Act); plant breeding (Canadian Plant Breeders Rights Act); and integrated circuits (Integrated Circuit Topography Act).
    _____________________________________
    (1) From DFAIT Website:
    http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/english/HTML/60/60220.htm

 

Bilateral Trade Facts

  1. More than one-third of Canada's exports to the European Union are sold in the UK, Canada's third-largest export market.
    _____________________________________
    (1) DFAIT. "Canada and the United Kingdom: Lifelong Partners in Trade," CanadExport. Vol.15, No.3, February 17, 1997.

  2. Japan is Canada's largest single trading partner after the United States. Japan purchased $9.55 billion worth of Canadian exports in 1994. That is double Canada's sales to Latin America and more than three-quarters of the country's trade with the European Union.
    _____________________________________
    (1) From DFAIT website:
    http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/english/g7summit/bilat/japan-e.htm

  3. Germany is Canada's fourth largest trading partner (after the US, Japan and the UK). Canada is Germany's 29th largest.
    _____________________________________
    (1) From DFAIT website:
    http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/english/g7summit/bilat/germa-e.htm

  4. Italy is Canada's eleventh-largest trading partner. Trade between the two countries reached almost $4 billion in 1994, a 75 percent increase over the previous year.
    _____________________________________
    (1) From DFAIT website:
    http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/english/g7summit/bilat/ital-e.htm

  5. France ranks as Canada's fifth-largest trading partner. France is second only to the UK as the European destination of choice for Canadian direct investment abroad.
    _____________________________________
    (1)     From DFAIT website:
    http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/english/g7summit/bilat/franc-e.htm

  6. The Canada-Chile FTA was signed November 18, 1996. In the first six months of 1996, Canada exported $147.8 million worth of goods to Chile, up 11.8 percent from the same period the previous year.
    _____________________________________
    (1) From DFAIT website:
    http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/english/news/newsletr/CANEX/961119AE.HTM

  7. Canada and Israel signed a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in July 1996, eliminating most import taxes by January 1997. Also included in the FTA are more flexible definitions around country of origin rules.
    _____________________________________
    (1) From Bank Hapoalim Bulletin No. 60, Winter 1996 (online),
    http://www.bankhapoalim.co.il/national/whatsnew/bul60_5.htm

  8. Cuba is Canada's second-largest trading partner in the Caribbean and can potentially be the largest; in the first six months of 1995, Canada-Cuba trade almost doubled over the previous year.
    _____________________________________
    (1)Source: http://www.travel-net.com/~blochfd/dfaitcub.html

  9. In 1995, five of the top 10 Canadian export markets were in the Asia Pacific region. Japan ranked third with Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia rounding out the top 10.
    _____________________________________
    (1) CYAP Forum ACAP, January 1997, p.3.

  10. Canada's exports to the Asia Pacific amounted to almost C$27 billion in 1996, making the region Canada's second-largest trading partner after the United States.
    _____________________________________
    (1) DFAIT. "Team Canada Business Conference: Bringing Asian Business Opportunities Home," CanadExport. Vol.15, No.3, February 17, 1997.

  11. China and Hong Kong combined now represent Canada's third-largest trading partner after the US and Japan. In 1996, two-way trade stood at almost $8 billion between Canada and China and apaproximately $2.3 billion between Canada and Hong Kong.
    _____________________________________
    (1) DFAIT. "An Ancient Country Becomes a New Frontier," CanadExport. Vol.15, No.5, March 17, 1997. DFAIT.

  12. Brazil is Canada's largest export market in Latin America, with 1996 two-way trade topping $2.5 billion - in Canada's favour - a cumulative Canadian investment in excess of $3 billion. Brazil is also Canada's largest trading partner in South America.
    _____________________________________
    (1) DFAIT. "Third Americas Business Forum: Art Eggleton to Lead Business Delegation to Brazil," CanadExport. Vol.15, No.6, April 7, 1997.
    (2) DFAIT. "Canada and Brazil: A Solid Base for Building up Trade Relations," CanadExport. Vol.15, No.9, May 20, 1997, p.1.
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