Evaluating Canada's Primary Sector

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The economy of any country is dependent on how the country is able to harness and utilize its natural resources to ensure the success and continuity of its economy. There are various sectors in the economy; the primary sector is perhaps the most important. This is because the primary sector entails the free resources that a country has and can exploit as a means of supporting the economy. This report will be based on the Canadian economy; it will try and evaluate the Canadian primary sector. This will include an analysis of the importance of the primary sector to the Canadian economy, reason why the primary sector should be expanded or not, it will also take a look at the advantages and disadvantage of having an expanded primary sector. Finally, …show more content…

Logging and Forestry The logging sector of Canada has continued to experience growth and it is currently ranked second in the world in terms of exporting primary forest products. It is among the top five contributors to the countries economy. Canada has forest cover that is equivalent to 10% of the world’s forest cover. In 2010, the forest sector contributed US$ 23.5 billion to the country’s GDP. The sector direct employment numbers in 2010 stood at 190658 people which amounted to US$8.8 billion in wages and salaries in 2009. This sector also contributed US$ 16.6 billion to Canada’s surplus balance of trade in 2010. These two sectors present the largest contributors to the economy from the primary sector and by analyzing the numbers that these two sectors have contributed to the local economy and international economy it is evident the importance that the primary sectors play in Canada’s economy. The other primary sectors that include agriculture, mining among others also contribute heavily to the country’s economy. Please view appendix 3 for a comprehensive list of the contributors to the country’s economy. The primary sector has continued to contribute heavily on the country’s nominal GDP, through creation of direct and indirect employment to the local communities and this has helped to increase the standards of living for the local …show more content…

The expansion would put Canada in a good position to capture these emerging markets. (Please see appendix 4 for key commodity price indices). There has been a lot of interest in investments towards Canada’s expansive natural resources sectors that could help improve production capacities, as well as, economic benefits for businesses and employees (Natural Resources & Provincial and Territorial Governments, 2012). Further, there has been an unprecedented increase in the value of recoverable reserves of the country’s natural resources, in 2011; it was estimated at US$ 1,247 billion. This fact affirms the need to expand the primary sector this will allow for proper utilization of the natural

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