The Canadian Economy Introduced
Canada has a large and diversified economy that is one of the strongest in the world. Not surprisingly given its location the economy of Canada is largely integrated with that of the United States. There is a free trade agreement between Canada, the US and Mexico, however Canada and Mexico don't actually do very much trade with each other. Overwhelmingly Canada trades with the United States. This has its good and its bad sides. On the good side Canadian businesses have access to the world's largest economy. The bad side is that the Canadian economy can be heavily impacted by things that are largely beyond their control. The recent global financial crisis is a good example, Canada had done the things they should have to avoid a problem, a budgetary surplus, strong well regulated banks, and yet they were still badly hit by the crisis.
Canada is a post industrial nation in which the bulk of the economy is made up of the service sector. However Canada is different than most other post industrial nations because of its large agriculture and natural resource sectors. Canada is one of the very few developed nations in the world who are a net exporter of oil. They are also an exporter of a wide range of other natural resources. Canada has a small population and is blessed with huge reserves of resources. They are also one of the world's leading exporters of agricultural products, again an oddity for a developed nation.
Up until the recent global financial crisis Canada had probably the strongest economy of any developed nation. The reasons for this are many but they include the fact that for many years the government had been running budgetary surpluses, there was a strong banking system, the work force is highly educated and the country is self sufficient in almost any resources they could possibly need. Even during the financial crisis Canada has come out of it better than most other countries, largely because they have been insulated by high commodity prices. In fact the future looks very bright for the Canadian economy, especially compared to that of other developed countries.
The biggest issue facing Canada is an aging population. Although even here this is going to be less of an issue than it is for most other countries. The government recognized the problem years ago and took steps to make sure that the country's pension plan was fully funded to cover all of the coming retirements. They have also been actively encouraging immigration in order to offset the falling birth rate. The other issue that Canada has to deal with if environmental, particularly when it comes to oil sands production. This is a problem because it gives Canada a bit of a black eye in the international community. At the same time there is a huge global demand for the oil and there is really no way to get it out of the ground without doing some damage.