Canada

Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America,

extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the
west and northward into the Arctic Ocean. It is the second largest country in
the world by total area and shares land borders with the United States to the
south and northwest.
The lands have been inhabited for millennia by aboriginal peoples.
Beginning in the late 15th century, British and French expeditions explored
the land and later settled the Atlantic coast. France ceded nearly all of its
colonies in North America in 1763 after the Seven Years War. In 1867, with
the union of three British North American colonies through Confederation,
Canada was formed as a federal, semi-autonomous polity.
The economy
Canada is one of the world's wealthiest nations with a high per-
capital income, a member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation
and Development (OECD) and Group of Eight (G8). Canada is a free market
economy with slightly more government intervention than the United States,
but less than most European nations. Canada has traditionally had a lower
per-capital gross domestic product (GDP) than its southern neighbour
(whereas wealth has been more equally divided), but higher than the large
western European economies.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
(OECD) is an international organisation of thirty countries, that accept the
principles of representative democracy and a free market economy.
The Group of Eight (G8), also known as Group of Seven and Russia, is an
international forum for the governments of Canada, France, Germany, Italy,
Japan, Russia, The United Kingdom and The United States. Together, these
countries represent about 65% of the world economy and the majority of
global military power (7 of the top 8 positions for military expenditure, and
almost all of the world's active nuclear weapons.) Each year, member states
of the G8 take turns assuming the presidency of the group. The holder of the
presidency sets the group's annual agenda and hosts the summit for that year.
 The economic sectors
As the second largest country in the world, Canada has
considerable natural resources spread across its varied regions. In British
Columbia, the forestry industry is of great importance, while the oil industry
is big in Alberta and Newfoundland and Labrador. Northern Ontario is home
to a wide array of mines, while the fishing industry has long been central to
the character of the Atlantic provinces, though it has recently been in steep
decline.
Energy
Canada is one of the few developed nations that is a net exporter of
energy. The most important resources are oil and gas centered in Alberta,
but also present in neighbouring British Columbia and Saskatchewan. The
vast Athabasca Tar Sands give Canada the world's second largest reserves of
oil after Saudi Arabia according to USGS. In Quebec and British Columbia,
as well as in Ontario and Manitoba, hydroelectric power is a cheap and
relatively environmentally friendly source of abundant energy. In part
because of this, Canada is also one of the world's highest per capital
consumers of energy. Cheap energy has enabled the creation of several
important industries, such as the large aluminum industry in Quebec and
British Columbia.
In times of high oil prices the majority of Canada's population
suffers, while the West grows extremely wealthy.
Historically, an important issue in Canadian politics is that while
Western Canada is one of the world's richest sources of energy, the
industrial heartland of Southern Ontario and Quebec has fewer native
sources of power.
Manufacturing
The general pattern of development for wealthy nations was a
transition from a primary industry based economy to a manufacturing based
one, and then to a service based economy. Canada did not follow this
pattern; manufacturing has always been secondary, though certainly not
unimportant.
Ontario is home to branch plants to all the major American and
Japaneese automobile makers and many factories owned by Canadian firms
such as Magna International and Linamar Corporation. Ontario produces
more vehicles each year than the neighboring U.S. state of Michigan, the
heart of the American automobile industry. Manufacturers have been
attracted to Canada due to the highly educated population with lower labour
costs than The United States.
 Service sector
The service sector in Canada is vast and multifaceted, employing
some three quarters of Canadians and accounting for two thirds of GDP. The
largest employer is the retail sector, employing almost 12% of Canadians.
The retail industry is mainly concentrated in a relatively small
number of chain stores clustered together in shopping malls. In recent years
the rise of big-box stores, such as Wal-Mart (of the United States) and
Future Shop (a subsidiary of the American Best Buy), have led to fewer
workers in this sector and a migration of retail jobs to the suburbs.
The second largest portion of the service sector is the business
services, employing only a slightly smaller percentage of the population.
This includes the financial services, real estate, and communications
industries. This portion of the economy has been rapidly growing in recent
years. It is largely concentrated in the major urban centres, especially
Toronto.
The education and health sectors are two of Canada's largest, but
both are large under the purview of the government.
Canada has an important high tech industry, and also an
entertainment industry creating content both for local and international
consumption. Tourism has a major importance, with the vast majority of
international visitors coming from the United States, though the recent
strength of the Canadian Dollar has damaged this sector.
 Tourism
Canada, as a rich Western country, has both a large domestic and
foreign tourist industry. Canada is known for its large, majestic landscapes
and several record-holding landmarks. Some of the major attractions of the
country include its cities but it is probably better known worldwide for its
extensive, lightly populated or unpopulated areas of wilderness and its
natural sights.
Every year 17 468 000 foreign people, mostly from The USA
come in Canada. The incomes are around 9.3 millliard $.
The most important zones and objectives are: the Quebec province
with Montreal (The Church Marie-Reine-du-Monde, the old city, the
Olympic Park), The Niagara Falls, Vancouver, Quebec and the parks
Laurentides, Mont Tremblant, Saguenay.
Other touristiques objectives are:
 The Ontario provinces, with Toronto (which has the highest buliding in
the entire world: 553 m.);
 Ottawa with the Aviation Museum and the Civilisations Museum;
 The Rocky Mountains and The Coast Mountains with many watering
places, winter sports and natural parks;
 the prairie zones with The Wood Buffalo National Park and The Banff
National Park (the oldest);
 The Atlantic zone which includes the city of Halifax, The Newfoundland
Island (with the oldest european location from America - L’Anse aux
Meadows), New Brunswick and other national parks like: Kluane,
Dinosaures, Nahanni.