Economy

Economy

Canada is one of the founding members of the G8 and ranked 16th in Human Development Index 2019 of the UN. With a stable banking system, a diversified economy, abundant natural resources and predictable fiscal policy, Canada expects positive developments in the future. 

Canada’s most important trading partner is the U.S., which accounts for more than 75% of Canadian exports. With CETA, the free trade agreement between Canada and the EU signed in 2016, the European market is gaining importance in the Canadian foreign exchange balance. Germany is Canada’s 6th trade partner. Bavaria makes 15% of German exports to Canada. 

What makes Canada special is also its wealth of natural resources: The country is one of the 5 world leaders exploiting potash salt, uranium, aluminium, titan, brimstone, nickel, diamonds and platinum. Furthermore, Canada has the 3rd largest oil reserves in the world, estimated at 170 billion barrels. The main economy sectors are power generation, agriculture, natural resources and industry. Canada is the 3rd largest producer of natural gas in the world. 

Business relations & opportunities 

Canada and Bavaria share a long economic relationship with an impressive trade balance. In 2020, Bavarian exports to Canada totaled 1.24 billion EUR, and 1,39 billion EUR in 2021, which represents an annual progress of 12.8%. Around 14% of the German exports to Canada come from Bavaria. This emphasizes the importance of Bavaria as a Canadian trade partner. The imports of Canadian goods to Germany counted 5,5 billion EUR in 2020 and increased by 12.6% in 2021. 
Bavarian companies are expected to enjoy benefits from the CETA between Canada and the EU, which will eliminate 99% of tariffs and most of non-tariff related trade barriers. 

 

Canada's Key Sectors

Aerospatial (Québec) 

Québec is world leader in the aerospace industry, attracting major international companies such as Bell Helicopter Textron, Bombardier Aerospace, CAE, Pratt & Whitney Canada and many others. The province alone accounts for more than 50% of Canada’s aerospace production, and Montréal is one of the world’s top three aerospace centers in the world, along with Seattle and Toulouse.  The aerospace industry in Québec employs nearly 40,000 highly skilled people in a variety of professions, including engineers, technicians and specialized workers. Québec’s universities, technical colleges and trade schools offer programs to meet the needs of the industry by training 4,800 students every year. Approximately 205 aerospace companies, research centres and associations offer numerous business and partnership opportunities. 

Gaming & Film (Québec)

Québec’s multimedia industry welcomes new players every year and is a leader in growth areas such as virtual reality. Employment in the video game industry is booming, with the number of jobs up tenfold since 2002. Today, more than 10,000 people are putting their talent at work in Québec’s video game industry. Several studios in Montréal specialize in technical and post-production services: Autodesk, Cinesite, Digital Dimension, Framestore, Moving Picture Company, Rodeo FX and Vision globale are just a few examplesEach year, over 6,100 students trained in every aspect of the industry graduate with degrees in multimedia and related programs. Québec is one of the few places in the world to offer generous tax credits for the multimedia industry—credits that can cover up to 37.5% of labour costs. 

E-Mobility (Québec)

State-of-the-art centers of excellence such as IREQ and IVI are conducting research on electric vehicles and other advanced means of transportation. As a government corporation that generates, transports and distributes electricity, Hydro-Québec develops electromobility: clean, renewable energy, a reliable power grid, recognized expertise and promising technologies. Thanks to its impressive hydroelectric system (more than 97% of all the energy produced in Québec is renewable, with nearly all of it coming from hydropower), Québec is the ideal venue for researching and testing ground transportation electrification. Montréal will have its own integrated and fully automated electric light-rail transit system by the end of 2020, an investment of approximately $5.5 billion expected to generate approximately 7,500 jobs annually during the construction phase, and more than 1,000 permanent jobs once in operation. The new REM train project is expected to become the third-largest automated transportation system in the world.  

Automotive (Ontario)

Ontario’s automotive corridor stretches from Windsor to Oshawa. More than 700 automotive suppliers and over 500 tool, die and mold manufacturers benefit from the infrastructure and skilled trades, a high-quality workforce, strategic access to the North American marketplace, a dynamic environment for R&D and a culture of high-quality manufacturing. Chrysler, Ford, GM, Honda, and Toyota operate 12 plants in Ontario – the only province or state in North America with five OEMs. With its 104,000 autoworkers, Ontario produced 15% of all North America’s light vehicle production in the early 2010s. Ontario is home to nine leading universities with 24+ research programs focused on the automotive industry. Between Detroit and Ottawa lies a 500-mile corridor with expertise in connected and autonomous vehicle technology, artificial intelligence, connectivity, cybersecurity, and quantum computing: more than 170 companies in Ontario are teaching cars to think. 

IT Technology (Ontario)

Ontario’s IT industry is located in three major cities: Ottawa, Toronto and Waterloo. The sector employs about 280,700 workers, 80% of whom have a post-secondary degree. 44 colleges and universities, offering more than 200 cooperative programs in the field of IT, graduate approximately 40,000 qualified graduates annually. The University of Waterloo’s engineering program is the second largest source of engineering talent after the MIT in North America. The government R&D Tax Incentive Program offers generous incentives for innovationGlobal leaders in Big Data and cloud computing, data centers, microelectronics, digital media, security encryption, mobile gaming, mobile payments, wireless, telecommunication and networking, and seven of the ten largest tech companies in the world conduct R&D in Ontario. Major corporations such as Cisco, IBM and Xerox have established significant research centers. 

Energy Production (Alberta)

Alberta is the energy province of CanadaEnergy production accounts for nearly 25% of Alberta’s GDP, and the province has the third largest petroleum reserves in the world after Saudi Arabia and VenezuelaAlberta has 4 ethane-cracking facilities, including 2 of the largest in the world. Oil and gas technology and services focus on upstream-related oil and gas equipment and services – advanced seismic and innovative pumping technologies, multilateral, non-invasive or horizontal drilling. However, Alberta is also one of the Canadian provinces currently investing the most in renewable energies, with a goal of decarbonization and diversification of energy supply. Alberta has some of most competitive tax rates in North America, with a combined federal/provincial tax rate of 27%. Worldclass universities and research institutions and collaboration through Campus Alberta and Alberta Innovates. A diverse workforce: Nearly one in five Albertans was born outside Canada, making Alberta one of the most multinational and multicultural provinces in the country. 

Natural Resource Extraction (Alberta and Saskatchewan)

Home to almost half of Canada’s agricultural land and the center of Canadian grain production, the province is gaining worldwide attention for its wealth of minerals and energy resources. Saskatchewan is home to the richest uranium deposits in the world, currently providing one-fifth of the world’s production. Saskatchewan is also home to the largest potash industry in the world, accounting for half of known global reserves, and one of the world’s largest diamondiferous kimberlite fields, which has led to extensive exploration and drilling for diamonds. Innovative manufacturers with a highly skilled, young and multicultural workforce are collaborating to build leading-edge technology such as continuous mining equipment and remote-controlled underground mining equipment. The province’s power utility, SaskPower, is undertaking one of the world’s largest carbon capture and storage projects, one of the first in a commercial coal-fired power plant.