Nature of Canada’s EconomyCGC 1D/P1

Economic Structure of Canada

Economic System

The organization in which products and services are made and used up.

Producers: people who harvest, manufacture products or provide services.

Consumers: people who use products and services.

The economy is made up of two different types of people:

How we categorize our economic industries

Primary Industries

Secondary Industries

Tertiary Industries

Quaternary Industries

Extracting Resources Refining or

Manufacturing Resources

Services Delivering Resources

Providing Intellectual

Services

-industries that harvest natural resources

(natural resources: air, soil, water, oil, plants, rocks, minerals, wildlife)

Examples of Industries: mining, forestry, oil and gas, agriculture, fishing, hunting, trapping

Primary Industries

Provinces of Canada and their Primary Industries using natural

resources

Natural Resource Industry

Newfoundland & Labrador

Nova Scotia

New Brunswick

Prince Edward Island

Quebec

Ontario

Manitoba

Saskatchewan

Alberta

British Columbia

Yukon Territory

Northwest Territories

Forestry X X X X XWater (Hydroelectric) X X X X X

Fishery X X X X XOil & Gas X XAgriculture X X X X X X X X XMining X X X X X X X X X

Labour - Lower number of people employed than other industry levels due to mechanization of the job (one person per big machine)

- Skilled labour due to the specialization of the job (college diploma and apprenticeship)

Secondary Refining Industries

Industries: Steel mills, paper mills, textile mills, plastic manufacturers, flour mill

- process raw materials into industrial products

Labour - Larger number of people employed than primary industry but still lower than manufacturing industry - Some college skilled

labour (steel milling), Often industry trained labour

-process industrial products into goods

Industries: car makers, garment industry, furniture makers, industrial bakers

Secondary Manufacturing Industry

Labour - Larger number of people in a factory - Often industry trained

labour, low skill labour

-provide services and distribution of final products to the market

Industries: retail sales, utilities, public administration, communications, health care, restaurants, etc…

Tertiary Industry

Labour - Large number of people

employed in this industry

- Labour skill varies: Low skill labour (ex cashier), college trained (ex. chef, paramedic),University trained (ex. accountant, pharmacist)

-provides intellectual services

Industries: Scientific research, information technology, consultants,

Quaternary Industry

Labour - Small of people

employed in this industry - Very highly trained

employees (many years of university)

Types of Industry• Do more Canadians work…

in agriculture?

or in education?

More than three times as many Canadians work in education than in agriculture!

Types of Industry

Types of Industry• Do more Canadians work…

in transportation

and warehousing?

or in forests

and mining?

More than twice as many Canadians work in transportation and warehousing than in forestry and mining.

Types of Industry

Types of Industry• Do more Canadians work…

in manufacturing?

or in wholesale

and retail trade?

More Canadians work in wholesale and retail trade than in manufacturing.

Types of Industry

Types of Industry

Most Canadian workers are not lumberjacks, farmers, or miners (that was more than 50 years ago); nor are they factory workers (that ended with high tech in the 1980’s).

Instead, most Canadians have jobs in which they provide an enormous range of services.

But all parts of the economy are vital…

Case Study:

The company you work for is Black and Decker. They close the factory in town. You have a town of 15 000 people. 500 people work at Black and Decker. This one plant closure causes over 2500 to lose their jobs

How do we get to 2500 losing their jobs if the plant only employed 500??