NA - Modern Economies and Review Lesson

Modern Economies and Review

Modern Economies

Given their proximity to one another, Canada and the Unites States are trading partners. Canada is rapidly moving toward a knowledge-based economy built on innovation and technology. Knowledge-intensive industries, such as biotechnology and information technology, are on the rise, and these are typically located in cities to facilitate partnering with universities and other researchers.

Although Canada is developing into a knowledge-based economy, the foundations of the Canadian economy have always been its abundant natural resources. Canada's primary industries have traditionally been agriculture, fishing, mining, fuel/energy, and logging/forestry. Success in tapping these natural resources for their economic benefit allowed the country to double in population since 1960 while the economy has increased sevenfold. Just as in the United States, the most dramatic structural change in the economy has been the rise of the service sector.

NAFTA, the 1994 trilateral agreement between Canada, the United States, and Mexico, was one of the most significant economic events in North American history. For Canada, the agreement meant more secure, stable access to US and Mexican markets. The agreement eliminated many tariffs; opened previously protected sectors in agriculture, energy, textiles, and automotive trade; and set specific rules for trade in services such as finance, transportation, and telecommunications. Perhaps most importantly for Canada, the agreement set rules for settling trade disputes.

As a result of geographical proximity and common language, the United States has a powerful influence on Canada and Canadian life. Since the vast majority of Canadians live very close to the US border, speak English as their first language, and share a great number of cultural similarities, American trends tend to be adopted by Canadians.

Canada is a great consumer of American popular culture. In fact, they consume so much American culture at one time that some Canadians believed or feared that Canadian culture was in danger of being extinguished. In response to these concerns, a law was passed and a watchdog agency created so that a certain percentage of all radio and television broadcasts emanating from Canadian radio and television stations had to originate in Canada or have significant Canadian content. Others were less worried about the impact of American pop culture on Canadian culture. This segment of the Canadian population felt that Canadians have long identified themselves in contrast to Americans; therefore, consuming American books, newspapers, television shows, and movies would only give Canadians a greater basis of comparison and thus strengthen the Canadian identity and perception of Canadian culture. Canadians differentiate themselves from Americans in legal issues, laws, and health care.

 

Review

• The United States and Canada were originally British colonies.
• Canada is a very large country with rich natural resources.
• Canada's population is relatively small and mostly lives in a narrow band in the southern part of the country.
• Canada's English and French bilingualism is part of its British and French colonial past.
• The French culture is dominant in Quebec.

 

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