Canada’s economy is so easy to understand – just look at the map of Canada!

Can you guess our relationship with the United States? If you guessed that we’re trading partners, you’re right.

Look at the map again: which other country do we trade with? If you said ‘Mexico’, you are right again. If you don’t believe me, all you need to do is go to the supermarket and check.

Now, what does Canada have a lot? Nature, nature, and more nature – we are lucky here. We have trees (so that means forest and forestry is a big industry). We have rivers, so hydro-electric energy is a big one as well (Do you know that there are several hydro-electric plants near Niagara Falls? As a tourist, you don’t see them though). Fishing is still there (think lobster). What do we grow? Apples, peaches, potatoes… and cows (think beef). And don’t forget grapes – to make the sweet ice wine.  That’s called ‘agriculture’, right? Now, that’s above the ground. How about under the ground? Let’s do some digging – it’s called ‘mining’. What did you find? Nickel, gold, diamonds. We are number one in the world when it comes to potash, and we are number two when it comes to uranium.

All the above are called ‘Natural Resources’ – they come from nature. And what do we do with all those riches? We mostly EXPORT them.

Now, let’s talk about manufacturing industries. People are usually surprised that Canada manufactures anything – go shopping and almost everything is made in… China! Well, Canada too manufactures some stuff: paper (we have a lot of trees, remember?), cars (automotive industry), technology (yes, we do!), some clothing and food (this is actually scary if you think about it – food should be grown, not manufactured).

Finally, the last but not the least: Service Industry.  75% of all jobs are in this industry. So if you are looking for work, chances are this is where you find it. What do you find here exactly? Transportation, education, health care (huge industry!!! fast-growing too), construction, banking (also a big one), communications (that’s your cellphone and Internet), retail services (do you like shopping?) and… government! (yes, in Canada, government is a service).

And that’s all you need to know about Canadian economy to pass the citizenship test. Easy, right?