Canada [1] has one of the most unique economies in the world. It is highly regional in nature and relies heavily on the harvest and sale of its natural resources. Canada does this more so than any other member country of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) -- an organization consisting of the 29 most developed nations in the world. Canada is also a member of the G7, the seven largest most industrialized countries in the world. The other member countries [2] include the United States, Japan, Germany, France, England and Italy.
Although Canada has the largest geographic area of the seven, it has the smallest economy and population size. Canada's economy, for example, is about 1/10 the size of the US, and will have an annual total output of goods and services of about $900 billion at the end of 1999 [3] (GDP). This will produce a GDP per capita of approximately $30,000. Using this scale, Canada ranks tenth in the world, but if ranked by how many goods and services Canadians can buy with their income (PPP - purchasing power parity [4]) Canada is fifth -- par with the Germans. However, no matter what measure is used, Canada has of the best standards of living [5] in the world.
A Canada-wide measure of average income can be misleading when applied to different areas of the nation because differences in income [6] occur between provinces. Average income is highest in Ontario, Alberta, and British Columbia, and lowest in Newfoundland. For comparison, the average income [7] in Newfoundland is only about 60% of the income of the wealthiest province. To help reduce the provincial differences in income, the federal government has a variety of programs in place. The unemployment rate is higher in the eastern provinces than in Ontario or the western provinces. For example, in October 1998, the unemployment rate was 16.4% in Newfoundland, 6.4% in Ontario, and 5.2% in Saskatchewan. By comparison, the national unemployment rate was 7.4%. Consequently, one can further see why the eastern provinces are sometimes called the "have not" provinces, and Ontario and the western provinces are considered the "have" provinces.
Regional disparities are also noticeable with regard to employment rates [8] . At the turn of the millenium, the average rate for Canada was 59.7%. Newfoundland, however, had a mere 44.4%. Inequities also exist between male and female employment rates to the disadvantage of the latter. 66.2% of the male Canadians (15 years and over) were registered employed, whereas for women the rate was as low as 53.2%. Here, too, considerable regional differences exist. Nationwide, Alberta has the highest employment rates well above average, for men rating 74.9% and for women 61.2%.
If it comes to unemployment, the situation is not much different. For many years unemployment rates in the eastern provinces including Quebec and the Maritimes were noticeably higher than in Ontario [9] or the western provinces [10]. Newfoundland had a frightening rate of 16.5% in 1998, whereas Ontario had 6.4% and Saskatchewan even 5.2% in the same year with the national average of 7.4%. These few indicators demonstrate that the eastern provinces of Canada are in many respects the "have not" provinces, whereas Ontario and the West can definitely be found on the "have" provinces side.
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