With a high quality of life, low cost of living and business-friendly economy, Canada is a great place to live and run a business.
The Economic Intelligence Unit forecast that, of the G8 countries, Canada would be the best place to do business between 2008 and 2012.
In the wider comparison with countries in Europe, North America and Asia Pacific, Canada was deemed the cheapest place to buy land for industrial facilities and to construct them
Canada’s economy grew by a healthy 2.7% in 2007, to which the construction, retail, wholesale, finance and insurance sectors contributed significantly. In KPMG’s 2006 Competitive Report, Canada led the G8 countries in terms of business costs, and had a 5.5% advantage over the US, although this has been eroded since by a strong appreciation in the value of the Canadian dollar against the US dollar.
Cheap
In the wider comparison with countries in Europe, North America and Asia Pacific, Canada was deemed the cheapest place to buy land for industrial facilities and to construct them. A significant exporter of energy, it was the cheapest place for electricity along with France.
Canada also performed strongly in terms of the expense of undertaking research and development, offering considerable tax incentives. And speaking of tax, Canada’s corporate tax rate of 36.1% is higher than the EU average of 25.04% and the OECD average of 28.31%, but lower than the US rate of 40%.
Of the cities compared, the cheapest to do business was Sherbrooke in Quebec, followed by Moncton in New Brunswick, Charlottetown in Prince Edward Island and Halifax in Novia Scotia.
The North American Free Trade (NAFTA) agreement, signed in 1992 by Canada, the US and Mexico, created the world’s largest free trade area. Eliminating tariffs and investment restrictions over a 15-year period, the agreement has made doing business in North America easier and more lucrative.
Under the NAFTA Canada has direct access to the North American market, which is rather helpful given that many Canadian production hubs are actually closer to US markets than American equivalents; of Canada’s 20 largest cities, 17 are within an hour-and-a-half’s drive of the US.
According to Mercer Human Resource Consulting’s annual quality-of-living survey in 2007, which studied more than 350 world cities, Vancouver is the third best city in the world to live in terms of quality of life, with Toronto (15th), Ottawa (18th), Montreal (22nd) and Calgary (24th) Canada’s other representatives in the top 25. Canada ranks sixth on the human development index, which measures life expectancy, educational advancement and real income. Canada also ranks highest among the G8 countries for environmental sustainability, safe working and living conditions and a fair judicial system.
