Canada-Economic and political outline

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Published: 06 Oct 2008 17:36:28 PST

Economic indicators

GDP Indicators	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008
GDP (billions USD)	993.938	1135.454	1275.283	1406.43	1527.764
GDP (constant prices, annual % change)	3.1	3.1	2.8	2.5	2.3
GDP per capita (USD)	31112.003	35199.005	39141.328	42738.206	45883.958
General government balance (in % of GDP)	0.8	1.6	1	0.9	0.9
Inflation rate (%)	1.8	2.2	2	2.2	1.9
Unemployment rate (% of the labor force)	7.7	7.7
Current Account (billions USD)	7.7	7.7
Current Account (in % of GDP)	22.369	23.074	20.792	25.603	17.909

Source: IMF - World Economic Outlook Database

Note: (e) Estimated data

Breakdown of economic activity by sector	Agriculture	Industry	Services
Value added (annual % change)	6.80855	3.928204	2.817271
Value added (in % of GDP)
Employment by sector(in % of total employment)	2.8%	22.5%	74.7%

Source: - last available data.

Foreign trade indicators	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006
Imports of goods (millions USD)	227410	244891	279880.1	320517	356539.2
Exports of goods (millions USD)	263908.2	285067.9	330105.7	374308.4	404319.7
Imports of services (millions USD)	45069.46	52227.06	58913.98	64956.28	72493.63
Exports of services (millions USD)	40481.21	43777.7	49110.62	53646.99	57487.09
Imports of goods and services (annual % change)	1.538572	4.092182	8.134843
Exports of goods and services (annual % change)	0.994265	-2.094254	4.984959
Trade Balance (millions USD)	36498.19	40176.88	50225.55	53791.44	47780.45
Current Account (millions USD)	12603.99	10315.11	21156.78	26554.94	21441.02
Foreign trade (in % of GDP)	79.46209	72.92087	73.06872		72.92087
Imports of goods and services (in % of GDP)	37.54979	34.53262	34.4338
Exports of goods and services (in % of GDP)	41.9123	38.38825	38.63491

Source:

To see more products: More imports (Intracen Data)
More exports (Intracen Data)

Economic Organizations: Statistics Canada
Bank of Canada
Montreal Stock Exchange
Canadian Stock Review
TSX Group - Toronto Stock Exchange
Ministries: Treasury Board of Canada
Department of Finance Canada
Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada (DFAIT)
Online newspapers: Ottawa business journal
Canadian Content
Le Devoir
On-line Canadian newspapers
Les Affaires
Search Engines: Altavista Canada
Yahoo! Canada
AOL Canada
Canada 411
CAN Links
Francité
La Page Montréal
La Toile du Québec
Maple Square
Sympatico (Lycos)
The Canadianeh
Trouvez
Economic portals: Économie sociale du Québec (Quebec social economy)

Executive Power: Queen Elizabeth II is the Head of State. She appoints the Governor General of the country for 5 years. The Governor General appoints the Prime Minister as well as the Ministry (however, this is chosen by the Prime Minister). The Prime Minister is the head of the government. He holds the executive power. The leader of the majority party or coalition in the House of Commons is automatically chosen to be Prime Minister. The Prime Minister and his Ministry stay in power as long as they have the support of the majority in the House of Commons.
Legislative Power: The legislative power in Canada is composed of a two-chamber federal parliament made up of: the Senate (upper house) whose members are appointed by the Governor General on the advice of the Prime Minister; the House of Commons (lower house), whose members are elected by universal suffrage. The Governor General calls a general election when the Prime Minister advises him to do so. Most legislative practices are derived from the British Parliament.
Main political parties: The four main parties in Canada are: the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC), the Liberal Party of Canada (LPC), the New Democratic Party (NDP), and the Bloc Québécois.
Current political leaders: Governor General: Michaelle JEAN (since September 2005)
Prime Minister: Stephen HARPER (since February 2006) Conservative Party
Next election dates: House of Commons: January 2011