Why Invest in Canada?

Canada Ranks first among G8 countries for:

Best overall quality of life
In a recent quality-of-life ranking of 215 world cities by Mercer Human Resources Consulting, five Canadian cities ranked among the top 25. Canada has the best overall quality of life among the G-8.

Safest Place to Live
Canada leads the G-8 in terms of the safest place to live and conduct business with the most fairly administered judicial system.

Lowest Cost of Living
Canada has the lowest cost of living among the G-8.

Best in Addressing Environmental Concerns
As measured by the Environmental Performance Index (EPI), Canada’s ranks 2nd in the G-8 and 8th in a 133-country study in terms of effectively reducing environmental stresses on human health and promoting ecosystem vitality and sound natural resource management.

Strong Fiscal Policies Resulting In:

AAA credit rating: According to Moody’s Financial Strength ratings, Canadian banks rank first among the G8 in terms of their intrinsic credit worthiness.

9 Straight Budget Surpluses: Canada has been the only G8 country running surplus budgets in recent years. The 2006 Canadian budget plan projected the country’s 9th straight surplus — the longest stretch of surpluses since Canada became a country in 1867.

Even in this recent economic down Turn Canada has been less effected than any other country in the world. With strong fiscal banking regulation Canadian Banks were not affected by the Banking crisis that hit the world.

A Wealth in Resources and the safest Resource based country in the World
Canada’s oil reserves, totaling 180 billion barrels, are second in the world, placing Canada ahead of Iraq and Iran and behind Saudi Arabia.

Canada is the third largest producer of natural gas in the world and ranks ninth in the production of crude oil.

Strong Technological Infrastructure: Technological Infrastructure: Canada ranked ahead of Japan and far out front of the Germany, U.K., and France. Source: World Competitive Yearbook, 2009

Broadband Use: Canada leads the G8 in broadband or high-speed Internet use.

The Canadian Dollar

Four years after it hit an all-time low, the Canadian dollar has since been riding a steady escalator up. Since January 2002, the once-lowly Canadian dollar has gained 45 per cent against the currency it’s most concerned with – the American dollar.

By May 2006, the dollar had broken through the 90-cent US level – its highest rate since 1978. Despite rising all the way from its all-time low of 62 cents US in early 2002, many economists are saying there’s still room for the Canadian dollar to keep rising.

Many analysts say Canadian dollar will exceed parity with its U.S counterpart – something that hasn’t happened since 1976

While the international flight from the U.S. dollar to other currencies affects that currency, Canada’s economic performance plays a big role in boosting the Canadian dollar. Canada’s jobless rate was at a 32-year low of 6.3 per cent in early 2009, as more than 330,000 jobs had been created in the previous year. Growth in GDP is running at more than 2.5 per cent.

Another factor that has helped to push up the Canadian dollar is rising commodity prices – especially a run-up in the price of oil. As a net exporter of oil, Canada is seen as benefiting overall from record oil prices.

But it’s not just oil. Canada exports huge amounts of nickel, copper, aluminum and zinc. All of these commodities are at or near record highs. With commodities accounting for 35 per cent of Canada’s exports, the Canadian dollar is seen around the world as a “commodity-based currency,” and has been bid up accordingly.