Political factors affecting business in Canada

Canadian business environment is at first glance business-friendly 

First and foremost, Canadian politics is worldwide renowned as a model for many countries in the path to democracy. For one, the Canadian political system is based on a constitutional monarchy and a federal parliament (Parliament of Canada). Canada is a federal state, Commonwealth member and elected state and law authorities have to regulate the constitution.  This country is composed of ten provinces : Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Northwest Territories*, Nova Scotia, Nunavut*, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Québec, Saskatchewan, Yukon (CIA Factbook). Many political organisations take part in a vibrant political life (Conservative Party of Canada, Bloc Quebecois, Liberal Party, Green Party, New Democratic Party, People's Party of Canada…). Then, Canada is an industrialized and high-income economy with a gross domestic product estimated to $2.341 trillion and a gross national product per capita of $56,700. The North American nation can depend on a strong domestic market of 40 million consumers and the United States of America (the first economic power in the world) as their main trading partner. Moreover, Canada is a geological heaven :  Canadian subsoil is composed of nickel, iron ore, bauxite, nickel, copper, zinc, lead, gold, uranium, rare earth components, potash, molybdenum, diamonds, fish, silver, coal, timber,  petroleum, hydropower, natural gas. This natural wealth contributes to creating a vibrant oil and gas industries sector.

United States of America partnership or tutorship?

Duality between English-speaking Canadian and French-speaking Canadian is the main source of political factors affecting the business environment : since the founding of Canada, there has been a fierce rivalry between British loyalists descendants (English-speaking) and French-speaking Quebecois. Hence, Ottawa - Montréal political duality hampers the potential rise of Canada as one of the main superpower in the world.

Why ? Because of its duality with French-speaking political authorities of Quebec, Ottawa would rather give in its sovereignty for the United States of America interests : the Canadian economy is relying mainly on trade with the United States of America. The figures show us that 60 percent (60 %) of the Canadian GDP is related to trade with the United States of America whereas only twenty - three percent of US GDP is related to trade with Canada. Hence, Ottawa has run the risk of a tough slowdown in case of any trade war triggered by the United States of America. This fear is now real since the capricious Trump administration has taken over The White House at the end of 2024. English-speaking federal authorities have consciously refused strong and strategic partnerships with « the french speaking world », « European Union » because of their obsessive identity issue. Ottawa is fearing to hand over more influence to Quebec by building strong partnerships with the European Union, French-speaking world community…

The whole Canadian foreign policy (Ottawa) is focused on duality with Quebec Province (French-speaking authorities). Hence, Canada gave its sovereignty in the hands of Washington due to its obsessive identity issue (duality with Quebec) : for one, many major US American corporations have taken over strategic Canadian corporations (defence,....) and Ottawa has decided to give up its sovereignty in defence sector for becoming one of the main buyers of US defence industry. In fact, Ottawa prefers US reliance (English-speaking country and culture) to more sovereignty in order to prevent the rise of Quebec influence in foreign affairs.

•  Exportation of champagne to Canada 

Real estate crisis as a result of obsessive rivalry between Ottawa and Québec

Canada is coping with one the most important housing crises. The average vacancy across the country has been at its lowest rate (near 1.5%) since 1990's. There are many factors explaining this housing crisis such as environmental issues (more green spaces in urban areas), urban expansion, rising raw material prices, shortage of construction workers, changing real estate market rules.  According to the City of Toronto,  one and two bedroom(s) unit(s) apartment (s) costs went up to 51 % in five years[1] (2019 - 2024). Moreover, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation claims

3,5 million housing units should be introduced in the Canadian market by 2030 in order to slow real estate rising prices and why not trigger affordability…

One of the main Canadian government measures is curbing the number of visas for foreign students and at large some foreign workers for two years. Due to rivalry between Ottawa and Québec, both authorities have attracted so many immigrants (workers and students) for winning the demographic one to one (between Ottawa and Québec / Montréal): a demographic run between English-speaking authorities and French-speaking authorities from Quebec. 

The public debate has shifted somewhat to the demand side of the equation, rather than the supply side. So, Canadians used to regard immigrants as the cause of the real estate crisis but the problem is mainly located at political level. Civil society, local authorities and federal authorities have to find a balance between their standards and rules in real estate and building sectors and the ability of these sectors to deal with changing. That's why reaching such a balance  requires greater contribution from public stakeholders: Both French-speaking and English-speaking Canadian authorities had neoliberal policies that have taken root in housing, saying « let private investors respond, the private sector will be able to balance supply and demand ». However, we have to confess that this isn't true. Leadership from public stakeholders is still required. We observe that one of the new responses provided by municipalities is the conversion of empty, large office towers into apartments. The City of Calgary in Western Canada is one of the main leaders in this kind of building conversion.

•  The similarities and differences in the development of labour movements in different parts of Canada

We cannot say that duality between Ottawa and Québec is the source of all the economical problems that Canada has to deal with. However, it is a fact that authorities have mainly spent their forces into this useless rivalry. The consequences for the Canadian economy and sovereignty have been so bad…

CBC News (2024). We're in a housing crisis. Why are so many builds going bust ?  https://youtu.be/0Ydd6R9vv0c?si=H0GbqjBEQpndajKA.