Canada on the Rise

the last issue on the Economist had a great special report on Canada.

some interesting stats:
- canada now has the second largest proven oil reserves (after saudi arabia). this is good news for the world
- canada has a really strong economy and is basically the only G8 country with no debt. it had had the highest growth of any G8 country in the last five years and it has tons of natural resources

but more importantly, Canada is very immigrant friendly. i think that is one of the most important criteria for future economic growth. i was in Toronto in August and i was amazed at the city's diversity. Vancouver is also one of the most diverse cities in the world. the Pew Center did a polls of people in different countries and asked "Are immigrants a good or bad influence on your country?" -- almost 80% of Canadians said they were a good influence (as compared to about 50% in the U.S. and only 35% in Germany).

forget China ... if i was looking to move to a new land to strike it rich i'd choose Canada ...

Comments

[Jeremy Dann]

Canada, a country with no debt? Sorry, you can't afford universal healthcare and all of those hockey camps without running some deficits and piling up debt.

http://canadianeconomy.gc.ca/english/economy/index.cfm

In the scheme of welfare states, it has a pretty manageable debt for a nation of 32 million people...of course, when you convert that to American, it's the equivalent of about 22 million people.