? By implementing Canada Infrastructure Works, the national infrastructure program, this contributes to the successful renewal of our basic infrastructure
3.2.3.3 Social Development Indicators
A recent independent study by the consulting firm KPMG confirmed that Canada’s social programs represent an important competitive edge for Canadian businesses as well. For example, employer-paid health insurance premiums in Canada amount to only 1 percent of gross pay, compared with 8.2 percent in the United States. The immigrant population in Canada is steadily rising year after year; refer to appendix ?C? for a graph outlining Indian immigration in target areas.
3.2.4 Legal/Regulatory
Within the limits set out by the Constitution, laws can be made or changed by means of written statutes enacted by Parliament or a provincial or territorial legislature. Any Member of Parliament or a legislature may propose a new law, but most new laws are put forward by the government in power. A proposed law must be presented for consideration by all members, who study and debate it. The proposal becomes a statute only if it is approved by the majority. Federal laws must be approved by both Houses of Parliament: the House of Commons and the Senate. These traditions form the basis of Canada’s legal heritage. Over time, they have been adapted to meet Canadian needs. The courts interpret the law in a way that reflects changing conditions and circumstances. Canada’s Constitution is the supreme law of the country, and it establishes the framework for the system of law and justice. It sets out the basic rights of individuals in Canada, and defines the nature and powers of the federal and provincial governments. Under Canada’s federal system of government, the authority to make laws is divided between the Parliament of Canada and the provincial legislatures. The court system of each province is generally divided into two levels. At the first level is the Provincial Court, which deals with most criminal offences. This level may also include Small Claims courts, which deal with private disputes involving limited sums of money, and Youth and Family courts. Judges at this level are appointed by the provinces. At the second level is the provincial Superior Court, which deals with the trial of the most serious criminal and civil cases. Above this level of court is the provincial Court of Appeal, which hears appeals from the lower courts. Judges at these levels are appointed by the federal government.
3.2.4 Fiscal Characteristics
Canada?s budget revenues $79.2 billion expenditures $102.0 billion, including capital expenditures of $1.8 billion. Industrial production growth rate is 2.3%. Exports totaled $127.2 billion, commodities traded include; newsprint, wood pulp, timber, grain, crude petroleum, natural gas, ferrous and nonferrous ores, motor vehicles. Their main trading partners include US, Japan, UK, FRG, other EC, and USSR. Imports totaled $116.5 billion, commodities traded included; processed foods, beverages, crude petroleum, chemicals, industrial machinery, motor vehicles, durable consumer goods, electronic computers. Their main trading partners included; US, Japan, UK, FRG, other EC, Taiwan, South Korea, Mexico. The current external debt is $247 billion.
3.2.6 Physical Infrastructure
Occupying the northern half of the North American continent, Canada has a landmass of 9 970 610 km2, making it the second-largest country in the world after Russia. From east to west, Canada encompasses six time zones. To the south, Canada shares an 8892 km boundary with the United States. To the north, the Arctic islands come within 800 km of the North Pole. Canada’s neighbour across the Arctic Ocean is Russia. Because of the harsh northern climate, only 12 percent of the land is suitable for agriculture. Thus, most of the population of 30 million live within a few hundred kilometers of the southern border, where the climate is milder, in a long thin band stretching between the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans. Canada has one-seventh of the world’s fresh water. In addition to the Great Lakes, which it shares with the United States, Canada has many large rivers and lakes. Canada is divided into seven regions, each with a very different landscape and climate.
1.The Pacific Coast
Bathed by warm, moist Pacific air currents, the British Columbia coast, indented by deep fiords and shielded from Pacific storms by Vancouver Island, has the most moderate climate of Canada’s regions. Vancouver Island’s west coast receives an exceptional amount of rain, giving it a temperate rain forest climate. Although it does not contain the diversity of species of a tropical rain forest, the island’s west coast does have the oldest and tallest trees in Canada: Western Red Cedars 1300 years old and Douglas firs 90 m high.
2. The Cordillera
From British Columbia to just east of the Alberta border the land is young, with rugged mountains and high plateaus. Signs of geologically recent volcanic activity can be seen in Garibaldi Provincial Park in southern British Columbia and at Mount Edziza in the north. The Rocky Mountains, the Coastal Mountains and other ranges, running north to south, posed major engineering problems for the builders of the transcontinental railways and highways. Canada’s highest peaks, however, are not in the Rockies, but in the St. Elias Mountains, an extension of the Cordillera stretching north into the Yukon and Alaska. The highest point in Canada, Mount
Logan (6050 m) rises amid a huge ice field in the southwest corner of Yukon, the largest icecap south of the Arctic Circle. The British Columbia interior varies from alpine snowfields to deep valleys where desert-like conditions prevail. On the leeward side of the mountains, for example, a rain-shadow effect is created, forcing Okanogan Valley farmers to irrigate their orchards and vineyards.
3. The Prairies
To drive across the Prairies is to see endless fields of wheat ripening under a sky that seems to go on forever. The plains of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba are among the richest grain-producing regions in the world. Yet, even here are surprises. If you leave the road at Brooks, Alberta, and drive north, you descend into the Red Deer River Valley. Here, in desert-like conditions, water and wind have created strange shapes in the sandstone called “hoodoos.” The same forces of erosion have uncovered some of the largest concentrations of dinosaur fossils in the world.
4. The Canadian Shield
A huge inland sea called Hudson Bay extends into the heart of Canada, and wrapped around this bay is a rocky region called the Canadian Shield. Canada’s largest geographical feature, it stretches east to Labrador, south to Kingston on Lake Ontario and northwest as far as the Arctic Ocean. The Shield is considered the nucleus of the North American continent. Its gneiss and granite rocks are 3.5 billion years old, three-quarters the age of the Earth. Scraped by the advance and retreat of glaciers, the Shield has only a thin layer of soil that supports a boreal forest of spruce, fir, tamarack and pine. The region is a storehouse of minerals, including gold, silver, zinc, copper and uranium.
5. The Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Lowlands
Southern Quebec and Ontario, the industrial heartland of Canada, contain Canada’s two largest cities, Montreal and Toronto. In this small region, 50 percent of Canadians live and 70 percent of Canada’s manufactured goods are produced. The region also has prime agricultural land, for example, the Niagara Peninsula. The large expanses of lakes Erie and Ontario extend the number of frost-free days, permitting the cultivation of grapes, peaches, pears and other fruits. The Great Lakes and St. Lawrence region is sugar maple country. In the autumn, the sugar maple leaves, Canada’s national symbol, are ablaze in red, orange and gold. The sap is collected in spring and evaporated to make maple syrup and sugar, a culinary delicacy first prepared and used by the Aboriginal North American peoples.
6. The Atlantic Provinces-Appalachian Region
New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland are the smallest Canadian provinces, and were the first to be settled by Europeans. The Grand Banks have been called the “wheat fields” of Newfoundland. This shallow continental shelf extends 400 km off the east coast, where the mixing of ocean currents has created one of the richest fishing grounds in the world. Once thought to contain a virtually inexhaustible supply of fish, the Banks are now considered a vulnerable resource that must be wisely managed. The Atlantic Provinces are an extension of the Appalachians, an ancient mountain range. Much of the region has low, rugged hills and plateaus and a deeply indented coastline. Agriculture flourishes in the fertile valleys, such as the Saint John River Valley, in New Brunswick, and the Annapolis Valley, in Nova Scotia. Prince Edward Island in the Gulf of St. Lawrence has a gently rolling landscape with a rich, red soil. This fertile island is Canada’s smallest province, making up a mere 0.1 percent of Canada’s land mass.
7. The Arctic
North of the tree line is a land of harsh beauty. During the short summer, when daylight is nearly continuous and a profusion of flowers blooms on the tundra, the temperature can reach 30oC. Yet, the winters are long, bitterly cold and dark. The Arctic is no longer an inaccessible frontier. Inuvik, in the Mackenzie delta, can be reached by road, and every community is served by air. Most have electricity, stores and health services. North of the mainland is a maze of islands separated by convoluted straits and sounds, the most famous of which link together to form the fabled Northwest Passage, the route to the Orient sought by so many early explorers.
3.2.7 Commercial Infrastructure
3.2.7.1 Transportation
Though Canada is the world?s second largest country, Canada ranks 28th in terms of population. With a population density of approximately three persons per square kilometer, Canada?s 30 million people are scattered across an area that is more than 10 million square kilometers in size, stretching 5,500 kilometers from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific. Canada?s domestic routes are served by its two major carriers, Air Canada and Canadian Airlines International, and their regional affiliates, as well as by smaller independent operators that use both jet and propeller-driven equipment. In 1997, some 1,502 licensed domestic carriers provided scheduled and charter services throughout the country. Scheduled international services to and from 60 countries are provided based on bilateral agreements between Canada and each country. The 1995 ?Open Skies? agreement with the United States, for example, has provided Canadians with significantly improved access to major U.S. business destinations. New international all-cargo air services policies have recently been announced for both scheduled and chartered flights to provide shippers and air carriers with additional opportunities and more flexibility for moving cargo by air. Canada has more automobiles per person than any other country in the world except the United States, with at least one automobile for every two Canadians. Today there are more than 900,000 kilometers of roads and highways; the national highway system is over 24,000 kilometers in length. Canada also boasts the longest highway in the world ? the Trans-Canada Highway ? and the busiest section of highway in the world ? Highway 401 through the Greater Toronto Area. Roads also support one of the most highly used forms of cargo transportation; in 1997, about 86 per cent of total freight surface revenues in Canada were generated by the trucking industry. An estimated 118,000 large trucks that haul freight commercially; trucking revenues and services (including for-hire, private and courier) were valued at approximately $31 billion in 1996. Railways continue to play an important part in Canada?s transportation network. Canadian National Railway (CN) and Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) are responsible for operating most of Canada?s rail freight services. VIA Rail Canada, a federal Crown corporation provides passenger rail service. Approximately 46 Canadian railways operate on some 50,000 route kilometers of track. In 1996, some 4 million-rail passengers traveled a total of 1.46 billion passenger-kilometers. Railways account for 280 billion tonne-kilometres of freight.
3.2.7.2 Communication
As households go in Canada you would be hard pressed to find a home without one phone let alone 2 or 3. Increasingly as phone companies compete for business both local and long distance the occurrence of numerous phones and/or phone lines per house increases. In addition, everywhere you look someone has a cellular phone, talk and go society. As phone communication moves to the digital age with digital phones in the home and portable phones it will become increasingly affordable and useful for everyone to have one. In addition, lets not forget the every growing Internet and its email and Internet phone capabilities. Almost 85% of people who own a computer are currently one way or another hooked to an Internet provider.
3.2.8 Product Fit with Market
Every growing immigrant populations say to us that we need to help the immigrants stay in touch with their culture. We feel that there is an untapped market in the Indian community for a store that will provide original clothing, materials, household products and artifacts.
3.2.9 Competitive Barriers
Our main competitors, when considering the import of textiles into Canada, are Indian weavers, dyers and craftspeople that may begin to export their own authentically made textiles. The textile shops that we plan to open will have only authentic Indian textile rugs and materials include; silks, wool, cashmere, cotton and more. Our stores will emphasize the culture, tradition and quality craftsmanship associated with the textiles and designs and patters found on them. Other competitors may include those that sell “rip-offs” of our product but the quality of such products will not compare to the quality and craftsmanship of our products.
3.2.10 Risk Considerations
The major risks involved in importing Indian textiles are the costs involved. In order to sell textiles profitably, we are convinced that shops and boutiques should be opened in downtown Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal. Rent in these types of areas can get costly. Distribution costs should also be considered. Another risk to consider is the consumer’s impression or receptiveness to the product. We are depending not only on Indian Canadians to purchase the product but also Canadians in general.
4.1 Market/Customer Characteristics
4.1.1 General
Canada has a population of approximately 31 280 000 people. Immigrants now living in Canada represent 1/6 of the Canadian population. Indians represent a sizable amount of the immigrant population. These Indian immigrants as well as anyone interested in authentic Indian textiles will be our target market. Tourists and Americans (Seattle for instance is near Vancouver) we hope will also take an interest in our store. This of course is dependent on location. Our shops will ideally be located downtown Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver where quality and uniqueness will be emphasized.
4.1.2 Domestic Mass Market
Canada’s GDP per capita is approximately $23 300. The unemployment is below 7.6%, which is low and the labour force comprises 16 million people. 75% of the labour force works in services, 16% in manufacturing, construction 5%, agriculture 3% and other 1%.
4.1.3 Cultural Characteristics
Multiculturalism is a fundamental characteristic of Canadian society. Our society has always been pluralist and diverse and is bound to become even more so. Already approximately two-fifths of the Canadian population has one origin other than British, French or Aboriginal. In 1971, Canada became the first country in the world to adopt a multiculturalism policy. In 1986, the government passed the Employment Equity Act and in 1988, it passed the Canadian Multiculturalism Act. Founded on a long tradition of Canadian human rights legislation, the Multiculturalism Policy affirms that Canada recognizes and values its rich ethnic and racial diversity. The Canadian Multiculturalism Act gives specific direction to the federal government to work toward achieving equality in the economic, social, cultural and political life of the country. Through its multiculturalism policy, the government wants to help build a more inclusive society based on respect, equality and the full participation of all citizens, regardless of race, ethnic origin, language or religion. In a recent report of the UNESCO World Commission on Culture and Development, Canada’s approach to multiculturalism was cited as a model for other countries. Canada is recognized today as a world leader in this field.
4.2 Market Opportunity
By using the knowledge of the native people we plan to start or business ventures with, we feel we are getting first hand expertise in the company, which will benefit in sales, pre-purchase information for customers and post purchase services such as specific cleaning instructions for certain goods. We feel by working together with the native Indian people we ca tap Canada’s diversity because it is increasingly recognized as an asset in both the domestic and the international market, and as a major contributor to Canadian economic prosperity. The Conference Board of Canada has worked with other business, industry and trade associations to identify new ways for Canadian organizations to use Canada’s linguistic and cultural diversity to their advantage at home and abroad. In addition, the Business Development Bank of Canada consults regularly with ethno cultural business associations in major centers. Canada’s multicultural nature will become even more of an asset in the emerging global economy. Canadian companies already recognize the benefits and are drawing on the cultural diversity of our work force to obtain the language and cultural skills needed to compete successfully in international markets.