Canadian Packaging Machinery Market Research Report - PMMI

Table 1.4: Canadian Merchandise Trade 2002: Export Destinations and Import
Sources
Country
Exports Imports
C$ Millions Percent C$ Millions Percent
United States $348,383.7 84.8 $254,688.3 71.5
Japan 9,706.9 2.4 11,735.6 3.3
United Kingdom 5,905.8 1.4 10,311.0 2.9
Other European
Economic Community
Countries
15,304.6 3.7 25,833.5 7.3
Other OECD Countries 11,026.6 2.7 19,480.6 5.5
Other Countries 20,359.0 5.0 34,060.4 9.6
Total Merchandise
Trade
Source: Statistics Canada
$410,686.5 100.0 $356,109.3 100.0
1.5 POLITICAL/ECONOMIC ISSUES
Canada is a politically stable nation, although it is currently undergoing a change in
the leadership of the political party that governs Canada. By early 2004, Prime
Minister Jean Chretien, leader of the Federal Liberal Party, will, in all likelihood, be
replaced as leader of the party by Paul Martin. This leadership change will make Mr.
Martin Canada’s next Prime Minister.
For the past four decades Canada has been faced with a substantial portion of the
Province of Quebec’s population who want to separate from Canada. However, the
threat of Quebec’s succession from Canada has been substantially reduced as a
result of the last Quebec provincial election. In April 2003, the Provincial Liberal
Party, led by Jean Charet, defeated the Parti Québécois, a party that pursued a
separatist agenda.
For Canada, 2002 marked the eleventh consecutive year of economic growth. Real
gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 2.4 per cent in the first
quarter of 2003, a faster pace than the 1.6 per cent it experienced during the fourth
quarter of 2002. But as a whole, real GDP grew 3.4 per cent in 2002, which was
more than double the rate of 2001, and higher than the 2.4 per cent growth posted in
the United States. In 2002, Canada attained the best performance amongst the G-8
group of developed nations in terms of output growth and job creation. Even though
short-term economic prospects remain vulnerable to certain impacts, such as Middle
East uncertainty, SARS, and Mad Cow disease, most analysts expect continued
growth in 2003. Canada is expected to lead the G-8 in terms of output as growth is
forecast to reach 2.2 per cent in 2003. The Royal Bank of Canada predicts that the
Canadian economy will see growth of 3.4 per cent in 2004.
The foundation upon which Canada’s economic performance was built in 2002 was
the consumer, as employment growth and pent-up demand for durables drove the
SMG/Columbia Consulting Group Page 7