Canada

Think dynamic, think competitive, think bottom line, think Canada. Ranked by the Economist Intelligence Unit as the world’s most attractive business environment, Canada is the perfect choice for investors, offering the best combination of infrastructure, trade and market opportunities.

There are four pillars that support this: excellent economic fundamentals, easy access to markets, a cost-competitive business environment and a high standard of living.

Canada is expected to be the only G7 country to post a budget surplus in 2003, inflation hovers between 1% and 3% and the economy is expected to be among the fastest growing in the G7 during 2003/04.

As a member of the North American Free Trade Agreement, trade with the US continues to grow; it is already the biggest trading partnership in the world. The advent of the Free Trade Area of the Americas agreement will open markets further in Latin and South America. This will build on existing links with Europe and Asia.

In comparative terms, Canada also competes well on the basis of tax, R&D cost, quality of labour, management training, production costs and labour costs. Business costs in Canada’s major cities are consistently the lowest among major North American cities.

In the past five years, Canada has enjoyed the fastest improvement in living standards among G7 countries, yet still enjoys the lowest cost of living.