Curriculum Canada's Economy
Canada's Economy
A resource-rich rich country beside a giant: an overview, the staples thesis, dependence on US trade, banks that survived 2008, the housing crisis, single-payer Medicare, the productivity problem, equalization payments, the Canada Pension Plan model, the carbon tax and ties with India.
- Canada at a Glance An overview of Canada's economy - its size, resources, services and immigration-driven population growth - and its place among rich countries. 📄 Read-aloud
- The Staples Thesis: Fur, Fish and Timber How economist Harold Innis argued Canada's development was shaped by exporting raw "staples" like fur, cod, timber and wheat, and the risks of staple dependence. 📄 Read-aloud
- Living Next to the US: Trade Dependence How around three-quarters of Canada's exports go to the US, the Auto Pact and free trade agreements, and how 2025 US tariffs tested the relationship. 📄 Read-aloud
- Why Canada's Banks Survived 2008 How Canada's concentrated, conservatively regulated banking system avoided failures in the 2008 crisis, and the trade-offs of a few big banks. 📄 Read-aloud
- Canada's Housing Affordability Crisis Why home prices in Toronto and Vancouver soared, how zoning, population growth and low interest rates contributed, and the policies Canada tried. 📄 Read-aloud
- Medicare: Canada's Single-Payer Health System How Canada's publicly funded health insurance covers essential care, how Tommy Douglas pioneered it in Saskatchewan, and the problem of long wait times. 📄 Read-aloud
- Canada's Economy: Checkpoint 1 Quick checkpoint - five questions on Canada's economy, the staples thesis, US trade, banks and housing. 5 questions
- Canada's Productivity Problem Why Canada's productivity and income per person have lagged the US, the reasons like low business investment and weak competition, and why the central bank called it an emergency. 📄 Read-aloud
- Equalization and Canadian Federalism How Canada's equalization programme transfers federal money to poorer provinces so they can provide comparable services, and the political tensions it creates. 📄 Read-aloud
- The Canada Pension Plan Investment Model How Canada reformed its public pension in the late 1990s and built large, professionally managed pension funds that invest worldwide, including in India. 📄 Read-aloud
- Canada's Carbon Tax Experiment How Canada introduced a national carbon price in 2019 with rebates to households, why the consumer carbon tax became politically unpopular, and why it was scrapped in 2025. 📄 Read-aloud
- Canada and India: Trade, Students and Tensions How the Indian diaspora, international students and pension investments link Canada and India, and how diplomatic tensions from 2023 affected ties. 📄 Read-aloud
- Lessons from Canada What Canada teaches about resource wealth, banking regulation, pensions, housing and policy design, and a recap of the module. 📄 Read-aloud