The Canadian oil sands are an enormous reserve of non-conventional oil. Because of the high oil price, the difficult extraction process has become economically viable. Energy companies, including Royal Dutch Shell, are investing billions of dollars. The regional economy is overheating – and opponents point to environmental damage.
Waterloo-based tech company Research in Motion has revolutionized corporate communication with its mobile e-mail service, BlackBerry. Users love the addictive gadget. But a patent dispute threatens to disrupt the Canadian success story.
Because of growing oil production in Canada, the Canadian dollar is increasingly seen as a ‘petro currency’. The loonie rises with the oil price, causing the competitive position of Canada’s industrial exports sector to erode. As a result, the Canadian economy has been diagnosed with ‘Dutch disease’.
The family business of Harry Voortman is one of the largest independent cookie makers in Canada. The well-known cookies of the Dutch immigrant are sold across the country. Now, Voortman is a leader in North America in removing trans fats from its products, positioning the cookies as a healthy alternative.
Canada is home to one of the largest oil reserves in the world, the Alberta oil sands. Extracting oil from the vast resource is tricky, costly and hard on the environment. Still, oil majors are investing billions of dollars in the tar sands, as exploitation “now makes economic sense.”
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