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This article provides information about the relationship between development and equality:
It can be observed that the educational achievements acquired by Canadians over the past 50 years has enormous. The proportion of individuals with a university degree, for example, surged tenfold, from 2% of the population aged 25 and above in 1951 to 20% in 2001, while the share of Canadians with less than grade 9 plunged from 55% to 11%.
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The trend towards university education was evident during the 1990s: the proportion of individuals aged 25 and over with a university degree rose from 15% to 20% between 1991 and 2001.
Three development patterns – a global and technologically advanced economy where wealth is created by increasingly well-trained workers, the arrival of highly skilled immigrants in the 1990s and uncertain labour market conditions during the recessions of the early 1990s – emphasised higher education. Canadians enjoy a high standard of living. “The usual estimates place Canadian GP per capita 5% to 15% below the US level and roughly equal to that in the North European democracies.”
In the fourth quarter of the year 2003, economic growth advanced 0.9%, with exports being the main contributor to growth. Canadians continued to spend more on travel services and demand for industrial goods and materials strengthened 3.9% as manufacturers’ activities increased. Consumer spending was the greatest contributor to growth in 2003. Growth in personal spending (+3.3%) matched the average growth of the last decade and was similar to the growth of 2002. Furniture and floor covering sales remained strong (+8.1 %) influenced by the housing boom but slowed from the previous year.
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Labour income grew 3.4%, the lowest growth since 1996. Although employment growth was weak at the beginning of 2003, a surge at the end of the year boosted labour income in the fourth quarter. Employment growth in the services-producing industries exceeded growth in the goods-producing industries. Disposable income grew by 2.8%, about half of the increase in personal expenditures (nominal basis). As a result, saving by the personal sector plummeted and the saving rate fell to 2.0%, the lowest in decades. Net household borrowing increased $43 billion in 2003 following an increase of $ 16 billion in 2002.
We should not, however, conclude from the above analysis that Canada represents a homogeneous society based on equality. The reality points towards a number of regional problems related to unequal economy. The five traditional regions of Canada have significantly different industrial structures. The manufacturing sector is the most important field of activity in Ontario and Quebec, agriculture, petroleum and mining in the Prairies, fishing and agriculture in the Maritimes, and forestry and fishing in British Columbia.
These regional disparities or regional differences in per capita income have remained more or less constant, inequalities among the incomes of individual Canadians are in fact much greater. Although some people enjoyed increases in wealth over the 1984 to 1999 period, others did not, with the result that during this period, wealth distribution became more unequal. A study (Reme Marissette, Xuelin Zhand and Marie Drole, “Are families getting richer”?) conducted to analyse wealth inequalities concluded that in fact the trend was more towards unequal wealth distribution.
Some groups, such as young couples with children and recent immigrants, have suffered substantial declines. The growing proportion of young couples with children, who have zero or negative wealth suggests that a non-negligible fraction of today’s young families may be vulnerable to negative shocks, having no accumulated savings that can provide liquidity in periods of economic stress.
There is a need to modify policies aimed at redistribution, keeping in mind the social framework of society, i.e., there should be more equality in distribution of wealth. But the same trend is evident in other developed countries. Moreover, Canada is not only a world leader in telecom innovation, connectivity, software development and the Internet economy and is also popular for its wood products for construction, renovation and interior decoration. India is an important trading partner of Canada. Bilateral trade between India and Canada almost tripled in the last decade to reach C$ 2.2 billion in 2003. India has been and remains one of Canada’s priority markets and an emerging source of foreign direct investment into Canada.
Exports to India grew from $674 million in 2002 to $ 733 million in 2003, an increase of 8.7%. Significant increases were recorded for paper, aircraft, fertilizer, iron and steel and textiles (sports wear). Canada’s main exports to India include telecom equipment, peas, pulses, potash and wood- pulp”. Indian exports to Canada increased from $ 1.3 billion in 2002 to $ 1.4 billion in 2003. Exports to Canada are predominantly apparel, yarns and fabric, precious stones, spices, leather items and frozen seafood.