Canada’s Fastest Growing Industries

As the world’s ninth riches country, Canada was one of the few to come out of the pandemic with some growth – and much of this has come from the industries that are providing employment, adding to the GDP, and ensuring that trade remains viable between Canada and other markets.

Some of the biggest industries in Canada might surprise you, while others will be quite obvious – but all of them work together to ensure that despite problems like the ever-increasing cost of living and the resulting lack of disposable income, the Canadian economy is still growing, albeit not as fast as elsewhere.

Top Eight Fastest Growing Industries in Canada

While the below might not be the biggest industries in terms of total revenue, employment, or taxation, they are the industries where revenue growth (shown as a percentage) has increased in 2022. They are:

• Travel Agencies – 28.3%
• Semiconductor Machinery – 20.9%
• Automobile Wholesaling – 18.4%
• Scheduled Air Transportation – 15.02%
• Hotels/Motels – 13.1%
• E-Commerce and Online Auctions – 11.2%
• Movie Theatres – 10.5%
• Cannabis Production

Travel and Tourism

After the global lockdown, the reopening of borders and the ability to travel and be a tourist again has led to the obvious growth in the sectors of economy that supports this.

Travel agencies, flights, car hire, hotels, motels – even Airbnb and similar have all seen a large uptick in revenue because people want to vacation again. Whether that is staying in the same country or venturing to a new continent – Canada’s borders are open for tourism, and this means enormous potential for an economic boost.

Entertainment

Movie Theatres have made the list of growth industries, for similar reasons to the travel and tourism industry – we can go to them now.

Of course, the movies being released from Hollywood production companies and the indie film makers are an important part of this – no one is going to see a film that doesn’t cut the mustard.

Let’s not forget the online casino, though. While not a growth industry compared to the rest, the accessibility of online casinos for people to play poker and other games has meant that they have remained available to all.

International online casino operators have served the Canadian population well, and in 2022 Ontario made it even more profitable when they started licensing and regulating providers. Canadian businesses can now apply for (and pay for) a license to offer online casino and sports betting options to Ontarians – and taxes can be collected, boosting that local economy for the good of everyone living there.

Cannabis

The growth of the cannabis industry really started when it was legalised back in 2018. By taking the production and sale of cannabis to those who were doing it legally, less money is going to the criminal element, and again the government can both regulate and tax the activity.

Growth might not be as high as elsewhere – mainly because of natural stagnation following a meteoric rise at first legalisation, but the proof that it was a good move for the economy at least comes in the form of a 10.5% revenue growth in 2022.

The Old Faithful’s

While we are always interested in seeing what the unexpected growth industries are, it is always worth mentioning the more traditional revenue creation that Canada does as a country.

Abut a third of the GDP of Canada comes from imports and exports. Working with behemoths like the US, China, and the UK, Canada has an excellent trade record – and some brilliant products to share with the world.

Canada’s top export to the US is crude petroleum – which is probably not surprising. Canada is home to a rich oil and gas extraction industry. From the US, the biggest import is cars – from luxury American muscle to inexpensive family vehicles and everything in between.

With China, Canada trades coal for computers. The technology on offer in China is cheaper that elsewhere, with a similar level of innovation that we are used to seeing from Silicon Valley – and the coal mined in Canada is much more prolific and therefore relatively inexpensive, even with transport costs.

Canada sends the UK the results of their mining for gold, silver, copper, and nickel – precious commodities like pearls, coins, and metals. In return they import machinery, boilers, and nuclear reactors.

Growth in the Future

The figures that showed Canada emerging from lockdown with a 3.2% overall economy growth in 2022 do show that there will be some economic downturn, caused mainly by the increasing cost of living.

The experts suggest that this doesn’t necessarily mean that Canada is at risk of losing their position as an economic superpower in the world – there are so many opportunities for more growth, especially in the relatively new industries of semiconductor machinery manufacturing and the like.

Alongside this, the choice of major eCommerce sites like Shopify to base operations in Canada, much like the choice of movie development companies to film here, will encourage both the local economy and help people move out of unemployment and underemployment.

Photo by Maarten van den Heuvel on Unsplash

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