People Advantage

Innovative and Diverse

A country’s greatest asset in a knowledge economy is a smart workforce and Canada is rich in talented human resources.  Canada spends more money on education, as a percentage of GDP, than any other country in the world and is rewarded with the most highly-educated population on the planet. Canada also attracts the best and brightest from every corner of the globe.  Business-friendly immigration policies enable highly qualified newcomers to contribute their skills and talents to Canada and ensure a consistent supply of new knowledge workers.  Immigrants currently make up more than 70% of all Canadian labour force growth and will account for 100% within the decade. 

Smart Workforce

#1 in the OECD in higher education achievement—More than half of Canadians between the ages of 25 to 35 have a post-secondary education, either at university, college or technical school. Source: IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook, 2006

Over 45% of all immigrants have completed university and 15.7% have a trade certificate or non-university diploma—In addition to existing high levels of education, almost 90% of immigrants continue to take education or training courses upon their arrival in Canada.  Sources:  Citizenship and Immigrant Canada, Facts and Figures, 2004.  Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Canada, Statistics Canada, 2005

1st in North America for secondary school enrolment—Canada ranks 3rd in the world, far head of the US (26th ) and Mexico (53rd ). Source: IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook, 2006

Canada outperforms the United States in educational system, educational assessment, language skills, economic literacy, quality of engineers. Source: IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook, 2006

One of the world’s top performers in math, science and literacy—Based on a US Department of Education 2006 study, Canada systematically outperforms America in these areas. Source: IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook, 2006

5 Canadian Business MBA programs ranked among the top 10 outside the US, according to the Business Week 2006 MBA Survey—(Queen’s (1), Western (2), Toronto (3), York (9) HEC Montreal (10)

Two Canadian universities are in the top 25 business schools of the Financial Times UK MBA ranking 2006—Canada’s York University and the University of Western Ontario are ranked among the best MBA schools in the world in 18th and 24th position respectively. Canada also ranked 3rd worldwide in terms of number of programs offered. Source: Financial Times UK, 2006.