Economic Analysis of Nunavut, Atlantic Canada, and British Columbia

This report provides a comprehensive economic analysis of three key regions in Canada: Nunavut, Atlantic Canada, and British Columbia. It begins by exploring the economic, environmental, and cultural consequences of viewing Nunavut as Canada's last frontier, contrasting frontier and homeland perspectives. The report then examines the extent to which Atlantic Canada can depend on megaprojects for economic improvement, also considering alternative avenues for future growth. Finally, it compares and contrasts the economies of Western Canada and British Columbia, focusing on the role of agriculture and the forest industry, and speculates on British Columbia's future as a core or periphery region. The analysis incorporates factors impacting regional development and provides insights into the economic dynamics of these diverse Canadian regions.

1. What are the economic, environmental, and cultural consequences of
viewing Nunavut of the territorial North as Canada's last frontier? Are the frontier and
homeland views of this region compatible with one another?
Economic.
Polese and Mario (2018) stated that Nunavut of the territorial North stands as Canada’s last
frontier for gas and oil exploration; hence, most engineering companies and are pushing
forward to oil exploration. In 2009, the United States Geological Survey stated that the
northern arctic Nunavut Canada last frontier contains approximately 160 billion barrels of
crude oil that can be used for about five years globally before it is depletion. The 160 billion
barrels of crude oil cumulatively include gas reserves and considerable oil.
Environmental.
Canada’s last frontier Nunavut’s is distinguished by hurricane-strength storms, extended
seasons of darkness, extreme cold seasons and poor visibility, which affects the working
surroundings and makes accessibility of Nunavut difficult. The standard daily temperatures
experienced in Nunavut during winter months range from negative 30 degrees to about
negative 55 degrees Celsius; hence, this means that very low sunshine is received. The wind
chills also range to about negative 70 degrees Celsius (Bott and Robert D, 2015)
The arctic Nunavut melted its ice cover in 2012 to its lowest extent. The sea ice extent fell to
approximately 1.58 million square miles, which was 27000 square miles below the 2007 sea
ice fell of about 1.61 million square miles. The continuous meltdown of the arctic ice may
make it very economical and easy to transport carbon components and products to industries
for production.

Cultural.
According to the frontier, the Northern hemisphere Nunavut had early explorers and traders
who believed in the traditional lifestyle. The Nunavut is home for about 33,000 aboriginal
Inuit of the 33000 inuits in Nunavut more than half of the population lives in the eastern
Qikiqtaaluk part of the territory which is mostly composed of very young people.
Approximately three-quarters of people in Inuit are less than 40 years old.
Nunavut has been home to a large group of indigenous people for over 4000 years. Most
geneticists and archaeologists have concluded that the residents of Nunavut today originated
from the area of Bering Strait which separates Asia from North America. The first indigenous
group in Nunavut commonly known as the Paleo Eskimos, they crossed the Beriting Strait in
the 3000 Bc and moved straight into the Canadian arctic around 2500 Bc because of climate
change. From there the people followed sea animals and herds of big land animals across
Nunavut to Greenland.
 Paleo-Eskimo Culture: 2500 BC to 1500 BC. This ancient man had blood type A+
his and possed genes that suggested he was adapted to cold places, with brown skin, dark
hair, and brown eyes.
 Pre-Dorset Culture (‘Saqqaq’): 2500 BC to 500 BC. They lived in temporary
settlements made out of the skin, and sometimes they constructed snow houses. Their tools
and weapons had very minute cutting edges chipped from stones
 Dorset Culture (‘Tuniit’ or ‘Sivullirmiut’): 500 BC to 1500 AD The Dorset have
had difficulties in adapting to the warm temperatures in Nunavut around 950 AD to 1250 AD
and so they were quickly displaced by the strong Thule culture.,
 Thule Culture (Proto-Inuit): 1000 AD to 1600 AD. Thule people are known
historically for using slate knives, sealskin floats, and toggling harpoons. There
weapons and technology was better than of the Dorset people.

 Inuit Culture (Eskimo): 1600 AD to present-day
Are the frontier and homeland views of the Nunavut region compatible with one
another?
They are not compatible because the frontier advocates for the exploitation of natural
resources in Nunavut while the homeland view states that and shows a thousand users of the
indigenous land and sea by communities that lived there. Also, the idea of the north being the
frontier is dull and uncreative while that of the north being homeland is distinguished by
assortment and convolution in the population demographics, economy, and culture. The north
as the homeland has stood firm against time, showing suppleness and the facts about
indigenous life while the development in the northern stated by frontier is invasive and
unbending by bust and bust cycles.
Below is a table that shows the different views that are shown in the homeland and frontier
about Nunavut.
ATTRIBUTES Column1
Homeland Frontier
Northern Southern
Traditional
Lifestyle
Staples
Exploitation
Diverse and
Complex
Myopic and
Simplicity
Sustainable Boom and Bust
Circumpolar
Linkages Southern Markets

2. To what extent can/should Atlantic Canada depend on megaprojects to improve the
region's economic fortunes? What other avenues offer potential as far as future
economic growth is concerned?
The Megaproject would help in unlocking Labradors and Newfoundland renewable power
such as the Lower Churchill project starting with the suggested Muskrat Falls development.
The growth of the renewable power source would significantly result in business
developments and significant capital investments, activities of this nature substantially bring
lots of benefit to the surrounding both indirectly and directly. Indirect activities, in this case,
would be, services, materials used, and equipment’s acquired for the project while direct
would include construction activities and encompass engineering.
Significant cities in Atlantic Canada are experiencing major growths because of the
Megaprojects. About 9 percent population growth has been experienced in Charlottetown,
and St Johns, 5 percent growth has also been experienced in Halifax and 10 percent in
Moncton within the past two centuries. In towns such as Labrador and Newfoundland,
immense growth has been recorded at the helm of rural places in that province.
Employment growth has improved in St. Johns, and hence more people are moving into the
cities to take advantage of the available opportunities which in turn is creating the urge for
more schools to develop, unique hotels, better roads, new housing developments and
expansion of convention centers. This kind of infrastructures are designed to support the
population growth in the cities.
Labrador and Newfoundland have acquired a blooming deal with Hebron partners that will
ensure the provinces get about 4.9% equity stake that will be worth around $20 billion in
terms of royalties and funds during the entire project exploitation. In the Megaproject,

Hebron is required to account for approximately about 55% of Labradors and Newfoundland
Oil production from the year 2017 to 2037 (D Demeritt,2009)
What other avenues offer potential as far as future economic growth is concerned?
In Atlantic Canada, they are other resource-related projects in the provinces of Baffin Island
and Greenland which are part of the Megaproject. The potentials in these places will take
time to grow, and after that, they would create many different opportunities for Atlantic
Canada. The chances that can be created from this would require significant support from the
hub ports reason being the seasonality of the megaproject.
The Megaproject provides for supply chain service providers in Atlantic Canada reason being
for them to attract the mega businesses. The Supply chain service includes the provision of a
very competitive transport system, efficient and focused human resources that can work
quickly and adequately, access to the major roads and the proper fund invested.
The Megaproject is also concerned with having excellent management skills to keep up with
the fast growth of development in Atlantic Canada (PA Monahan, VM Levson and BJ Hayes,
2018)
3. Compare and contrast Western Canada's economy with that of British Columbia. To
what extent is Western Canada's reliance on agriculture, similar to the role of the forest
industry in BC?
Differences.
The Western Canada has excellent lakes on the south and the Hudson bay which is the
Atlantic Ocean to the north which is the second largest basin in the world while British
Columbia has pacific ocean to the west which is the deepest and largest ocean basin in the
world and rocky mountains to the west that act as major tourist attractions.

The most populous region Western Canada has a more developed economy due to the large
population because its influence is felt in the dominion whereas the less populated British
Columbia depends on agricultural activities, fishing, and forestry as a lifestyle.
Western Canada usual engages in trade and business. It’s where the stock exchange for
Canada is located and operated. Majority of the imports and exports made to and from the
United States come through western Canada this is because of its high technology while
British Columbia is challenging to access due to the Rocky Mountains on the border;
therefore, business and trade were not possible until railways where built.
Western Canada is the center of the country in Canada. Western Canada has the largest city
(Toronto) as well as the seat of the national government in Ottawa and the nation’s capital.
The province has a population of approximately 13.6 million people making it the most
populated in Canada. Western Canada also hosts many of the head offices of newspapers, TV
networks, bank offices as well as the national stock exchange, so that makes the province a
center of both business and governance. On the other side, British Columbia has a population
of about 4.6 million people with its biggest city, Vancouver, that holds about 60000 people(S
Mirmasoudi, J Byrne and R MacDonald, 2019)
The magnificent town of Vancouver is the third-largest urban center in Canada. The general
attitude and relation in British Columbia is more laid back, many large business and offices
do not operate since most residents value their time away from work to enjoy it with family
and go for holidays.
Similarities.

British Columbia is a densely populated region. Regions such as lower Vancouver Island and
Lower Mainland in British have substantial populations while Western Canada has centers
that are populated mainly, which mostly are majorly along Lake Ontario.
Both Toronto and Vancouver cities in Western Canada and British Columbia are fairly
cosmopolitan and very multi-cultural cities. These cities generally represent some of the best
places to live in Canada, and also they are the most expensive cities in Canada to live in or
buy a home.
To what extent is Western Canada's reliance on agriculture, similar to the role of the
forest industry in BC?
British Columbia has many trees and other primary natural resources. It has created even
forest industry to exploit the materials. The economy of British Columbia is based entirely on
forest exploitations that hold the economy, and that provides the majority employment
opportunities this also relates to Western Canada that has its economy wholly relied on the
agriculture sector whereby they practice agriculture in large scale activities.
The increased consumption of domestic agricultural goods in Western Canada has enhanced
growth and also provided the opportunity for exportation similarly to Forestry in British
Columbia has grown due to support from the local communities.
In 2016 the agriculture industry in Western Canada accounted for about 1.7% of the province
total gross domestic product which is above ten-year average. On the other side of forestry in
British Colombia, the total gross domestic product in 2016 was $12.4 billion of which $5.8
billion was direct from the gross domestic product. In British Colombia in 2013, the forestry
sector secured employment for about 145,800 British Columbians that’s is approximately
24% of the direct manufacturing human resources in British Columbia (AV Smith, SRJ
Sheppard and EW Pinkerton,2018)

4. Speculate as to British Columbia's future as a region of Canada. In 25 years, will it be
classed as a core region or as a periphery region? What factors will impact on the
region's future development?
In 25 years, British Columbia will be a core region because of the following characteristics.
Core regions of the world are always the wealthiest, robust and economically advantaged
nations of the world. Core countries are always very high on development, and they always
tend to focus on innovations, specializations, finance, and services.
British Columbia possesses such a possibility because of its minerals oil and forestry. With
continuous proper exploitation on the forests and oil, the province can be a future core region.
What factors will impact on the region's future growth?
Migration among the communities in British Columbia will lead to development; this is
because most movements play a vital role in the economic development of regions.
The continuous mining in British Columbia will lead to positive impacts that can range from
the development of infrastructure creation of more opportunities that would generally affect
the growth of the country in terms of more funds.
The development and creation of the property development industry in 2016 in British
Columbia has enhanced the gross domestic product which was reported to be approximately
around $22.9 twice that reported from the British Columbia forest industry (W Nikolakis
and H Nelson, 2015).
Forest creation industries in British Columbia has enhanced capital spending and created job
opportunities in result, making a vital contribution to the British Columbia economy.

Forestry in Columbia is extremely important since more than 130 communities found in the
province depend entirely on the forest industry. British Columbia is also the largest exporter
in the world of processed forest products primarily on lumber exports.
British Columbia has a cold climate that is influenced by the North Pacific Ocean. The ocean
acts as a transportation system whereby the logs acquired from the forest are thrown into the
river to be transported to industries. The cold climate also works as tourist attraction sites;
hence, with the increased number of visitors to this part of Colombia revenues will increase
significantly.
In British Columbia temperature increase of 1.3 to about 2.7 degrees, Celsius is expected by
the year 2050 which can cause severe heat waves that would in turn result to heat-related
sickness hence this will affect the economic development since with continuous illness they
will be a low supply of workforce. The increase will also cause dangerous pest and diseases
that will affect agriculture, animal homes, and health of human beings.
The annual rainfall in British Columbia is expected to increase from 2% to about 12% over
the year, though the summers will be drier than usual experienced. This increase will cause
more severe and frequent droughts that will affect the farm's production in the regions.
Increased wildfires will be prevalent due to successive drier seasons — also, increased impact
and frequency of precipitation that may result in damage to buildings and infrastructures (M
Lewis, A Christianson and M Spinks, 2018).

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