[43] Canada's economy ranks above most Western nations on The Heritage Foundation's Index of Economic Freedom[44] and experiences a relatively low level of income disparity.

[4][50][3] Since the early 20th century, the growth of Canada's manufacturing, mining, and service sectors has transformed the nation from a largely rural economy to an urbanized, industrial one.

[53][63] Atlantic Canada possesses vast offshore deposits of natural gas,[64] and Alberta hosts the fourth-largest oil reserves in the world.

[66] Canada is additionally one of the world's largest suppliers of agricultural products; the Canadian Prairies are one of the most important global producers of wheat, canola, and other grains.

[68][69] Canada has a sizeable manufacturing sector centred in southern Ontario and Quebec, with automobiles and aeronautics representing particularly important industries.

Many aspects of public enterprise, most notably the development of an extensive welfare spending system to redress social and economic inequities, were adopted after the end of World War II in 1945.

For instance one of Canada's largest manufacturing industries is the pulp and paper sector, which is directly linked to the logging business.

Howlett and Ramesh argue that the inherent instability of such industries also contributes to greater government intervention in the economy, to reduce the social impact of market changes.

Moreover, the far north remains largely undeveloped as producers await higher prices or new technologies as many operations in this region are not yet cost effective.

[85] The mandate of the central bank—the Bank of Canada is to conduct monetary policy that "preserves the value of money by keeping inflation low and stable".

They established a set of inflation-reduction targets to keep inflation "low, stable and predictable" and to foster "confidence in the value of money", contribute to Canada's sustained growth, employment gains and improved standard of living.

By 2011, the then-Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney argued that the central bank's mandate would allow for a more flexible inflation-targeting in specific situations where he would consider taking longer "than the typical six to eight quarters to return inflation to 2 per cent".

[91] On July 15, 2015, the Bank of Canada announced that it was lowering its target for the overnight rate by another one-quarter percentage point, to 0.5 per cent[93] "to try to stimulate an economy that appears to have failed to rebound meaningfully from the oil shock woes that dragged it into decline in the first quarter".

In mid 2017, inflation remained below the Bank's 2% target, (at 1.6%)[98] mostly because of reductions in the cost of energy, food and automobiles; as well, the economy was in a continuing spurt with a predicted GDP growth of 2.8 percent by year end.

Following the COVID-19 pandemic, critics have pointed out that the Bank of Canada's inflation-targeting has had unintended consequences, such as fuelling an increase in home prices and contributing to wealth inequalities by supporting higher equity values.

[103] The commoditization of shelter in Canada is thought to undermine free-market capitalism by strictly controlling the demand and supply of housing in order produce wealth from the vulnerability of those living in harsh climates.

Moreover, it is difficult to discern the actual contribution of other sectors (Construction, Investment and Financial Services, Manufacturing, Forestry, etc) to Real Estate, Rental and Leasing, as these industries are intrinsically linked in a complex economy.

In order to prevent free-market forces from acting to stabilize the cost of housing, the Bank of Canada has increased its mortgage bond holdings to target 50% of the fixed-rate primary issuances.

Central Canada is home to branch plants to all the major American and Japanese automobile makers and many parts factories owned by Canadian firms such as Magna International and Linamar Corporation.

In a majority of provinces, large government-owned integrated public utilities play a leading role in the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity.

[139] Since 1960, large hydroelectric projects, especially in Quebec, British Columbia, Manitoba and Newfoundland and Labrador, have significantly increased the country's generation capacity.

[140] Fossil fuels provide 19% of Canadian electric power, about half as coal (9% of the total), and the remainder a mix of natural gas and oil.

Remote communities, including all of Nunavut and much of the Northwest Territories, produce most of their electricity from diesel generators at high economic and environmental costs.

[citation needed] Canada possesses extensive oil and gas resources centered in Alberta, and the Northern Territories but is also present in neighboring British Columbia and Saskatchewan.

[citation needed] $2.32 billion was classified under the WTO designation of "green box" license, meaning it did not directly influence the market, such as money for research or disaster relief.

Canada's job market continues to perform well along with the US, reaching a 30-year low in the unemployment rate in December 2006, following 14 consecutive years of employment growth.

The United States and Canada's national electricity grids are linked, and both countries share hydropower facilities on the western borders.

[citation needed] Usually these issues are resolved through bilateral consultative forums or referral to World Trade Organization (WTO) or NAFTA dispute resolution.

[168] According to Philip Cross of the Fraser Institute, in May 2015, while the Canadian household debt-to-income ratio is similar to that in the US, however lending standards in Canada are tighter than those in the United States to protect against high-risk borrowers taking out unsustainable debt.

Here is a list of the biggest deals in Canadian history:[170] The following table shows the main economic indicators in 1980–2021 (with IMF staff estimates for 2022–2027).