Canada » International Relations

The Canada Relations with International Community

Canada has a close relationship with the United States, sharing the world's longest undefended border, co-operating on some military campaigns and exercises, and being each other's largest trading partners. Canada also shares history and long relationships with Britain and France, the two most significant imperial powers in its founding. These relations extend to other former-members of the British and French empires, through Canada's membership in the Commonwealth of Nations and La Francophonie.

Over the last 60 years, Canada has been an advocate for multilateralism, making efforts to resolve global issues in collaboration with other nations. Canada's UN peacekeeping contributions have diminished over the first years of the 21st century, but greater public debate has recently evaluated the possibility of reversing that trend. A founding member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), Canada currently employs about 62,000 regular and 26,000 reserve military personnel. The unified Canadian Forces (CF) comprise the army, navy, and air force. Major CF equipment deployed includes 1,400 armoured fighting vehicles, 34 combat vessels, and 861 aircraft.

Trade And Investment With UK

Canada is an important trade and investment partner for British companies of all sizes and across the spectrum of business activity. Canada is one of the world richest and most developed countries, ranks among the top ten industrial powers and is recognized as having one of the highest standards of living in the world. With low inflation and steady economic growth, Canada offers good trade and investment opportunities for British companies in many sectors e.g. energy, food and drink, aerospace and biotechnology. A recent study comparing business costs in Canada, Europe and the USA placed Canada ahead of other G7 countries across a broad range of business operating costs. Canadas market economy has maintained a varied structure with both small companies and multinational giants playing important parts. Natural resources remain a major factor, but the growth of hi-tech industries often involving small dynamic enterprises, is of ever increasing significance.