Canada 2035
Will Canada be the greatest country to live in 2035?
Introduction
Changing Populations
In 2014 Canada's population was 35.31 million. Currently we are standing at stage 4 in the demographic transition model. We have a low birth rate as well as a low and stable death rate, this is because of birth control, better education, health and sanitation and a desire for a small family, therefore our population growth is high but balanced and there is no growth. As of 2012 about 21% of Canadians are over the age of 60 and this percentage is going to increase in the future as we start moving to stage 5 in the transition model.
Current Immigration:
Canada is considered the land of immigrants many of Canada's citizens are made up of or descendants of immigrants, this is about 97% of the population. Currently Canada intakes on average about 250,000 immigrants per year and most of those immigrants come from countries in Asia like China and India. Immigrants come to Canada because of job opportunities, safety, better health care and education. Canada is currently experiencing a shortage of workers in several professions and is relying on immigrants to fill in those professions.The need for skilled worker is great in Manitoba, Ontario and Alberta, and there has been less immigrants migrating from India and China. Most immigrants migrate to provinces like Ontario (25.5%) and British Columbia (24.8%), the province that has the least immigrants is P.E.I (0.3%).
Current FNMI:
Aboriginals
In 2011 1,400,685 people had an aboriginal identity, this represented 4.3% of the total Canadian population. The aboriginal population increased by 232,385 people, or 20.1% between 2006 and 2011. The highest single province with most aboriginal population is Ontario (21.5%), also aboriginal people make up the largest shares of the population of Nunavut (86%) and the Northwest territories (more than 50%).
First Nations
In 2011, 851,560 people identified themselves as a first nation, representing 60.8% of the aboriginal population and 2.6% of the total Canadian population. Many First Nations live in Ontario, but make up the largest shares of the total population of the Northwest territories, Yukon, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. In 2011 637,660 First Nation people reported being registered Indians representing 45.5% of the total aboriginal population and 1.9% of the Canadian population. 1/4 First Nations (213,900) are not registered Indians, representing 15.3% of the aboriginal population and less than 1% of the total Canadian population.
Metis
451, 795 people identified themselves as Metis, making up 32.3% of the total aboriginal population and 1.4% of the total Canadian population. Metis represent 8.0% of the Northwest territories, 6.7% of Manitoba and 5.2% of Saskatchewan, Winnipeg has the highest population of Metis - 46,325 people or 6.8%.
Inuit
59, 445 people identified themselves as Inuit, representing 4.2% of the aboriginal population and 0.2% of the Canadian population. Almost 3/4 of Inuits in Canada live in Inuit Nunangut, Inuit Nunangut stretches from Labrador to Northwest territories.
2035 population:
In 2035 I believe the population will start to decline, as Canada will be highly developed and possibly on stage 5 of the demographic transition model. Our birth rate will be less than our death rate, because of increased education and people more focused on jobs than having kids,and they might think of having children later in life, an average woman might have 1 or no babies . We will have improved health care which makes our death rate low which will give us an ageing population. As a result our population is in decline. In the year 2035 people over the age of 65 will be larger, the number of seniors would more than double,ranging between 9.9 and 10.9 million depending on the scenario.
2035 Immigration:
In 2035 I think the number of immigrants will both increase and decrease, the reason I think this is because by 2035 their own economy/ country will start to grow and develop, and they can probably get a better job in their own country than in Canada, also because of this we will have an estimate work fall of 3 million skilled workers in 2035. I think in 2035 more people will migrate from the middle east to Canada because most of those countries have war and violence going on and there is very little violence and its peaceful in Canada, and people from countries like Africa would also want to migrate to Canada because of the diseases and health issues, and Canada provides one of the best health care services.
2035 FNMI:
In 2035 Aboriginals will get more freedom, and be treated more like Canadians. First Nation kids wont remain in poverty, and Aboriginals will have the privilege to own their own land and will get to vote. There will be more job opportunities and they can now live anywhere, therefore their fertility rate will go down as well as death rate, now 50% of Aboriginals are 24 and over.In 2035 I think more people will have an aboriginal identity. Since their probably not on reserve any more I think the percentage of Aboriginals in each location will change and to find jobs they need to move locations so you might see the percentages start to change, maybe a province or territory with low percentage of Aboriginals will start going up because there are more job opportunities there.
Canada's current population pyramid
Age distribution of Ontario's population in 2035
Aboriginals under government care currently
Interactions in the Physical Environment
Canada's climate currently
Canada has warm summers and cold winters, and has 4 seasons, summer, winter, fall and spring. In the summer the prairies are hot and dry, and humid in central Canada. Also in the summer, around July, Edmonton,Alberta receives the most precipitation, this is an example of convectional precipitation. Coastal B.C, Ontario and Quebec receive 25mm of precipitation, B.C interior and Yukon forecast regions receive 10mm, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, N.W.T, Nunavut receive 5mm, and N.B, N.S ,P.E.I, and N.F receive 2mm.Canada's climate factors
There are 6 factors affecting the climate in Canada, latitude, ocean currents, winds and air masses, elevation, relief and near water, or known as L.O.W.E.R.N, In the following paragraphs I will be talking about the climate factors of the two well known provinces in Canada, British Columbia and Ontario.
Ontario:
The three factors that influence Ontario's climate are latitude, wind and air mass and near water. For latitude the higher the rays the colder because of the rays less concentrated in one area, and the lower the warmer, because of the rays concentrated in one area. So for Ontario since we are up north we would have more of a colder climate because the latitude is more higher and the sun’s rays are spread over much larger area so heat is less concentrated. For wind and air mass since we are near the jet stream, this provides a barrier between the cold air mass in the north and the warm air mass in the south, in the winter the jet stream is south of Canada's border keeping the cold air mass in, giving us our typical cold weather, and then in the summer the jet stream moves up bringing in some of the warm air, giving us our warm summers. For near water, the surrounding Great Lakes greatly influence the climatic region of southern Ontario. During the fall and winter months, heat stored from the lakes is released, moderating the climate near the shores of the lakes.This makes some parts of Ontario have milder winters than mid-continental areas at lower latitudes.
British Columbia
The 4 factors that influence British Columbia's climate factors are latitude,ocean currents, relief and near water. Starting of with latitude, B.C latitude is 54.0000° N, 125.0000° W, In general , however, temperatures are warmer in the south of B.C than in the north, and rainfall is heaviest along the coast and lightest in the southern interior of B.C. For ocean currents, we have the presence of the warm pacific current flowing north from the southern latitudes of California and this carries warm water with it and as the entrebreeze blows over the pacific ocean the breeze passes over the warm water and picks up the temperature of the water and warms up the air, B.C has a bit more warmer climate than it should given the latitude it has. For relief, Up slope, and on the windward slopes of the Rocky Mountains, there is much higher precipitation and cooler temperatures are evident, B.C gets 383mm/15in of annual precipitation, higher elevations in the Coast Mountains get heavy snowfall in the winter. For near water, B.C is a maritime region its near a body of water - the pacific ocean, and it tends to be colder near the coast of B.C.
Physical features (landform regions/ vegetation zones)
In Canada we have 8 landform regions they are the Canadian Shield, Western Cordillera, Appalachians, Interior plains, Great Lakes-St. Lawrence lowlands, Innuitian mountains, Arctic lowlands and Hudson bay lowlands. However I will only describe 2, the Canadian Shield and the Appalachians.
The Canadian Shield
The biggest region is the Canadian shield which covers almost half of Canada like Saskatchewan, Manitoba, N.W.T, Ontario and Quebec, some of the worlds oldest rocks can be found here and in the last ice age, glaciers scraped soil away and formed many small lakes. The shield is composed of granite and the earth’s greatest area of exposed Precambrian rock (igneous and metamorphic rock formed in the Precambrian geological era 500 million years ago). The shield was the first part of the continent to be permanently raised above sea level, Subsequent rising and falling, folding, erosion and continental ice sheets have created its current land.
Appalachians
The Appalachians cover Newfoundland and Labrador.The Appalachian mountain range was formed by plate collision, the North American and Eurasian and African plates collided to create the mountain range hundreds of millions of years ago. The range is mostly located in the United States but extends into south-eastern Canada, forming a zone from 160 to 480 km wide. The Appalachians first formed roughly 480 million years ago during the Ordovician period.
In Canada there are 7 vegetation region, the deciduous forest, Mixed wood forest, Boreal and Tyga forest, Cordilleran, Tundra, West Coast forest and grasslands. I will only describe 2, Boreal and Tyga and Tundra
Boreal and Tyga
This is the largest vegetation in Canada and consists mostly of coniferous trees. Boreal and taiga encircles the Northern Hemisphere between the treeless Arctic tundra and the more southerly, mid-latitude broad-leaved forest zones. In North America, the taiga extends from the interior of Alaska and the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains to Newfoundland and Labrador.
Tundra
The Arctic tundra is the second-largest vegetation region in the country. The Arctic is treeless because of its low summer temperatures and short growing season,the major environmental factors which limit plant growth and distribution are cold soils with an active layer in summer of 20–60 cm above the permafrost, varying depth of winter snow; low levels of soil nutrients and soils that can be very dry (on ridges) or very wet (in lowlands) in summer.
How will climate change influence our climate and country?
In 2035, because of climate change, it could change our soil profile, cause global warming and health issues. For soil profile, the amount of rainfall or moisture influences soil composition, the temperature also influences soil composition. So if there was climate change and the temperature starts increasing and becoming hotter, the moisture can affect soil conditions and that can affect our agricultural goods. Also global warming influences our climate, the green house effect releases co2 in the air and water, and if it gets in the water it causes ocean acidification which can affect the fish which can affect us. Also there would be more heat waves and glaciers melting which would also cause sea levels to rise, and the population as a whole would start to decrease because of heat strokes. Also climate change can cause health issues like diseases to occur which can also kill many people.
Managing Canada's Resources and Industries
Canada has many resources like coal, copper, diamond, gold, iron, lead, silver, zinc etc. All of Canada's resources are sorted into 2 categories renewable and non renewable, some of our renewable resources are wood, agriculture and fish, two big non renewable resource we have to be careful of is oil and water. Different provinces have different amounts of resources, for example in Saskatchewan there is a lot of potash, Alberta is known for their oil sands, Ontario is mining, Quebec is hydro power and Newfoundland is off source energy.
Sustainable use of resources currently
Currently we are running out of fish, due to over fishing, the fishes are being harvested faster that they can reproduce, this is tragedy of the commons because we consume the resource a lot, without properly taking care of it so it will last. Also we use energy a lot, especially for industrial reasons, we use 37%. For oil we should be careful too, even though we have the Alberta oil sands and XL pipeline, oil is still a non renewable resource and takes millions of years to replenish, and we need oil for energy. Even though we also have a lot water because of the lakes, we still have to use the resource sustainably, because once we run out of water, it can't replenish, so future generations might have a problem, this is why we need sustainable yield management, knowing how much of the resource we are taking out without completely depleting the source, we should ensure there is enough for future generations.
Canada's global connections
Currently Canada's top trading partner is the U.S (74.5%), second is China (4.3%) we trade least with Brazil (0.6%) our top 3 exports are oil and mineral fuel (25.5%), vehicles and parts (13.4%) and mechanical machinery and equipment (7.2%), our least export is wood and metal (1.9%). we currently are also part of NAFTA (North American free trade agreement) this was signed in 1994, and it was multilateral agreement between Mexico, Canada, and the United States, this was done to eliminate all tariffs (taxes on import/export) and to increase trade, this had many benefits like Canada and Mexico trade increased by 7x to $31 billion a year, and 75.5% of Canada's exports are to NAFTA partners, and combined they make one of the worlds strongest economy. The five steps we use for globalization is extraction, production, distribution, consumption, and disposal.
How will Canada be connected to the world in 2035
Canada in 2035 will still be part of NAFTA, and will continue to trade with U.S and Mexico. In fact I think we might trade more because as our resources might start to run out we increase the taxes on export and Import, so our economy gets more profit. I still think U.S will continue to be one of our top trading partners, because of the oil sands. I still think that oil and mineral fuel will still be one of our top exports, because we are so well known for it in Alberta. I think for globalization, when we extract resources we would have to go to other countries and get the resource from there, because we are running out of resources. However in 2035 I still think Canada will be a strong economy.
What will be our most valuable resources?
I think our most valuable resources in 2035 would be water and oil. This is because we have a lot of water because of the Great Lakes, and also a lot of oil from the Alberta oil sands. These two non renewable resources are very important necessities that a lot of countries want. In 2035 maybe a lot of countries are low on these two resources, and Canada might be one of the few countries that actually have access to them. That's why we need to be careful in 2035 with these two resources, because like I said these are non renewable and if we lose them, they might take millions of years to replenish or never replenish at all.
How can we use our resources sustainably?
Like I mentioned before we should definitely consider sustainable yield management, we should know how much of the resource we take out and let it reproduce/replenish so that way we don't completely deplete the source. However if its non renewable we should be even more careful, we should not only be concerned on how much we are using but also to care for the resource so for e.g water we should make sure we don't pollute the water. We should consider using more renewable than non renewable to be on the safe side, if our extinction is faster than they can replenish it is non renewable and we could be in a lot of trouble if we lose that resource.
Alberta oil sands
Liveable Communities
These days we are experiencing a lot of pollution, traffic congestion and less nature and more industrial space. These days there is a lot pollution because of factories and cars, A lot of co2 is released and this causes some health problems. Also there is a lot more traffic congestion currently, average commute time for cars is 24 minutes and 44 minutes for transit. Also there is so much more industrial space now and less environment and nature to enjoy and admire.
Why is Urban sprawl an issue for Canadian cities?
Urban sprawl creates more carbon emissions, therefore is contributing to pollution. people living in sprawling suburbs spend less time walking, so transportation goes up, and because of the pollution health costs also go up. Urban sprawls are stressful for drivers and causes a lot of traffic. There is also road expansions and more shopping malls built, which is basically taking away nature and harming the eco-systems and environment.
How will Ontario deal with the issue of Urban sprawl?
Ontario will deal with the issue of Urban sprawl in 2035 by developing the greenbelt. The greenbelt is important to food and agriculture, recreational purposes and the environment. Its important for agriculture because fruits and vegetables can be grown in your own nation. There are 5,500 farms in the greenbelt and this created $5.4 billion for the economy and $2.65 billion in GDP. Lots of money and jobs were created and it provided a lot of food for people in the east coast. It was easier and cheaper to transport food and there is no shipping. For recreational purpose, this year the greenbelt should be ready for bicycle touring, which is worth $300 million a year in Ontario and this can also attract tourists. The greenbelt also helps the environment, it creates a protection for a natural system bug enough to contain biodiversity, and it also can help bring back some endangered species.
How will cities become more sustainable in the future?
Cities like Montreal, Southern Ontario, Alberta and Vancouver have already developed some ways to make the city more sustainable. In 2035 cities will become more sustainable by producing food in their own nation, this way there is no shipping so it reduces pollution and since the agricultural goods will be delivered the same day and they will remain fresh. Also because of this more people are volunteering so it strengthens and makes the community more warm. Also cities will have less industrial space and they will reclaim land into park space/recreational area, this way we are also reducing pollution and bringing back some nature, using algae to help collect co2 in the air also helps for pollution. In 2035 it will be more efficient for buildings to use high quality wood that way, it wont rot as fast and less wood would have to go to waste, turning waste into energy like methane also reduces and puts use to waste, benefits of this include fuel, social marketing and saving money/creating jobs. In 2035 with the technology there will be more greener ways to travel and we will use thermal energy, and so cities become more liveable.