Coast to Coast to Coast
Canadian geography in 24 lessons, with Nora Beaulieu
Module 6 · Resources and economy · Lecture 16

Fields, forests, mines, boats and factories: what Canada makes and sells

Potash, gold, nickel and diamonds; the forest; wheat and canola; lobster; Ontario's auto plants; and where the exports go, with the 2026 trade shift on a dated card. Map skill: choropleth classes and a flow map.

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Test yourself

1. About what share of the world's potash supply came from Canada's ten Saskatchewan mines in twenty twenty-four?
Natural Resources Canada puts Canada's share at thirty-two point eight per cent of world supply, about a third, all of it from Saskatchewan.
2. Which province landed the most seafood by value in twenty twenty-four, lobster above all?
Nova Scotia landed about one and a half billion dollars of the four billion total, with lobster the biggest part.
3. How many companies assembled vehicles in Ontario in twenty twenty-five?
Ontario had five assembly companies building more than one point two million vehicles in twenty twenty-five, by Invest Ontario's count.
4. In twenty twenty-five, about what share of Canada's exports went to the United States?
Seventy-two point three per cent of exports went to the United States in twenty twenty-five, about seven dollars in ten.
5. On the lettered export map, four arrows leave Canada and their width shows the value of goods sold in twenty twenty-five. Which letter is the arrow to the United States?
A is the thick arrow south to the United States, seventy-two point three per cent of exports in twenty twenty-five, while B goes to the United Kingdom, C to China and D stands for every other destination combined.
Transcript

Rocanville, Saskatchewan, a potash mine headframe against a flat grey sky, shift change at seven in the morning. Amrit Gill is thirty-nine, a mine electrician, Punjabi-Canadian, raised in Regina. The pink salt hauled up this shaft will be spread on soybean fields in Brazil by spring. He has never seen Brazil. His work has.

So here's the question. Beyond oil, what does Canada actually make and sell, where on the map does each thing come from, and who is buying it?

Natural Resources Canada's fact sheets: minerals and metals worth $64.3 billion in 2024, gold the largest at 26%. Canada is the world's largest producer and exporter of potash, from 10 mines, all in Saskatchewan, nearly a third of world supply. Fourth in nickel, Ontario mining 39.9% of ours. Fourth in gold. Fourth in diamonds, from three mines in the Northwest Territories, with output trending down.

The State of Canada's Forests for 2025 counts 369 million hectares, 9% of the world's forest, nearly a quarter of its boreal forest, over 90% publicly owned. The Census of Agriculture counted 189,874 farms in 2021, Saskatchewan holding 39.2% of the farmland. The 2025 wheat and canola crops, 40.0 million tonnes and 21.8 million, were the largest ever.

Find it on the map. The map now shows each province's share of Canada's economy, from Statistics Canada's 2024 GDP table, as a choropleth. Look at the legend first: five classes, from under 1% to over 30%. Ontario is the darkest, 38.5%; Quebec next at 19.8%; Alberta 15.2%; British Columbia 13.8%. Find your own province's class, then notice how pale the whole North is.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada counted $4.0 billion of sea-fishery landings in 2024, nearly half lobster, Nova Scotia first. Ontario built over 1.2 million vehicles in 2025 at five assembly companies, Invest Ontario says. And exports: $778 billion in 2025, 72.3% of it to the United States, down from 76.3% the year before.

Let's change one fact. Take the United States off the map. In 2025, seven dollars in ten of our exports crossed that border, and most of what we make would need a new home. It is already moving: from January to July 2026 it was 68.3%, and in July the non-American share reached a third, the highest ever recorded. The course page carries that dated figure; it will move.

As of this recording, the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement remains in force to 2036, the review begun in July is not concluded, and tariffs remain on steel, aluminum and autos in both directions. That is all the official pages say, so that is all I will say.

The mistake people make is saying Saskatchewan is just wheat. The wheat is real, 18.2 million tonnes in 2025. But the province also mines nearly a third of the world's potash and all of Canada's uranium, pumps 9% of its oil, and grew 12.2 million tonnes of canola besides. Flat is not the same as simple.

Here's the rule, in one breath. Potash and uranium from Saskatchewan, nickel and cars from Ontario, lobster from Nova Scotia, forest nearly everywhere, and seven dollars in ten of it sold to one neighbour, as of 2025.

This week, pick one thing you ate today, bread, an apple, a piece of fish, and find on the course map where in Canada it most likely grew or was caught. Then check the label next time you shop.

Next time, Atlantic Canada: four provinces on the edge of the ocean, from the Fundy tides to the lobster boats of Lunenburg.

← Lecture 15: Energy: what's under the ground and behind the damsLecture 17: Atlantic Canada: four provinces on the edge of the ocean →
Free, independent course. Not an official resource of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada or of any Ministry of Education. Facts are from Statistics Canada, Natural Resources Canada, Environment and Climate Change Canada and other government sources, as dated in each lecture; figures change, so check the source for the latest. Maps are drawn from Natural Earth (public domain); photographs are from Wikimedia Commons under open licences, credited on the maps and photos page. Nora Beaulieu is an AI-generated presenter with a synthetic voice. Course content © 2026.