Mounting a Canadian export campaign

More than a gateway to the USA, the Canadian market is great in itself. Discover how easily Australian exporters can translate products and services into exports to Canada.

If exporting to Canada, the similarities between Canada and Australia can be startling. Both countries host a relatively small population on a large landmass, and both boast a wealth of natural resources in the form of minerals in the ground and wilderness on the surface. Beyond physical similarities, however, Canada and Australia also share comparable social and political values and both, as sparsely populated developed countries, have entered global supply chains with the knowledge that the domestic market alone isn't big enough for growing exporters.

"Our markets are small in themselves. The company that wants to get to a certain scale in Australia or Canada has to look at exporting or it’s going to stay small; you can in the US but you can’t in our two countries," remarks Rick McElrea, consul and senior investment advisor at the Sydney Canadian Consulate. "I’ve been all over the world and I don’t think there are two countries more like each other than Australia and Canada. The United States and Canada are not as similar as Australia and Canada."

McElrea believes Australia is a good connection for Canadian companies to expand into Asia and Australian companies should look at Canada as a gateway to the United States. Once rivals for resource exports, the two now share a global market. "The demand is so big that neither one of our countries can satisfy it so that cuts down on competition," he says. "And the same companies that are big here own assets in Canada and vice versa."

Exporting to Canada

Businesses that haven't examined Canada as an export destination should note that although Canada is divided into provinces the way Australia is divided into states and territories, Canadian provinces are more independent than Australian states.

"You can set up a business in Canada with a federal business licence registration or you could set up with a provincial one but find you can’t easily do business in the other provinces," says McElrea. There's also separate taxation. "You pay provincial and federal income tax both as a corporation and as an individual.”

Kevin Lamb Austrade's Vancouver post manager and honorary consul for Western Canada, agrees: "The challenge is not selling into Canada, it’s selling from province to province.”

Generally speaking however, Canada is an open market and tariff rates and taxes are quite low for a developed nation. "Canada is a major exporter but it’s also a major importer, they’re not skittish about importing products," says Lamb. "The Canadian market is a third larger than the Australian market, so offers a natural step up for exporters."

Another consideration is that Canada is officially bilingual. While all provinces but New Brunswick is unilingual, federally, everything must be in both English and French. Quebec is the only unilingual French province, but even if you're not selling there directly, labels such as ingredients and warnings must be in both languages. Exporters would also do well to note that Quebec's legal system is based on the Napoleonic Code rather than Westminster system found in the rest of the country.

"It’s not that people speak French in Quebec. The issue is that Quebec is French. It’s a significant market, and you can sell into France and Europe because you already have the French covered," says McElrea. "If you establish yourself in Quebec you have to be prepared to do all your business in French, including speaking to your employees."