Trade and the Canadian Economy
Canada's Service Economy
Stories of the Week - July 22, 2002:
The share of Canada's economy devoted to services is on the rise. In 1961, services accounted for 55 percent of Canada's gross domestic product (GDP). In 2002, this figure was just over 68 percent. The percentage of workers employed in services is also on the rise. Between 1961 and 2000, the services share of total employment increased from just over 54 percent to 74 percent.
Services are, on balance, more knowledge-intensive than other sectors and therefore employ proportionately many more well-educated workers than other industries. For example, in 1998, almost 20 percent of workers in the services sector had post-secondary education. Interestingly, some of the best-paid jobs in Canada, particularly for young people, are in the services sector-in financial, legal, advertising, computer software and engineering services.
To demonstrate the role of services in the Canadian economy, success stories involving the services sector are being showcased this week.
Stories of the Week - July 22, 2002
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Sandwell International Inc., Vancouver, British Columbia
Bulk handling marine terminals; pulp and paper mills; power plants; offshore oil exploration; production platforms-from the Arctic to Australia and South America to Russia, Sandwell International Inc. has completed more than 25,000 assignments worldwide. Winner of numerous awards, among them 2001 B.C. Exporter of the Year, the Vancouver-based company provides multidisciplinary engineering, project management, construction and consulting services to 80 countries, in varied sectors.
Skills in arctic and seismic engineering provide the backbone for many of Sandwell's projects. "Assessing ice forces on structures, moving ships through ice and berthing at an arctic terminal offer interesting challenges," says Charlie Birt, Vice-President, Export Sales and Marketing. "These projects require knowledge of how ice forms, how it builds up around structures, and how to manage ice when mooring ships against a structure." Sandwell's expertise in these areas forms the basis for many design and shipping studies, such as an analysis of the transport of oil by tanker from Russia's Kara Sea to market and the design of oil production structures for the Sakhalin Island area in the Russian Far East.
In warmer climates, Sandwell has been involved in projects as diverse as a coal terminal for the Indonesian Bontang mine in East Kalimantan, a port for the export of copper/zinc concentrates from the Antamina mine in Peru, and plans for the development of liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals in Baja, California.
Sandwell's site selection, master planning and design skills have assisted clients in remote and often inhospitable locations throughout the Americas and Australia. A current project, for example, is evaluating transportation options for moving iron ore 2,500 kilometers from Rio Tinto's Brazilian mine at Corumba down the Paraguay and Parana Rivers to the port site in Rio de la Plata.
On the pulp and paper side, Sandwell provided all the technical support, from initial planning through final performance testing, for the new 450,000 tonne/year P.T.Tanjungenim Lestari pulp mill in Sumatra, Indonesia. The firm's expertise is currently being applied to the development of a new paper mill in China and the modernization of the pulp and paper industry in Vietnam.
In its work the world over, Sandwell has utilized various Canadian government services. "We often consult with trade commissioners at the local embassy," says Birt, "and EDC financing was a major contributor to our recent $100-million port project in Peru."
E2 Environmental Alliance Inc., Calgary, Alberta
Since its establishment in 1998, E2 Environmental Alliance Inc. has provided environmental consulting and training services in Canada and in more than 25 countries on five continents, often in conjunction with local counterparts. E2's consultants and trainers have been particularly active in Latin America and Central Asia, but have also completed projects in Romania, Spain, Egypt, Russia, Indonesia and China.
Clients such as CIDA and the Inter-American Development Bank have retained E2 to monitor long-term technical assistance programs to ensure that the needs of recipient countries are being met efficiently by the Canadian executing agents.
The company is also working closely with indigenous communities in developing countries. "Our personnel derive much satisfaction from helping indigenous peoples to understand the potential effects of resource development projects," says Leo Bouckhout, the firm's Managing Director. "We also prepare them to actively participate in the related decision-making process in their countries."
As the result of a recent merger, E2 Environmental Alliance has become a division of Calgary-based Matrix Solutions.
Marshall Macklin Monaghan Ltd., Thornhill, Ontario
Marshall Macklin Monaghan Ltd. (MMM) is a key member of a Canadian-led team that was recently awarded a BOT (build, operate and transfer) contract to finance, design, construct and operate a new US$350-million airport for Quito, Ecuador. The project team will take over the operations of the existing airport in Quito during the three-year construction period and then operate the new airport on a 25-year concession.
"We used the services of the Canadian Commercial Corporation to enable the prime contract to be awarded government-to-government," says Dave Dugan, President of the Thornhill-based consulting engineering firm. "The Canadian embassy in Quito and the Canadian International Development Agency also provided valuable assistance with this project." Besides having carried out airport projects in 30 other countries, MMM has recently been involved in major solid waste management projects in Belize, Trinidad and Tobago, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Honduras, and Argentina.
For the past 40 years, MMM has provided services in sectors such as environmental engineering, geomatics, building engineering and transportation, including airports, roads and ports, in more than 50 countries worldwide. The firm has become a world leader in public-private partnerships for financing infrastructure development, particularly related to airports and roads.
With a staff of 500, MMM has offices in Ann Arbor, Michigan, as well as representatives in Barbados, Ecuador, Honduras, Hungary, Mexico, the Middle East, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey and Uruguay.
CANARAIL Consultants Inc., Montreal, Quebec
CANARAIL Consultants Inc. was chosen to lead a consortium of U.S., South African and Ugandan firms tasked with the structural reform of Uganda's rail sector and the privatization of the Uganda Railways Corporation. The Ugandan government awarded the $3.7-million contract to the engineering consulting company in April. The work includes analyzing the country's railway system and determining investment needs and the potential for future development.
"We are very proud to help the Government of Uganda in the privatization of Uganda Railways Corporation," says Hovig Bedikian, Chairman of CANARAIL. "This is an important economic decision that will increase the efficiency of the country's rail sector and make it financially self-reliant."
The Montreal-based firm specializes in urban and railway transportation worldwide, particularly in Africa, where it has been active for more than a decade. In Guinea, CANARAIL provides technical and management assistance to a mining railway, including training in areas such as safety and security, inspection of locomotives and quality assurance. Guinean trainees have travelled to Canada to participate in practical training sessions at the facilities of a major Canadian railway.
Elsewhere in Africa, CANARAIL has provided financial and technical assistance to Senegal National Railways (including the set-up of internal audit procedures) and conducted a feasibility study on the potential for increased traffic development and infrastructure costs involved in upgrading a line of the Zambian Railways. The company also developed a plan for the computerization of the Algerian Railway's mechanical operations, including locomotive maintenance, locomotive driver scheduling and spare parts management.
More recently, CANARAIL was retained by Tunisian National Railways to design and implement a computer-assisted maintenance management system. CANARAIL's experts are currently adapting the system to reduce maintenance costs and increase productivity by better managing the purchase of spare parts and streamlining maintenance procedures.
xwave, St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador
In 1998, xwave made ripples in the North American information technology market when it quadrupled its operations after only two and half years in business. Three years later, the St. John's-based company took the leap across the Atlantic and opened an office in Dublin. Since then, xwave has become a leading IT provider in the Emerald Isle and as a result it won a 2002 Newfoundland and Labrador Services Export Award. With more than 2,800 professionals in locations across North America and now Europe, xwave is one of Canada's largest and fastest growing IT companies.
The company's first major Irish contract, with the Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT), came about after several trade missions to the region. DIT, the largest technology institute in Ireland, entrusted xwave with some "small pieces of work" before signing it on for a long-term contract to develop a new student administration and management system for the Institute's 22,000 students on 14 campuses.
One of xwave's biggest coups in Ireland, to date, was landing a deal to work with several County Enterprise Boards to develop e-business strategies for small and medium-sized businesses. Each Board directs the economic development of a particular county. Other Irish clients include the Department of Enterprise, Trade, and Employment, the Bank of Ireland, the Department of Education, the Department of Marine and Natural Resources, Irish Institutes of Technology and Bord na gCon-the governing body of Ireland's Greyhound Race Tracks.
xwave is capitalizing on the experience and expertise developed from long-term client relationships back home, specifically in Government applications, university administrative systems, telecommunications, and e-business consulting. "For example," says Keith Collins, president and CEO of xwave solutions Ireland Ltd., "the work we are doing for the Dublin Institute of Technology and the Irish Institutes of Technology is based on customized solutions developed for Memorial University."
The Dublin office-currently staffed by 13 xwavians from Newfoundland and others who are seconded on a project basis, as well as five locals-will provide a springboard for the company to expand into the broader European Union. "We want to secure a solid reputation in Ireland first and use it as a base for future growth," says Collins.
Vaughan International Consultants Ltd., Halifax, Nova Scotia
Vaughan International Consultants Ltd. of Halifax is part of a team of three Canadian companies at the forefront of India's efforts to deal with pressing environmental concerns. The consortium-composed of Vaughan, Roche International of Quebec City, and EVS Environmental Consultants Ltd. of Vancouver-is wrapping up a six-year project for CIDA aimed at helping Indian companies and policy makers address a broad range of issues that affect the environmental behaviour of Indian industry.
Since beginning this massive project in 1996, the Canadian team has delivered about 50 separate training, policy, business information and technology transfer activities to Indian industry managers, policy makers and the Indian environmental consulting community. Subjects have included environmental risk, site and impact assessments, health and safety management systems, the development of environmentally safe and affordable hazardous waste treatment facilities, and policy changes to encourage environmentally compliant waste management and recycling operations. This project has enabled over 7,000 Indian industry managers to receive training in various aspects of environmental management and it has documented environmental improvements in more than 200 Indian industrial operations. For its work on the project, the consortium was a finalist for a Canadian Award for International Cooperation.
Vaughan has worked extensively in India, Pakistan, Indonesia and South America, and throughout the Caribbean. During the Canada trade mission to India last April, the firm signed a contract for a feasibility study for a facility to safely treat industrial hazardous wastes generated by local industry.
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Updated on July 22, 2002
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