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Nova Scotia

  • Total area: 55,284 km2
  • Capital: Halifax

Demographics (2007)

Population

  • 0.953 Million
  • A diverse population from various ethnic backgrounds.
  • The largest concentrations of population are in the Halifax metropolitan area and Cape Breton County.

Population of major urban centres (000s)

  • Halifax (CMA)1: 385.5
  • Cape Breton (CA)2: 106.7
  • Truro (CA): 12
  • New Glasgow (CA): 9.4
  • Kentville (CA): 5.8

Total labour force (000s)

  • 452.8

Employment by industry (000s)

  • Retail Trade: 76.7
  • Health care and social assistance: 63.1
  • Educational Services: 39.0

Economy (2008)

  • Real GDP Growth: 1.7%
  • CPI3 Inflation: 3.1%
  • Unemployment Rate: 8.0%

Total international trade ($CDN billions)

  • Exports: 8.0
  • Imports: 10.5

Business and Investment Environment

  • Positioned as the gateway to North America and as a global shipping centre that offers unparalled access to the US & European markets.
  • Some of the lowest costs for facility leases, utilities and for salary and wages when compared to other North American and European jurisdictions (KMPG’s Competitive Alternatives report, 2008)
  • R&D tax credits reach as high as 35%
  • Generous business loans of up to $15 million

Sectoral Strengths

Life Sciences

  • Availability of a strong scientific community with research specializing in the medical, marine, agri-foods and technology fields.
  • Home to world-renowned research facilities such as the National Research Council's Institute for Marine Biosciences and the Bedford Institute of Oceanography.
  • Leading-edge companies have chosen Nova Scotia for life sciences R&D and manufacturing, such as pharmaceutical manufacturers MedMira Inc, PharmEng, Sepracor Inc. and Ocean Nutrition.

Information technologies (IT)

  • Trade publication Global Services has consecutively ranked Halifax among the top North American cities in an assessment of the top 50 emerging cities in the world for information technology and business process outsourcing.
  • World-renowned BlackBerry®-maker, Research In Motion (RIM), has built a 160,000 square foot state-of-the-art office facility in Nova Scotia. The company chose Nova Scotia for the expansion of a technical support operations centre that will employ 1200 people by 2010.

Energy

  • Nova Scotia is the largest marketer of biodiesel and biofuels in Canada.
  • Nova Scotia has tidal power potential - with 16-meter (52 foot) tides in province's Bay of Fundy.
  • Regional and national electricity distribution grids ensure secure supply to markets.
  • Maritimes and Northeast Pipeline, one of Nova Scotia's energy resources, spans 1356 km (850 miles) from Nova Scotia to Massachusetts. This pipeline interconnects with many others, providing customers with unparalleled access to growing Eastern Canadian and North-eastern US markets.
  • The SABLE Offshore Energy project produces natural gas from a number of wells off the coast of Nova Scotia and supplies industrial and commercial/residential applications.

Manufacturing

  • The technical and professional programs offered by Nova Scotia's 11 degree granting institutions and 13 community college campuses answer the recruitment needs of today's global companies.
  • Nova Scotia is home to 40 % of all of Canada's military assets and some of the world's leading defence, security & aerospace companies including: Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, L-3 Canada, IMP Group, and Pratt & Whitney.
  • According to a 2008 KPMG study, Truro ranked fifth among the 128 global cities featured in the survey, for lowest costs in the manufacturing industry.
  • For a 120-person pharmaceutical manufacturing facility, annual operating costs are, on average, about 10% less in Halifax than in major centers in the US (Source: 2008 KPMG)
  • In 2006, the manufacturing sector produced over $2.6 billion in chained GDP. This represents the largest output of any industrial sector in Nova Scotia.

Online Resources

  1. CMA: Census Metropolitan Area (return to source paragraph)
  2. CA: Census Agglomeration (return to source paragraph)
  3. CPI: Consumer Price Index (return to source paragraph)