(NC) Thanks to factors like a rise in environmental consciousness and the “Buy Canadian” movement, there’s more support for local businesses and trade within communities. At the same time, those communities are also beginning to reap the benefits of a bigger-picture shift toward market diversification.

What does market diversification mean? Canada is doing business in more places around the world than ever before. International demand is high for our goods, backed by the country’s abundant natural resources:

• Forest products, including sustainably sourced lumber and mass timber.
• Nuclear resources, such as high-grade uranium, and technology, including reactors.
• A range of fuels, including crude oil, natural gas and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG).
• Critical minerals, such as lithium, nickel and cobalt, required for rechargeable batteries and large-scale energy storage.
• Clean energy from sources including hydroelectric power, solar farms and wind projects.

Each of these sectors are entering new markets abroad. This makes them, and the economy, less vulnerable to shocks like supply chain disruptions and trade disputes.

Global sales are coming back as local benefits. Opening up new markets and finding new customers for Canadian goods, resources and expertise means more opportunities. It creates and sustains reliable jobs across the country, both directly in these key sectors, as well as in the businesses and networks that support them.

The revenue from increased trade comes directly back to communities: it funds the essential public services that they rely on, including infrastructure like roads and bridges, programs such as pensions and services such as education and healthcare.

At the same time as communities are being brought closer together by more local trade and business, they’re also benefitting from the business happening across the world. You can learn more, as well as find stories of communities seeing changes from Canada’s diversified trade, at canada.ca/whattheworldwants.