by David K. Foot, Richard A. Loreto and Thomas W. McCormack, Madison Avenue Demographics Group, under contract with Industry Canada, 1998
Introduction
The purpose of this paper is to describe and analyse demographic trends in Canada and to discuss their implications for public and private sector activities during the next ten years. Although our findings and conclusions rest on the large body of empirical work listed in the "Bibliography", the paper has been commissioned by Industry Canada as a non-technical work that will be used to facilitate discussion among a variety of stakeholder groups. Accordingly, the use of data in the text has been limited and specific references to sources have not been made. This information, typically found in academic work, can be obtained by consulting the listed references or contacting the authors.
The paper is organised in four sections. The first one positions the paper in terms of its purpose, approach, and organisation. The second one examines key demographic trends at the national, provincial, and urban levels, both on a retrospective and prospective basis. The next section examines the general implications of demographic change for a variety of products and services in the public and private sectors. The fourth section provides a general conclusion on the relative importance of demographic analysis in public and private sector policy development.