Canada Takes Top Spot on Forbes Best Country for Business List

Being a Toronto based business we are partial to reports that recognize our city, province and country on a North American or global scale. We wrote about Toronto ranking 9th on the US and Canada Green City Index,  placing 4th on the most liveable (global) city list and also coming in 2nd as a ‘City of Opportunity’ among 26 leading global metropolises and when our city took the top spot in the CIBC World Markets’ Metropolitan Economic Activity Index Ratings. Maybe we’re a little partial to Toronto but we’re equally pleased to write about Canada and Canadian business and placing first on Forbes annual Best Country for Business list.

The Forbes Best Country for Business list considers 134 countries and assesses each based on 11 different factors (Canada ranked within the top 20 in 10 of the 11 factors):

• property rights;
• innovation;
• taxes;
• technology;
• corruption;
• freedom (personal, trade and monetary);
• red tape;
• investor protection; and,
• stock market performance.

Forbes compiles the data for rankings from reports from the Central Intelligence Agency, Freedom House, Heritage Foundation, Property Rights Alliance, Transparency International, the World Bank and World Economic Forum.

“While the U.S. is paralyzed by fears of a double-dip recession and Europe struggles with sovereign debt issues, Canada’s economy has held up better than most.” Kurt Badenhausen, forbes.com

Canadian banks such as Royal Bank of Canada, Bank of Nova Scotia and Bank of Montreal were able to avoid bailouts during one of the most trying economic times in our country’s history. Forbes credits conservative lending practices for allowing the banks to stay strong and remain standing among the strongest in the world.

Canada improved from the fourth spot which it occupied on the 2010 list. The reason for the improvement was the jump to our tax standing which went from placing 23rd in 2010 to 9th in 2011. This improvement was due to the introduction of a Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) in Ontario and British Columbia as well as reduced corporate and employee tax rates. Canada ranked in the top five for investor protection and for a lack of red tape which determines how easy it is to launch a business.

You can read the full Forbes best Country for Business list for more details or you can jump to the complete ranking by country.

Earth Day Canada’s Upcycle Challenge

Earth Day Canada is challenging Canadians at home, school or work to make something new out of something old and participate in its Upcycling Contest which runs from October 3rd to November 27th, 2011.

Earth Day Canada’s mission is “to improve the state of the environment by empowering and helping Canadians to take positive environmental action”. What better way to do that than to encourage Canadians to take something that might otherwise be thrown away and find a way to make it useful again. Not only useful but Upcycled so better.

Wikipedia defines Upcycling as “the process of converting waste materials or useless products into new materials or products of better quality or a higher environmental value.”

This contest is perfect for individuals and school groups looking to tap into their green creativity but it can also be incorporated into CSR business programs as a participative project for employees. Just look at the things that can be upcycled from an old pallet and a lot of ingenuity.

You can read the full contest details on the Earth Day Canada site.

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Miratel Solutions is a Toronto call centre, eBusiness, and letter shop mail house specializing in professional fundraising services including telephone fundraising, online fundraising, lottery services, donation caging, donation processing and other donor management services. We are committed to our CSR business values and advancing the missions of the non-profits we proudly serve.