Many aspects of Canadian economic life are determined in free markets.
Most of the goods and services that you buy are produced by privately
owned profit-making firms, and the prices of those goods and services are
determined in free markets. The incomes of most Canadian workers are
also determined by free-market forces.
At the same time, municipal, provincial, and federal governments provide
services to Canadians that are among the most important—public
education, healthcare, roads and public transportation, clean water, and
national defence. Government involvement in our market economy is
pervasive and takes many forms, including the operation of police forces,
national parks, sanitation systems, and the Coast Guard. Crown
corporations such as Canada Post, Export Development Canada, and
Hydro-Québec sell goods and services to firms and households.
Governments also regulate many of our activities through the use of
building codes, zoning laws, minimum wages, food inspection, and
environmental regulation. In order to finance these various activities,
governments in Canada take a significant portion of our incomes in the
form of taxes.
6. understand why free markets may not achieve some desirable
social goals.
7. identify the direct and indirect costs of government intervention,
and some of the important causes of government failure.