If you live in a big city, there is a good chance you have never met an egg farmer. Maybe you think farming’s economic impact is limited to rural communities. But that is not the case—not by a long shot. Farming is a force in our national economy and it directly affects urbanites in Canada’s biggest cities. For example:
More than 17,600 people across Canada work in the Egg Economy
We add $1.37 billion to Canada’s economy annually
We pay nearly half a billion dollars in revenue to governments every year
Economic contribution of Canada’s egg industry
British Columbia
2,456 jobs
$121.2 million in farm cash receipts
$168 million contributed to Canada's GDP
$54.6 million in total tax revenues
Alberta
1,703 jobs
$83.8 million in farm cash receipts
$120 million contributed to Canada's GDP
$39.1 million in total tax revenues
Saskatchewan
866 jobs
$44.1 million in farm cash receipts
$60.5 million contributed to Canada's GDP
$19.7 million in total tax revenues
Manitoba
2,008 jobs
$107.6 million in farm cash receipts
$141.5 million contributed to Canada's GDP
$46 million in total tax revenues
Ontario
6,483 jobs
$359.7 million in farm cash receipts
$516.4 million contributed to Canada's GDP
$167.9 million in total tax revenues
Quebec
2,863 jobs
$167.7 million in farm cash receipts
$255.4 million contributed to Canada's GDP
$83.1 million in total tax revenues
Atlantic provinces
1,221 jobs
$77.5 million in farm cash receipts
$103.3 million contributed to Canada's GDP
$33.5 million in total tax revenues
British Columbia
Alberta
Saskatchewan
Manitoba
Ontario
Quebec
Atlantic provinces
Province
Economic Contributions
British Columbia
2,456 jobs
$121.2 million in farm cash receipts
$168 million contributed to Canada's GDP
$54.6 million in total tax revenues
Alberta
1,703 jobs
$83.8 million in farm cash receipts
$120 million contributed to Canada's GDP
$39.1 million in total tax revenues
Saskatchewan
866 jobs
$44.1 million in farm cash receipts
$60.5 million contributed to Canada's GDP
$19.7 million in total tax revenues
Manitoba
2,008 jobs
$107.6 million in farm cash receipts
$141.5 million contributed to Canada's GDP
$46 million in total tax revenues
Ontario
6,483 jobs
$359.7 million in farm cash receipts
$516.4 million contributed to Canada's GDP
$167.9 million in total tax revenues
Quebec
2,863 jobs
$167.7 million in farm cash receipts
$255.4 million contributed to Canada's GDP
$83.1 million in total tax revenues
Atlantic provinces
1,221 jobs
$77.5 million in farm cash receipts
$103.3 million contributed to Canada's GDP
$33.5 million in total tax revenues
Half a billion dollars is a dramatic number–but what does it really mean in terms of paying for the schools and hospitals Canadians rely on? To illustrate we made a list of hypothetical comparisons between the cost of real projects and the tax revenue our industry generates. To be clear: we are not actually financing these projects! This is hypothetical, but it will give you a sense of the outsized impact the humble egg has on Canada. You will see that ours is truly an industry of nation-builders.
The Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario
What if I told you the Egg Economy could support an extra 30,000 surgeries in Ontario every year?
The Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario–or CHEO for short–is a mainstay of medicine in Ottawa. The hospital conducted an average 7,600 surgical procedures a year as of 2016.1 CHEO is expanding to empower an additional 1,500 surgical procedures a year, cutting wait times in half. The total cost to the province of Ontario? $8.6 million.2 That is only a fraction of the $167.9 million in tax revenues Ontario gains from the Egg Economy. Think about it this way: Egg Economy revenues could finance 19 hospital expansions just like CHEO’s. That would mean nearly 30,000 more surgeries across the province every year.
New cars for the Montreal subway system
Every year it travels a stunning 59 million kilometres.3 That is equal to circling the Earth more than 1,472 times.4 It is the Montreal Metro, Montreal’s subway system.
Montreal is replacing its current fleet of subway cars with the new AZUR cars. In total, 468 AZUR cars are hitting the tracks that will cost the Quebec government $1.2 billion.5 The Egg Economy in Quebec generates about $83.1 million in taxes for the Quebec government. That covers the cost of around 30 new subway cars. Each AZUR car can accommodate 80 passengers more than the old model. Thus an extra 2,400 people can ride the subway at any one time–hundreds of thousands more every year–because of taxes equal to those created by the Egg Economy.
Salish Secondary School in Surrey, B.C.
Surrey is British Columbia’s second-largest city and by 2020 it will dwarf Vancouver in size. With growth comes families and with families come kids. That means new schools like Salish Secondary School. Salish will be home to 800 students getting a world-class Canadian education starting in September 2018.6
The Government of British Columbia is investing just over $55 million in Salish Secondary School.7 That is a near-perfect mirror of the $54.6 million BC’s government gains in taxes from the Egg Economy. For decades that school will be educating the next generation of Canadians, supported by today’s generation of egg farmers. Who knows? Some of Salish’s graduates may become egg farmers themselves. We hope they do. Being an egg farmer means making Canada stronger: tax contributions funding hospitals in Ontario, transit in Montreal, schools in BC, and everything between.
