Canadian economic geography at the millennium

Over the last quarter of century the Canadian economy experienced a series of profound changes which have affected every level of society. They includ e new forms of flexible production, fundamental changes in regulation at al l spatial scales, structural shifts away from manufacturing towards service sector activities, the rise of information technology(IT) and computerizat ion at the workplace, the feminization of the labour market, and, what has become the leitmotif of the age, globalization. Such changes are intimately connected with geography. By that we mean not merely that they take on a g eographical form, but that geography is part of their very constitution. In this sense Canadian economic geographers are exactly in the right time and the right place to make use of their skills. Indeed, over the last five ye ars there has been an explosion of literature by Canadian economic geograph ers on precisely these kinds of changes that are simultaneously both econom ic and geographical. In reviewing that literature the paper begins by situa ting Canada within its wider global setting, which we then follow by survey ing the diverse writing around the three broad sectors that make-up the Can adian economy: the resource sector, the manufacturing sector, and the servi ce sector We conclude by highlighting two particular research themes within Canadian economic geography that have become especially germane over the l ate 1990s. The first is on new labour markets and forms of work both of whi ch have been transformed during the last decade; and the second is on new f orms of industrial innovation, which are clearly pivotal to the future well -being of the country for the next millennium.