The economy of Ontario is rich and diversified; Major imports are gas and energy. Ontario is the largest economy in Canada, its GDP being nearly twice that of neighbouring Quebec, the second largest economy. The Ontarian economy is highly influenced, and run by the service sector, though manufacturing also plays an important role.
Ontario is the most populous province of Canada, with a population of about 13 million permanent residents. It is Canada's leading manufacturing province accounting for 52% of the national manufacturing shipments in 2004.
Inflation is slowly reducing in Ontario, it was 2.2% in 2005, and is forecast to be 2.1% in 2006, and 1.8% in 2007. Ontario has an unemployment rate of about 8.5%, slightly higher than the employment rate of Canada as a whole. However, the ratings agency Moody's downgraded the province's economic outlook rating from "stable" to negative in December 2011.
Ontario's main exports are motor vehicles parts and accessories (40.4%), Machinery and mechanical appliances (10.8%), electrical machinery & equipment (5.6%) and plastic (4.1%).
Ontario's main imports are motor vehicles parts and accessories (22.3%), machinery and mechanical appliances (17.7%), electrical machinery and equipment (10.8%), plastic (4.2%) and scientific, professional and photo equipment (3.6%).
Read more about Economy Of Ontario: History
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“It enhances our sense of the grand security and serenity of nature to observe the still undisturbed economy and content of the fishes of this century, their happiness a regular fruit of the summer.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)