matter of personal preferences . Whichever is most comforable for you is fine . <| sep |> Part of the historiography of Canada is the staples thesis that Canada has largely always been export focused on primary resources more so then most advanced economies . Canada has since records have been kept , been the largest exporter of timber . And it has often gone through periods of having a key industry far trading , timber , wheat , oil . Canada also has a long history with the importance of railroads . Being key the export lead growth and the creation of the larger Federation that allowed the independent and middle power of Canada to be established . Canada has gone through periods of railway mania and funneled massive amounts of public money in to railroads in its early dominion history . Again , primarily seen through the lens of nation building and going back to the staples thesis Coreperiphery mode . Basically the united Provinces of Canada Ontario and Quebec and other colonies went all but bankrupt in developing railways before and nearly again after Confederation . In fact some areas in the extream north are only accessible by rail Churchill directly north to Hudson Bay in Manitoba , Moosonee also on Hudson Bay in Ontario . These both started as Hudson Bay Trading Posts as early as the 1600 s , accessible by ship via Hudson ' s Bay .