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OTTAWA - A new study says soaring resource prices fuelled increases in Canada's natural resource wealth averaging 10 per cent a year between 1997 and 2006.
Statistics Canada says this growth rate in the estimated dollar value of the country's energy, mineral and timber reserves would have been higher if extraction costs had not risen significantly during this period.
The value of these selected natural resource reserves more than doubled, from less than $500 billion in 1997 to over $1 trillion in 2006, equivalent to more than $30,000 per capita - attributed directly to the soaring value of energy resources.
In 2006, energy resources accounted for 57 per cent of total resource wealth, followed by timber (24) and mineral resources (19).
The study examined Canada's wealth from energy, mineral and timber resource assets, as well as changes in resource prices, reserves and extraction costs from 1997 to 2006.
© The Canadian Press, 2005 | 
