> If by reasonably independent you mean almost wholly dependent, then sure. First, I've lived in company towns, and there's definitely a thing in Canada, but n

> If by reasonably independent you mean almost wholly dependent, then sure. First, I've lived in company towns, and there's definitely a thing in Canada, but not all towns outside of major population areas in Canada are company towns (if for no other reason than there just aren't enough companies to cover them all, and in some places the population is too sparse to really have an economic system that ties them all to one employer). There's plenty of towns with no major employer. But yeah, if you are outside of local economic centers, you're either at the whim of those economic centers or you've got your own conglomerate/co-op that collectively gives the local community some leverage with the larger economy that's out there. That's not specific to one country. > At least in the USA it's far easier to raise capital, and regulatory capture hasn't yet gotten so bad that new entrants are completely shut out of major industries. In the US it's far easier to raise capital, but otherwise I think there's a "grass is greener" phenomenon playing out against you.