Discover Goods and Services in Your Community!

Goods are things you can pick up and take home. A farmer in Saskatchewan grows wheat that wheat is a good. A carpenter builds wooden chairs and tables those are goods too. Maple syrup made from Quebec's maple trees and fresh salmon caught off British Columbia's Pacific coast are also famous Canadian goods.

Lumber cut by a logger in New Brunswick and potatoes grown in Prince Edward Island's rich red soil are more great examples of goods you might find across Canada.

Services are actions people do to help others. A doctor in Manitoba examines a sick child that is a service. A teacher in Edmonton helps you learn to read that is a service too. A postal worker delivering letters across Canada and a plumber fixing pipes in Ottawa are both providing services.

Services cannot be touched or taken home like goods can. They are helpful actions performed by skilled workers in your community.

A producer is a person who makes or grows goods, or provides services, to sell to others. A farmer, a baker, and a carpenter are all producers. A consumer is a person who buys and uses goods and services. When you buy a book at a store in Québec City, you are acting as a consumer.

Most people in Canada are both producers and consumers at different times. A baker is a producer when they sell bread, and a consumer when they buy flour to bake with. You can explore how this connects to Exchange of Goods and how goods move through communities.

A need is something you must have to survive, like food, clean water, warm clothing, and a safe home. A want is something you would enjoy but do not need to survive, like a video game or a bicycle.

Understanding the difference between needs and wants helps you make smart choices with money a skill you will build further when you study Decision Making.

Good: A good is a physical object you can touch, hold, and buy. Examples include bread, apples, lumber, and maple syrup.

Service: A service is work someone does to help another person. Examples include a haircut, a doctor visit, or a bus ride.

Producer: A producer is a person who makes or grows goods, or provides services, to sell to others. A farmer growing wheat is a producer.

Consumer: A consumer is a person who buys and uses goods and services. When you buy food at a grocery store, you are a consumer.

Need: A need is something you must have to stay alive and healthy, like food, water, and shelter.

Want: A want is something you would like to have but do not need to survive, like a toy or a video game.

Bartering: Bartering means trading goods or services directly with another person without using money. Indigenous peoples in Canada used bartering long before money was widely used.

Wage: A wage is money paid to someone for doing a job or service. Workers earn wages so they can buy the goods and services they need.

Market: A market or store is a place where producers sell goods or services and consumers come to buy them.

You can practice sorting items into goods and services. Think about a farmer, a doctor, a librarian, and a baker which ones provide goods and which ones provide services? You will also practice identifying whether you are acting as a producer or a consumer in different situations.

As you get ready for Basic Economics and Types of Jobs, you will use what you know about goods and services to understand bigger ideas about how communities and economies work.

You have already learned about Types of Businesses, which showed you the different kinds of places that sell goods and services. You also explored Introduction to Money, which helps you understand how people pay for goods and services. Your knowledge of Making Simple Decisions helps you think about choosing between needs and wants.

All of these ideas come together as you learn about goods and services and prepare for topics like Essential Services, Resource Industries, and International Commerce.

Jobs in Communities You will see how the jobs people do in your community connect directly to providing goods and services to neighbours.

Basic Economics You will use your understanding of goods and services as a foundation for learning bigger ideas about how economies work.

Exchange of Goods You will discover how goods move from producers to consumers, including through trucks on highways and ships on oceans.

Types of Work You will explore the many different kinds of work people do to produce goods and provide services.

Essential Services You will learn about the most important services communities need, like healthcare, education, and safety.

Resource Industries You will find out how Canada's natural resources, like forests and oceans, are used to produce important goods.

International Commerce You will see how goods and services are traded between Canada and other countries around the world.

Types of Jobs You will explore how different jobs involve either producing goods or providing services in your community.

Decision Making You will use what you know about needs, wants, goods, and services to make smart choices about spending money.