Railway (CP) are responsible for operating most of Canadas rail freight services. VIA Rail Canada, a federal Crown corporation provides passenger rail service. Approximately 46 Canadian railways operate on some 50,000 route kilometers of track. In 1996, some 4 million-rail passengers traveled a total of 1.46 billion passenger-kilometers. Railways account for 280 billion tonne-kilometres of freight.3.2.7.2CommunicationAs households go in Canada you would be hard pressed to find a home without one phone let alone 2 or 3. Increasingly as phone companies compete for business both local and long distance the occurrence of numerous phones and/or phone lines per house increases. In addition, everywhere you look someone has a cellular phone, talk and go society. As phone communication moves to the digital age with digital phones in the home and portable phones it will become increasingly affordable and useful for everyone to have one. In addition, lets not forget the every growing Internet and its email and Internet phone capabilities. Almost 85% of people who own a computer are currently one way or another hooked to an Internet provider.3.2.8Product Fit with MarketEvery growing immigrant populations say to us that we need to help the immigrants stay in touch with their culture. We feel that there is an untapped market in the Indian community for a store that will provide original clothing, materials, household products and artifacts. 3.2.9Competitive BarriersOur main competitors, when considering the import of textiles into Canada, are Indian weavers, dyers and craftspeople that may begin to export their own authentically made textiles. The textile shops that we plan to open will have only authentic Indian textile rugs and materials include; silks, wool, cashmere, cotton and more. Our stores will emphasize the culture, tradition and quality craftsmanship associated with the textiles and designs and patters found on them. Other competitors may...
