Canada - Environment and Economy 1. The expression "official area of Canada" refers to the actual landmass of the country, thereby including all inland bodies of water, whereas "Greater Canada" includes external peninsular and coastal bodies of water 2. As Hamelin stated, Canada has been both blessed and cursed by isolation and accessibility. Settlement was not possible in Canada until a relatively recent historical period. The Canadian coastline, at any point, is too great a distance to allow for regular trade via sea, thus creating an economic dependancy on the United States, Canada's oldest and original