New research suggests religion produces measurable economic contributions to the common good and economy of Canada.

It was conducted for Cardus by the veteran father-daughter research team, Brian J. Grim, Ph.D., and Melissa E. Grim, JD, of the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation.

The study provides the first documented quantitative national estimates of the economic value of religion to Canadian society.

Amid pandemic-related job loss and economic worries, new research suggests there is a sector of Canadian society that plays an important, but often unrecognized economic role: religion.

The Hidden Economy: How Faith Helps Fuel Canada’s GDP, a new report from think tank Cardus finds that religion’s annual contribution to Canadian society is worth an estimated $67.5 billion.

That is large enough to be the ninth biggest enterprise in the country ahead of the Bank of Montreal.

The $67.5 billion figure is the mid-range estimate in The Hidden Economy: How Faith Helps Fuel Canada’s GDP.

More than half of the $67.5 billion figure comes from the activities of tens of thousands of religious congregations (churches, temples, mosques, and synagogues) in Canada.

Nationwide, they have a $35-billion “halo effect” – the value congregations provide to their surrounding communities.