Economic transition is a major issue in Canada: initially a colony built on the exploitation of natural resources, it has since undergone a rapid evolution, to the point of being considered today a leading economic power. Recent developments, however, are ambiguous and lead to a challenging debate: for some, the Canadian economy is expected to move beyond a resource-based economy to the knowledge-based economy; for others, the current period rather leads to the exacerbation of the old exploitation of natural resources, but in partially renewed forms. To explain this tension, we examine the hypothesis of a transition in the Canadian economy, from a stage of maturation of the traditional exploitation (a mature-staples stage) to a new “post-staples” stage. This brings light to the variety and depth of current developments (economic and productive, political and symbolic, social and territorial) and emphasizes that they are probably better addressed in terms of governance and political game around resources rather than as an objective and structural "shift" in the political economy of resources. The transition of the Canadian natural resource economy appears so heterogeneous and uneven that it raises questions about the very existence of a profound structural change of its bases.