the great disadvantage of the fur trade for the canadas was that it did not encourage settlement. the fur trade only needed a few highly skilled workers. also, the fur trade required more tonnage of goods to be shipped to north america than going the other way. this meant that there was no excess space on the westward voyage and passage costs were high. unlike the united states where agriculture had become the primary industry, requiring a large labour force the population of what would be canada remained very low.