French political theory at the time was heavily influenced by Jean Bodin’s idea that the wealth of a Kingdom was based on its population. France, as a continental power, had little incentive to send its subjects across the Atlantic. Agriculture was also an important part of the French economy, while trade was still heavily constrained by royal power.
It would lead French colonial expansion to focus more towards resources that would be exploited for the Crown’s treasury’s benefits such as sugar in the South and cod in the North. The fur trade, which was the main source of revenue for New France, was only a sideshow compared to these two very lucrative resources, and the colony would develop more as a way to prevent British expansion, provide resources for the French islands and protect the cod fisheries on the Great Banks.
England, on the other side, already had an experience with settler colonialism in Ireland. Furthermore, its economic system would rely more and more on trade. Religious tensions and a much lower land availability for agriculture would drive emigration from the British Isles. A phenomenon that would be further amplified by an economy that would rely more and more on exportation and trade.
To this, we can add the fact that the Thirteen colonies had a better situation. Winters were harsher in Canada than in Virginia, and the settlers complained about the hardship of growing stuff. You also couldn’t ship anything in the colony from the end of December to April because of the ice cover, making New France inhospitable to trade for a large part of the year.
This all led France to see its colony as some sort of garrison and social experiment where you could convert Indigenous people for the greatness of France more than as a profitable business venture (it would never become profitable). There was therefore little interest in shipping a lot of people abroad and weakening the Kingdom when you could expect very little gain from it.
Was indentured servitude a big factor in early colonial population growth? Did that play a factor in French vs English colony population differences?