{"id":61068,"date":"2025-06-20T14:16:25","date_gmt":"2025-06-20T14:16:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pantheregroup.com\/2025\/06\/20\/productivity-emergency-hits-canadians-in-the-paycheque\/"},"modified":"2025-06-20T14:16:25","modified_gmt":"2025-06-20T14:16:25","slug":"productivity-emergency-hits-canadians-in-the-paycheque","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pantheregroup.com\/2025\/06\/20\/productivity-emergency-hits-canadians-in-the-paycheque\/","title":{"rendered":"Productivity &#8217;emergency&#8217; hits Canadians in the paycheque"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> \n<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<header aria-label=\"Beginning of Article\" class=\"article-header article-header--feature\">\n<nav aria-label=\"Breadcrumb\" class=\"breadcrumbs\" data-aqa=\"nav-breadcrumb\">\n<p>Breadcrumb Trail Links<\/p>\n<ol class=\"breadcrumbs__items list-unstyled\">\n<li class=\"breadcrumbs__item\">News<\/li>\n<li class=\"breadcrumbs__item\">Economy<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/nav>\n<div class=\"article-header__detail\">\n<div class=\"article-header__detail__texts\">\n<p class=\"article-subtitle\">Most of us probably don&#8217;t understand or care about the poor productivity that economists and politicians are worried about, but we should. Joe O&#8217;Connor looks at how to solve this Canadian crisis \u2014 and why it matters<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-meta\">\n<p><span class=\"published-date__since\">Published Jun 20, 2025<\/span> \u00a0\u2022\u00a0 <span class=\"updated-date__since\">Last updated 27\u00a0minutes ago<\/span> \u00a0\u2022\u00a0 <span class=\"published-date__word-count\">14 minute read<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"article-meta__bottom\">\n<div class=\"bookmark-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"popover\" data-aqa=\"popover\" data-click-to-appear=\"True\" data-container=\"\" data-container-offset=\"\" data-no-style=\"\" data-popover-component=\"\" data-position=\"top\" data-sticky=\"\" data-tail-offset=\"200\" data-tail-position=\"right\"><button class=\"popover__trigger bookmark-button\"><span class=\"save-article-button save-article-button--default\" title=\"Save article\" data-article-id=\"80e8ce5f-dea8-4599-be5a-421ddbd578eb\" data-evt-skip-click=\"true\"\/><\/button><\/p>\n<div aria-describedby=\"popover-desc-popover-bookmark\" class=\"popover__content\" hidden=\"\" role=\"dialog\">\n<div class=\"popover__content__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"popover__content__text\" id=\"popover-desc-popover-bookmark\">\n<div class=\"bookmark__popover__content\">\n<p>You can save this article by registering for free here. Or sign-in if you have an account.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><button class=\"popover__content__close\" data-evt-skip-click=\"true\" title=\"Close\"><svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" xmlns:xlink=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/1999\/xlink\" viewbox=\"0 0 12 12\" class=\"icon--close\" height=\"12\" version=\"1.1\" width=\"12\"><polygon points=\"12 0.95 11.05 0 6 5.05 0.95 0 0 0.95 5.05 6 0 11.05 0.95 12 6 6.95 11.05 12 12 11.05 6.95 6\"\/><\/svg><\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<figure class=\"featured-image\" data-aqa=\"featured-image\"><picture class=\"featured-image__ratio\"><source media=\"(min-width: 1200px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital\/financialpost\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/street.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1200&amp;h=675&amp;type=webp&amp;sig=H8Ie1kiNDO_bfEGEzAfwVg,&#10;            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https:\/\/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital\/financialpost\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/street.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=750&amp;h=1125&amp;type=webp&amp;sig=sQWEi9GBZmUWpbHWwqkYuQ 2x\" type=\"image\/webp\"><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><figcaption class=\"featured-image__caption image-caption\"><span class=\"caption\">Pedestrians cross a street in the financial district of Toronto.<\/span> <span class=\"credit\">Photo by Brent Lewin\/Bloomberg<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<section class=\"article-content__content-group article-content__content-group--feature\">\n<h2 class=\"visually-hidden\">Article content<\/h2>\n<p>Frances Donald was either having a highly productive morning or a disastrous finish to her workweek, depending upon one\u2019s definition of disasters in relation to getting stuff done.<\/p>\n<p data-async=\"\">Royal Bank of Canada\u2019s\u00a0chief economist dropped off her kid at daycare and was down to work before 8 a.m. on June 6, which was not quite a \u201cSuper Bowl\u201d magnitude day for economists, she said, but more along the lines of the \u201cplayoffs,\u201d since Statistics Canada was about to release its labour force survey for May and that\u2019s the kind of thing economists get fired up about.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section class=\"article-content__content-group article-content__content-group--feature\">\n<p>Article content<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section class=\"article-content__content-group article-content__content-group--feature\">\n<p>Article content<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<div class=\"ad__section-border article-content__ad-group ad_counter_2\">\n<section aria-describedby=\"advertisment4125519154369409004440709404557312\" class=\"ad\">\n<p>Advertisement 2<\/p>\n<div class=\"ad__container\">\n<div class=\"ad__inner\" id=\"ad__inner-2\">\n<div class=\"ad__inner__container\" data-ad=\"[[6,6],[1200,250],[1200,90],[970,90],[970,250],[728,90],[300,250]]\" 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month.<\/li>\n<li>Get email updates from your favourite authors.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"intro-body__registration_only hidden\">\n<p>THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK.<\/p>\n<p class=\"identity-intro__description\">Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"list-unstyled list-checkmark\">\n<li>Access articles from across Canada with one account<\/li>\n<li>Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments<\/li>\n<li>Enjoy additional articles per month<\/li>\n<li>Get email updates from your favourite authors<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"identity-screen m-x-0 p-x-0 col-xs-12 col-md-6 flex-justify-center flex-align-center\" aria-live=\"assertive\">\n<section class=\"sail\" data-account-id=\"b9d3df2fccd108b5eff3c44f573b2cd6\" data-sailthru-personalization-engine=\"\" data-sailthru-personalization-engine-component=\"\"\/>\n<div class=\"m-x-0 p-x-0 col-xs-12 col-sm-6 col-md-12 flex-align-justify-center\" data-auth-component=\"\" id=\"auth-screen-form\">\n<div class=\"identity-screen-form--active w-full flex-align-justify-center\">\n<div class=\"identity-screen-form identity-screen__content w-full\">\n<h2 class=\"blocker-title\">Sign In or Create an Account<\/h2>\n<p><span class=\"identity-divider__line\"\/><span class=\"identity-divider__text\">or<\/span><span class=\"identity-divider__line\"\/><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<footer class=\"identity-footer identity-screen__content m-x-0 p-x-0 col-sm-6 col-md-12\"\/><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<section class=\"article-content__content-group article-content__content-group--feature\">\n<p>Article content<\/p>\n<p>The unforeseen twist came shortly before 9 a.m., when the daycare called to say she needed to pick up her child because of an upset tummy. Sometimes pulling off the work\/life juggle just does not go according to plan. As Donald\u2019s morning proved, however, most Canadians aren\u2019t a bunch of lazybones kicking back on the couch watching Netflix all day, but a bunch of grinders hard at work and at life.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<div class=\"js-widget-content article-content__widget-group article-content__widget-group--content-slot6 article-content__widget-group--newsletter-slot newsletter--indent\">\n<section class=\"newsletter-widget__new-story-page fp-headlinenews background--primary-light-gradient\" aria-labelledby=\"FinancialPostTopStories5519751052936669351352250107166720\" data-account-id=\"b9d3df2fccd108b5eff3c44f573b2cd6\" data-aqa=\"widget-newsletter\" data-newsletter=\"single\" data-newsletter-component=\"\" data-target-list=\"FP_HeadlineNews\" data-widget=\"newsletter\">\n<div class=\"newsletter-new-story-page-template\">\n<div class=\"newsletter-widget__header__new-story-page\">\n<div class=\"newsletter-widget__banner__new-story-page\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Top Stories\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/dcs-static.gprod.postmedia.digital\/18.9.4\/websites\/images\/newsletters\/icon-fp-topStories.svg\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Top Stories<\/p>\n<p class=\"newsletter-widget__text__new-story-page\">Get the latest headlines, breaking news and columns.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"newsletter-widget__body__new-story-page\">\n<div class=\"js-replace-main__new-story-page\">\n<p class=\"newsletter-widget__disclaimer__new-story-page text-size--tiny\">By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"js-submit-success\" hidden=\"\" id=\"submitSuccessFP_HeadlineNews\">\n<p>Thanks for signing up!<\/p>\n<p class=\"newsletter-widget__text__new-story-page\">A welcome email is on its way. If you don&#8217;t see it, please check your junk folder.<\/p>\n<p class=\"newsletter-widget__text__new-story-page newsletter__feedback--last\">The next issue of Top Stories will soon be in your inbox.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"newsletter-widget__text__new-story-page js-submit-error\" style=\"margin-top: 8px\" hidden=\"\" id=\"submitErrorFP_HeadlineNews\">We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try again<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<section class=\"article-content__content-group article-content__content-group--feature\">\n<p>Article content<\/p>\n<p data-async=\"\">Yet that doesn\u2019t jibe with Canada\u2019s well-known issues with productivity, especially compared to the United States and other countries. That flagging productivity over the past couple of decades has added another layer of angst for policymakers, economists and others who think about this country\u2019s future and how to make it better.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEven as a mainstream economist, I am shifting away from simply pulling apart the statistics because if you just look at the statistics, you\u2019re not seeing the whole picture,\u201d Donald said. \u201cThe question is, how do we create an innovative, scalable, resilient economy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-async=\"\">It is a great question, underscored with an even greater urgency than ever to answer since some, such as Bank of Canada\u2019s senior deputy governor Carolyn Rogers in March 2024, have said Canada is in the grips of a productivity \u201cemergency,\u201d not a term central bankers throw around lightly.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section class=\"article-content__content-group article-content__content-group--feature\">\n<p>Article content<\/p>\n<p>Equally mind-blowing, perhaps, is to learn that Canada during its centennial year in 1967 was considered the world\u2019s third-most prosperous nation, behind only the United States and Switzerland.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"article-content--column\">\n<p>Increased productivity is a win. It is a gift that keeps giving<\/p>\n<p>Philip Cross, the former chief economic analyst at Statistics Canada<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Global productivity rankings were not a thing back in those days, but Canada today is 18th best, sandwiched between Italy and Spain \u2014 the nation that made taking an afternoon nap famous \u2014 while Ireland is tops, begging the question: what in the name of James Joyce has been going on around here?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMost people don\u2019t understand and probably couldn\u2019t care about productivity, but there\u2019s a very close link between your productivity and your income,\u201d Philip Cross, the former chief economic analyst at Statistics Canada, said.<\/p>\n<p>Productivity, he said, boils down to how fast you can do your work and do it correctly. The faster the work gets done \u2014 accurately \u2014 the more time there is to do other things such as hanging out with friends, volunteering or taking care of business at home.<\/p>\n<p>Converted into dollars and cents, productivity measures the amount of output per hour worked. Forty years ago, Canadians generated 88 per cent of the value of Americans per hour worked, but that dropped to 71 per cent by 2022.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s something all Canadians should care about since Americans generate US$91.50 per capita per hour worked versus US$71.90 for those north of the border. In other words, labour productivity is not an abstract statistic, but the fundamental economic measure of a country\u2019s prosperity.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section class=\"article-content__content-group article-content__content-group--feature\">\n<p>Article content<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIncreased productivity is a win,\u201d Cross said. \u201cIt is a gift that keeps giving.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A more productive Canada would be home to locals flush with additional cash and the means to buy better cars, houses and other things, but it could also provide better roads, hospitals, public schools and transit, and give the country a better chance of retaining its homegrown talent, which is key to maintaining future productivity.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"embedded-image article-content--column\" data-aqa=\"embed-image\"><picture class=\"embedded-image__ratio\"><source data-srcset=\"https:\/\/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital\/financialpost\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Productivity-OECD.png?location=column&amp;quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1200&amp;type=webp&amp;sig=DEK929ipbhxniX5cdrqZHQ,&#10;            https:\/\/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital\/financialpost\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Productivity-OECD.png?location=column&amp;quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=2400&amp;type=webp&amp;sig=uwt0ZcaYPo_EMA5DT-lvUw 2x\" media=\"(min-width: 1200px)\" srcset=\"data:,1w\" type=\"image\/webp\"><source data-srcset=\"https:\/\/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital\/financialpost\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Productivity-OECD.png?location=column&amp;quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1200&amp;type=jpg&amp;sig=R27HzmlEpreViRCewJsq0A,&#10;                https:\/\/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital\/financialpost\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Productivity-OECD.png?location=column&amp;quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=2400&amp;type=jpg&amp;sig=Ux0QYbMxOXBxhITrUIchvw 2x\" media=\"(min-width: 1200px)\" srcset=\"data:,1w\" type=\"image\/jpeg\"><source data-srcset=\"https:\/\/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital\/financialpost\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Productivity-OECD.png?location=column&amp;quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=768&amp;type=webp&amp;sig=Hzm3bZXtQd_gZyIfFH5jeA,&#10;            https:\/\/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital\/financialpost\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Productivity-OECD.png?location=column&amp;quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1536&amp;type=webp&amp;sig=nqbMWxNapIu9dUKZAaSOVA 2x\" media=\"(min-width: 768px)\" srcset=\"data:,1w\" type=\"image\/webp\"><source data-srcset=\"https:\/\/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital\/financialpost\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Productivity-OECD.png?location=column&amp;quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=768&amp;type=jpg&amp;sig=HAFdYmIig7hACjeF_RJ-oA,&#10;                https:\/\/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital\/financialpost\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Productivity-OECD.png?location=column&amp;quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1536&amp;type=jpg&amp;sig=PaKW4rQXs0Hf1gTyEv64ww 2x\" media=\"(min-width: 768px)\" srcset=\"data:,1w\" type=\"image\/jpeg\"><source data-srcset=\"https:\/\/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital\/financialpost\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Productivity-OECD.png?location=column&amp;quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=375&amp;type=webp&amp;sig=jd-6e0dVJr_d1DtoqieBIg,&#10;            https:\/\/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital\/financialpost\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Productivity-OECD.png?location=column&amp;quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=750&amp;type=webp&amp;sig=WOXIgw6iSgfdhy--MT7xrg 2x\" media=\"(max-width: 767px)\" srcset=\"data:,1w\" type=\"image\/webp\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Productivity chart\" class=\"embedded-image__image lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital\/financialpost\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Productivity-OECD.png?location=column&amp;quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=375&amp;sig=HSV9ckUvBiBe43Kyq1oZ_A\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital\/financialpost\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Productivity-OECD.png?location=column&amp;quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=375&amp;sig=HSV9ckUvBiBe43Kyq1oZ_A,&#10;                https:\/\/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital\/financialpost\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Productivity-OECD.png?location=column&amp;quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=750&amp;sig=dgFYZ_3etfusSP89ioHE0A 2x\" src=\"https:\/\/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital\/financialpost\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Productivity-OECD.png?location=column&amp;quality=5&amp;strip=all&amp;w=100&amp;sig=wHB91CUgkp4pPPgAkpHUzA\" height=\"1953\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1000\"\/><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/figure>\n<h2>Working smarter<\/h2>\n<p>\u201cWhen you talk about productivity, too many Canadians think, \u2018Does that mean I am supposed to work harder, because I\u2019m already working as hard as I can and I\u2019m juggling my family and I am coaching the minor hockey team,\u2019 and so on,\u201d John Manley, the one-time deputy prime minister and current chair of investment banking firm Jeffries Canada, said. \u201cProductivity is not about working harder; it is about working smarter.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Manley is 75, but views retirement as a quaint relic of the 20th century and wishes the same were true for Canada\u2019s productivity crisis. It is a subject he first publicly addressed in a 1999 speech at the Empire of Canada Club in Toronto.<\/p>\n<p>In case there were any skeptics in the Bay Street crowd that day, he pointed out Ontario was about as productive as \u201cMississippi\u201d; per capita income in the U.S. at the time was 30 per cent higher than in Canada, and this country had the lowest rate of productivity growth among the G7 during the preceding 25 years.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section class=\"article-content__content-group article-content__content-group--feature\">\n<p>Article content<\/p>\n<figure class=\"embedded-image article-content--half_width_right\" data-aqa=\"embed-image\"><picture class=\"embedded-image__ratio\"><source data-srcset=\"https:\/\/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital\/financialpost\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/manley.jpg?location=half_width_right&amp;quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1200&amp;type=webp&amp;sig=fFz2zBzsFflPL-r8EBziYA,&#10;            https:\/\/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital\/financialpost\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/manley.jpg?location=half_width_right&amp;quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=2400&amp;type=webp&amp;sig=AoLbpD9EXI_B-xl8jtsz-w 2x\" media=\"(min-width: 1200px)\" srcset=\"data:,1w\" type=\"image\/webp\"><source data-srcset=\"https:\/\/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital\/financialpost\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/manley.jpg?location=half_width_right&amp;quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1200&amp;type=jpg&amp;sig=7_y2XQ9J87zXeeSCTDWKvA,&#10;                https:\/\/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital\/financialpost\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/manley.jpg?location=half_width_right&amp;quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=2400&amp;type=jpg&amp;sig=GmN4V8ghc7u2G3A1H3C2Xw 2x\" media=\"(min-width: 1200px)\" srcset=\"data:,1w\" type=\"image\/jpeg\"><source data-srcset=\"https:\/\/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital\/financialpost\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/manley.jpg?location=half_width_right&amp;quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=768&amp;type=webp&amp;sig=fAkiZf90EiZwM5i6vnSF8w,&#10;            https:\/\/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital\/financialpost\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/manley.jpg?location=half_width_right&amp;quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1536&amp;type=webp&amp;sig=Ryi6vEsBXnlgq9Dl-l01ug 2x\" media=\"(min-width: 768px)\" srcset=\"data:,1w\" type=\"image\/webp\"><source data-srcset=\"https:\/\/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital\/financialpost\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/manley.jpg?location=half_width_right&amp;quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=768&amp;type=jpg&amp;sig=cJi0GRxw7-KWWUyLJrjJ7A,&#10;                https:\/\/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital\/financialpost\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/manley.jpg?location=half_width_right&amp;quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1536&amp;type=jpg&amp;sig=6TkitHZC5t3Mowtzp0yUdg 2x\" media=\"(min-width: 768px)\" srcset=\"data:,1w\" type=\"image\/jpeg\"><source data-srcset=\"https:\/\/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital\/financialpost\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/manley.jpg?location=half_width_right&amp;quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=375&amp;type=webp&amp;sig=3DkAn-sOMcitO5jpfB3fHQ,&#10;            https:\/\/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital\/financialpost\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/manley.jpg?location=half_width_right&amp;quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=750&amp;type=webp&amp;sig=iZ_-R5kOmTCrD-Fu8Moa0A 2x\" media=\"(max-width: 767px)\" srcset=\"data:,1w\" type=\"image\/webp\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Former deputy prime minister of Canada John Manley\" class=\"embedded-image__image lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital\/financialpost\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/manley.jpg?location=half_width_right&amp;quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=375&amp;sig=oAZNwfPwqOyB9CmrgYsauA\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital\/financialpost\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/manley.jpg?location=half_width_right&amp;quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=375&amp;sig=oAZNwfPwqOyB9CmrgYsauA,&#10;                https:\/\/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital\/financialpost\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/manley.jpg?location=half_width_right&amp;quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=750&amp;sig=aHCXQD35zIOmVtojm6vK9Q 2x\" src=\"https:\/\/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital\/financialpost\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/manley.jpg?location=half_width_right&amp;quality=5&amp;strip=all&amp;w=100&amp;sig=Unu4qReinBQIVtduUVaREw\" height=\"635\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\"\/><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><figcaption class=\"image-caption\"><span class=\"caption\">Former deputy prime minister of Canada John Manley<\/span> <span class=\"credit\">Photo by Gavin Young\/Postmedia<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Time has marched on, but times have not changed when it comes to the productivity challenges bedevilling the country. These include, in no particular order, internal trade barriers, businesses sitting on their wallets instead of making capital investments, matching immigrants to jobs that use their skills, government red tape, a lack of access to capital, prosperity-killing corporate tax policies, a lack of competition in certain parts of the economy, not enough innovation and not enough willpower to do anything to solve the problem.<\/p>\n<p>One of the trickiest mountains to climb, Manley said, is that Canada is not a complete productivity disaster and is still a relatively prosperous country.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCanadians tend to have this attitude of if you don\u2019t have to fix something because it is hard to fix, then why would you fix it?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>But Manley knows firsthand Canadians are more than capable of making tough fixes. In the 1990s, a Wall Street Journal headline proclaimed that Canada was an \u201chonorary member of the Third World.\u201d The country\u2019s credit rating had been downgraded, the deficit was ticking past half a trillion dollars and 34 cents of every tax dollar collected was going toward servicing the debt.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section class=\"article-content__content-group article-content__content-group--feature\">\n<p>Article content<\/p>\n<p>It was an existential fiscal crisis, and Jean Chr\u00e9tien\u2019s government needed to take drastic action, not necessarily because they loved the idea of making change, but because the country no longer had a choice.<\/p>\n<p>Back in those days, Manley was industry minister. He oversaw a department that cut back to nine programs from 54 and laid off 25 per cent of its staff. Transfer payments to the provinces were slashed. It was an ugly time, he said, but by February 1998, the government delivered Canada\u2019s first balanced budget in 30 years.<\/p>\n<p>Crisis solved. The moral of the story? Change is difficult, but it is not impossible.<\/p>\n<h2>Changing attitudes<\/h2>\n<p data-async=\"\">Among the changes that currently need to be made is a widespread shift in opinion about extractive industries such as oil and gas, mining and forestry.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe sometimes don\u2019t like to admit it, but it is our natural resources that pay the bills in Canada,\u201d Manley said. \u201cWe should not be ashamed of that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-async=\"\">But the productivity challenges confronting the energy sector, for example, are much more complex than most people in urban centres think.<\/p>\n<p data-async=\"\">Once upon a time in the oilpatch, Scott Saxberg, the founder and former chief executive of Crescent Point Energy Corp., now known as Veren Inc., said there was plenty of investor capital to go around.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section class=\"article-content__content-group article-content__content-group--feature\">\n<p>Article content<\/p>\n<p>Canada was the place to be when he initially got into the game in the early 2000s. He did not know any of the \u201crules,\u201d but what he found was a regulatory environment that, year over year, grew increasingly dense. There always seemed to be a new regulation being layered on top of an old regulation and that brought on increased uncertainty. Investors, he said, hate uncertainty.<\/p>\n<p data-async=\"\">The Americans delaying and eventually quashing the Keystone XL pipeline was another blow, and the bruises eventually began to add up.<\/p>\n<p>Saxberg remembers meeting a potential investor in Scotland and feeling confident about reaching a deal right up until the gentleman looked down at his phone, looked back up and said he was not going to invest because it appeared Keystone XL was not going to fly. Without the new pipeline, any energy company producing in Canada would be at a \u201ccost disadvantage compared to producers in the U.S.\u201d End of meeting.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section class=\"article-content__content-group article-content__content-group--feature\">\n<p>Article content<\/p>\n<figure class=\"embedded-image article-content--full_page\" data-aqa=\"embed-image\"><picture class=\"embedded-image__ratio\"><source data-srcset=\"https:\/\/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital\/financialpost\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/keystone-0619-ph.jpg?location=full_page&amp;quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1200&amp;type=webp&amp;sig=IVMPd1LXNXWanZ5RLivtCQ,&#10;            https:\/\/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital\/financialpost\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/keystone-0619-ph.jpg?location=full_page&amp;quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=2400&amp;type=webp&amp;sig=EjgXTRab9KlcCJIxfEBdoA 2x\" media=\"(min-width: 1200px)\" srcset=\"data:,1w\" type=\"image\/webp\"><source data-srcset=\"https:\/\/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital\/financialpost\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/keystone-0619-ph.jpg?location=full_page&amp;quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1200&amp;type=jpg&amp;sig=7mu9BYF7FDc8GAbG14Dbag,&#10;                https:\/\/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital\/financialpost\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/keystone-0619-ph.jpg?location=full_page&amp;quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=2400&amp;type=jpg&amp;sig=CJp6BWQ1xxFV6TBY2Zz2JQ 2x\" media=\"(min-width: 1200px)\" srcset=\"data:,1w\" type=\"image\/jpeg\"><source data-srcset=\"https:\/\/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital\/financialpost\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/keystone-0619-ph.jpg?location=full_page&amp;quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=768&amp;type=webp&amp;sig=Apj3qsOQssVEjL-Kfb0hcQ,&#10;            https:\/\/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital\/financialpost\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/keystone-0619-ph.jpg?location=full_page&amp;quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1536&amp;type=webp&amp;sig=M5jDeATIPy4kuaqEoGYAig 2x\" media=\"(min-width: 768px)\" srcset=\"data:,1w\" type=\"image\/webp\"><source data-srcset=\"https:\/\/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital\/financialpost\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/keystone-0619-ph.jpg?location=full_page&amp;quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=768&amp;type=jpg&amp;sig=x4wlkLAr87npLJuRgpcanw,&#10;                https:\/\/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital\/financialpost\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/keystone-0619-ph.jpg?location=full_page&amp;quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1536&amp;type=jpg&amp;sig=wzHJATC40Janj7bWZlGcgg 2x\" media=\"(min-width: 768px)\" srcset=\"data:,1w\" type=\"image\/jpeg\"><source data-srcset=\"https:\/\/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital\/financialpost\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/keystone-0619-ph.jpg?location=full_page&amp;quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=375&amp;type=webp&amp;sig=S5iLd_ERB8voHNXHIMj40A,&#10;            https:\/\/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital\/financialpost\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/keystone-0619-ph.jpg?location=full_page&amp;quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=750&amp;type=webp&amp;sig=l-beSnjvYx6lyW_98uA4LQ 2x\" media=\"(max-width: 767px)\" srcset=\"data:,1w\" type=\"image\/webp\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Keyston XL pipes\" class=\"embedded-image__image lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital\/financialpost\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/keystone-0619-ph.jpg?location=full_page&amp;quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=375&amp;sig=Egoenwhia_6yimy4tu0qRg\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital\/financialpost\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/keystone-0619-ph.jpg?location=full_page&amp;quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=375&amp;sig=Egoenwhia_6yimy4tu0qRg,&#10;                https:\/\/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital\/financialpost\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/keystone-0619-ph.jpg?location=full_page&amp;quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=750&amp;sig=kL8X_T-5V623fADsDGxhBw 2x\" src=\"https:\/\/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital\/financialpost\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/keystone-0619-ph.jpg?location=full_page&amp;quality=5&amp;strip=all&amp;w=100&amp;sig=YxEicXj-NfludBUIMEGEFQ\" height=\"493\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1000\"\/><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><figcaption class=\"image-caption\"><span class=\"caption\">Miles of pipe for the Keystone XL pipeline sit unused in 2014. The Americans delaying and eventually quashing the pipeline was a blow to Canada\u2019s oilpatch.<\/span> <span class=\"credit\">Photo by ANDREW BURTON\/GETTY IMAGES<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cCapital is competitive; it moves around the globe,\u201d he said. \u201cSo when you hear the word competitiveness, what that means is you want to create a country with an environment that attracts capital and out competes other countries for that capital because capital looks at an industry on a macro basis and it goes, \u2018Well, you\u2019re not going to be a good long-term investment, so we are going to look elsewhere.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section class=\"article-content__content-group article-content__content-group--feature\">\n<p>Article content<\/p>\n<p data-async=\"\">Alberta\u2019s oilsands had the added disadvantage of being a more costly product to produce, as well as being next door to the U.S., which underwent a fracking craze and completed five new pipelines in 2024 alone, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, several international players, including TotalEnergies SE, BP PLC, ConocoPhillips and Shell PLC, have exited the province in recent years.<\/p>\n<p>Wooing them back, Saxberg said, is going to require streamlining regulations, increasing capacity to move oil and natural gas to market (hello pipelines) and a recognition that Alberta and Saskatchewan are not the bad guys, but key drivers of Canadian prosperity.<\/p>\n<p data-async=\"\">The government-owned Trans Mountain Pipeline is a poster child of productivity. It requires about 750 people to operate, gives Canadian oil producers better access to overseas markets and is expected to produce $2.8 billion in tax revenues by 2043.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat pipeline produces a product that goes into international markets and the money comes back to Canada and we put it into health care, education, roads, bridges, tunnels and whatever else,\u201d Manley said. \u201cImagine what we could do with more of the above.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section class=\"article-content__content-group article-content__content-group--feature\">\n<p>Article content<\/p>\n<h2>Production positivity<\/h2>\n<p data-async=\"\">Dreaming of a future full of new pipelines can steal attention away from some of the more upbeat and unsung productivity stories in the present day. If Canada were to appoint a chief storyteller to convey these yarns, Linda Hasenfratz, chair of auto-parts manufacturing giant Linamar Corp., should get the nod.<\/p>\n<p>She\u2019s the type of person who can look at a \u201cdrop of water in a glass and see it as half full,\u201d one person who knows her well said.<\/p>\n<p>Hasenfratz is also the type of executive who uses charts and graphs to hammer home points during an interview. Topping her list of key takeaways is that Linamar has boosted its productivity by 100 per cent over the past 15 years.<\/p>\n<p>Over the same timeframe, the Canadian manufacturing sector as a whole improved its productivity by about 50 per cent, which, perhaps surprisingly, outpaced the U.S. sector\u2019s gains.<\/p>\n<p data-async=\"\">Linamar has 75 plants worldwide and ranks its Canadian ones as its most productive. Toyota Motor Corp.\u2019s Canadian plants are its best performers, according to auto industry analyst J.D. Power, and General Motors Co.\u2019s facility in Oshawa, Ont., consistently ranks as its top factory in North America.<\/p>\n<p>In other words, Canadian operations are competing and appear to be crushing it.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section class=\"article-content__content-group article-content__content-group--feature\">\n<p>Article content<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section class=\"article-content__content-group article-content__content-group--feature\">\n<p>Article content<\/p>\n<figure class=\"embedded-image article-content--full_width\" data-aqa=\"embed-image\"><picture class=\"embedded-image__ratio\"><source data-srcset=\"https:\/\/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital\/financialpost\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/linamar-0619-ph.jpg?location=full_width&amp;quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1200&amp;type=webp&amp;sig=DVKRPX4nYONka1VOesAyXA,&#10;            https:\/\/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital\/financialpost\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/linamar-0619-ph.jpg?location=full_width&amp;quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=2400&amp;type=webp&amp;sig=4BdkzrxUzL691YEswd6TtA 2x\" media=\"(min-width: 1200px)\" srcset=\"data:,1w\" type=\"image\/webp\"><source data-srcset=\"https:\/\/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital\/financialpost\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/linamar-0619-ph.jpg?location=full_width&amp;quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1200&amp;type=jpg&amp;sig=k5hbNBLF4a2xMC6pQJW2Ng,&#10;                https:\/\/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital\/financialpost\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/linamar-0619-ph.jpg?location=full_width&amp;quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=2400&amp;type=jpg&amp;sig=6U4knLF4oZ_8jLFya_11wg 2x\" media=\"(min-width: 1200px)\" srcset=\"data:,1w\" type=\"image\/jpeg\"><source data-srcset=\"https:\/\/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital\/financialpost\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/linamar-0619-ph.jpg?location=full_width&amp;quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=768&amp;type=webp&amp;sig=N1Ag6XttfREN-5qIHUHf0Q,&#10;            https:\/\/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital\/financialpost\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/linamar-0619-ph.jpg?location=full_width&amp;quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1536&amp;type=webp&amp;sig=mEVPw1F0Exdecb8HRTBScQ 2x\" media=\"(min-width: 768px)\" srcset=\"data:,1w\" type=\"image\/webp\"><source data-srcset=\"https:\/\/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital\/financialpost\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/linamar-0619-ph.jpg?location=full_width&amp;quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=768&amp;type=jpg&amp;sig=s8l6ahnVIBnAcX3xIOjCcg,&#10;                https:\/\/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital\/financialpost\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/linamar-0619-ph.jpg?location=full_width&amp;quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1536&amp;type=jpg&amp;sig=MoxM6NSGaNmDo_djeTzwmw 2x\" media=\"(min-width: 768px)\" srcset=\"data:,1w\" type=\"image\/jpeg\"><source data-srcset=\"https:\/\/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital\/financialpost\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/linamar-0619-ph.jpg?location=full_width&amp;quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=375&amp;type=webp&amp;sig=5g8K7Ji1i6SKB2VMlSq8yQ,&#10;            https:\/\/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital\/financialpost\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/linamar-0619-ph.jpg?location=full_width&amp;quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=750&amp;type=webp&amp;sig=wG1xV1W_m6nOS6ssZCfT2Q 2x\" media=\"(max-width: 767px)\" srcset=\"data:,1w\" type=\"image\/webp\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Linda Hasenfratz, chair of auto-parts manufacturing giant Linamar Corp., when she won EY Entrepreneur of the Year in 2014.\" class=\"embedded-image__image lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital\/financialpost\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/linamar-0619-ph.jpg?location=full_width&amp;quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=375&amp;sig=p4NPrwGAp186c22POxpyOQ\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital\/financialpost\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/linamar-0619-ph.jpg?location=full_width&amp;quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=375&amp;sig=p4NPrwGAp186c22POxpyOQ,&#10;                https:\/\/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital\/financialpost\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/linamar-0619-ph.jpg?location=full_width&amp;quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=750&amp;sig=Mo3bkfpTH5jC0gGnXjTjnQ 2x\" src=\"https:\/\/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital\/financialpost\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/linamar-0619-ph.jpg?location=full_width&amp;quality=5&amp;strip=all&amp;w=100&amp;sig=_nIeWtUsNAZL0Ww_5UimPA\" height=\"517\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1000\"\/><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><figcaption class=\"image-caption\"><span class=\"caption\">Linda Hasenfratz, chair of auto-parts manufacturing giant Linamar Corp., when she won EY Entrepreneur of the Year in 2014.<\/span> <span class=\"credit\">Photo by Glenn Lowson for National Post<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>But one obstacle to that dynamic showing up on Canada\u2019s bottom line is government,\u00a0Hasenfratz said. Nearly one per cent of all Canadians are federal employees. Between 2010 and 2023, the government\u2019s headcount grew by 26 per cent. More than 2.5 million Canadians worked for not-for-profit organizations in 2023, according to government statistics.<\/p>\n<p>Combined, Hasenfratz said that means far too many well-educated Canadians are working in areas that do not make a dime.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe need to get more people into revenue-generating businesses and that would have an enormous positive impact on productivity,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Hasenfratz also pointed out that the stories we choose to tell about ourselves matter.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen you hear things like Canada is not productive, that is not very inspiring, and it doesn\u2019t make you think, \u2018Damn, I\u2019m going to get in there and be more productive tomorrow,\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cBut if you see an example of a company that has doubled its productivity over the past 15 years and in doing so has gained business, grown profit and realized a great return on investment, then you\u2019ll be like, \u2018I want to do that,\u2019 because that is inspiring.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Reality check<\/h2>\n<p>Trevor Tombe, a University of Calgary economics professor, recognizes Canada is awash with unrealized potential, but said there are issues in trying to realize those gains.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section class=\"article-content__content-group article-content__content-group--feature\">\n<p>Article content<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s imagine Hasenfratz and her manufacturing sector pals, oil producers and agriculturists are all able to generate more of what the world wants for export \u2014 especially to destinations other than the U.S. All that stuff would need to get loaded into massive container ships at the ports of Vancouver, Montreal and Halifax.<\/p>\n<p>But the Port of Vancouver is already the largest on the North American West Coast and is handling record levels of cargo. An expansion that has been in the works since 2013 will not be completed until sometime in the 2030s. Montreal got the ball rolling on its port expansion in 2018, but it\u2019s still in progress and a long ways away.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you want to sell a good to another country beyond the United States, you are not doing it by truck or rail; you\u2019re doing it by port because there\u2019s an ocean in the way,\u201d Tombe said. \u201cRight now, we don\u2019t have any excess port capacity that would allow us to trade much more with other countries, and in terms of a construction timeline in Vancouver, it is plausibly 20 years from start to finish.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-async=\"\">If Canada is unable to get its goods moving, diversify its trade partners, grow exports to China, Japan, South Korea, India and so on, the U.S. is left as the only option. That is not a great position to be in when negotiating a new trade deal with Donald Trump.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section class=\"article-content__content-group article-content__content-group--feature\">\n<p>Article content<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section class=\"article-content__content-group article-content__content-group--feature\">\n<p>Article content<\/p>\n<figure class=\"embedded-image article-content--full_width\" data-aqa=\"embed-image\"><picture class=\"embedded-image__ratio\"><source data-srcset=\"https:\/\/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital\/financialpost\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/vancouver-port-0619-ph.jpg?location=full_width&amp;quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1200&amp;type=webp&amp;sig=o2TE0YReWC2nwDIw08LVWA,&#10;            https:\/\/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital\/financialpost\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/vancouver-port-0619-ph.jpg?location=full_width&amp;quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=2400&amp;type=webp&amp;sig=4mds7SfqiZutw7jFTKKaYQ 2x\" media=\"(min-width: 1200px)\" srcset=\"data:,1w\" type=\"image\/webp\"><source data-srcset=\"https:\/\/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital\/financialpost\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/vancouver-port-0619-ph.jpg?location=full_width&amp;quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1200&amp;type=jpg&amp;sig=Dn_eSNb7tDjUV-VYX6GMMw,&#10;                https:\/\/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital\/financialpost\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/vancouver-port-0619-ph.jpg?location=full_width&amp;quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=2400&amp;type=jpg&amp;sig=ivgOIWA7Y9X1SRZnFmCKBQ 2x\" media=\"(min-width: 1200px)\" srcset=\"data:,1w\" type=\"image\/jpeg\"><source data-srcset=\"https:\/\/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital\/financialpost\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/vancouver-port-0619-ph.jpg?location=full_width&amp;quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=768&amp;type=webp&amp;sig=NAIfmq8DoD3OHRGDHPyNdQ,&#10;            https:\/\/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital\/financialpost\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/vancouver-port-0619-ph.jpg?location=full_width&amp;quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1536&amp;type=webp&amp;sig=zTQK5JVtmulkzFoqBo73ew 2x\" media=\"(min-width: 768px)\" srcset=\"data:,1w\" type=\"image\/webp\"><source data-srcset=\"https:\/\/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital\/financialpost\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/vancouver-port-0619-ph.jpg?location=full_width&amp;quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=768&amp;type=jpg&amp;sig=JgpglaYELmX9xUD7CLayKQ,&#10;                https:\/\/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital\/financialpost\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/vancouver-port-0619-ph.jpg?location=full_width&amp;quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1536&amp;type=jpg&amp;sig=JiEiduuNukOYzurUpbjuEQ 2x\" media=\"(min-width: 768px)\" srcset=\"data:,1w\" type=\"image\/jpeg\"><source data-srcset=\"https:\/\/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital\/financialpost\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/vancouver-port-0619-ph.jpg?location=full_width&amp;quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=375&amp;type=webp&amp;sig=hNjSyYBpFrPNLBnBDUrbRg,&#10;            https:\/\/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital\/financialpost\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/vancouver-port-0619-ph.jpg?location=full_width&amp;quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=750&amp;type=webp&amp;sig=VuRXIf9q_FXu3_m66HIkBg 2x\" media=\"(max-width: 767px)\" srcset=\"data:,1w\" type=\"image\/webp\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Port of Vancouver\" class=\"embedded-image__image lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital\/financialpost\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/vancouver-port-0619-ph.jpg?location=full_width&amp;quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=375&amp;sig=b0CJHSLVn8Zd4ba0aQMRTA\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital\/financialpost\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/vancouver-port-0619-ph.jpg?location=full_width&amp;quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=375&amp;sig=b0CJHSLVn8Zd4ba0aQMRTA,&#10;                https:\/\/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital\/financialpost\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/vancouver-port-0619-ph.jpg?location=full_width&amp;quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=750&amp;sig=RVwM13w41Ch7vkDldiUJCQ 2x\" src=\"https:\/\/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital\/financialpost\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/vancouver-port-0619-ph.jpg?location=full_width&amp;quality=5&amp;strip=all&amp;w=100&amp;sig=Nhzd5yrbulp1kiF3Dr4YXQ\" height=\"619\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1000\"\/><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><figcaption class=\"image-caption\"><span class=\"caption\">An expansion of the Port of Vancouver has been in the works since 2013 and will not be completed until sometime in the 2030s.<\/span> <span class=\"credit\">Photo by Postmedia<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>One option is to build ports elsewhere, such as\u00a0the Arctic. There currently isn\u2019t a deepwater port to speak of there, but there\u2019s been plenty of talk of building one \u2014 some day.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere is not just economic and productivity implications of bad federal policy around infrastructure, but national security implications,\u201d Tombe said.<\/p>\n<p>Another area in need of a makeover that does not require anything more complicated and time-consuming than playing around with some accounting software datasets is tax policy.<\/p>\n<p>Small businesses, defined as companies with less than 500 employees, employ almost 50 per cent of the labour force. But they don\u2019t make capital investments in machinery and equipment at the same levels as Canada\u2019s G7 peers, apart from the Italians, who invest even less. A worker who lacks the latest tools is not as productive as the worker who does.<\/p>\n<p>Companies that retool an assembly line, upgrade laptops and arm staff with best-in-class gadgets are able to write off the expenditures over a number of years, but that \u201cdelays the value\u201d of the tax deductions, Tombe said.<\/p>\n<p>Were a company able to write off the new laptops in one fell swoop at the time of purchase, well, now we would be talking, he said, and the conversation would lead to an environment where companies are encouraged to reinvest today.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section class=\"article-content__content-group article-content__content-group--feature\">\n<p>Article content<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is a way to cut corporate taxes on new investment while maintaining corporate taxes on companies as a whole, so it\u2019s less costly than just dropping the corporate tax rate itself,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>That may seem an easy thing to do, and the same goes for another productivity fix that relates to Canada\u2019s secret weapon: immigrants.<\/p>\n<p>Walid Hejazi, an economics professor at the University of Toronto\u2019s Rotman School of Management, meets a lot of them, and he said the old joke about the backseat of a taxi being the safest place to have a heart attack still holds up, though the taxi-driving doctor from abroad today is probably behind the wheel of an Uber.<\/p>\n<p>Hejazi, through the university, works with a group of immigrant women who all have university degrees from another country. They are smart, savvy and eager to become productive new Canadians.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDo you know what the No. 1 job these women get offered is?\u201d he said. \u201cServing coffee at Tim Hortons.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rotman puts the newcomers through a crash micro-business course. If successfully completed, that earns them a micro-credential from the school, which hopefully catches the eye of an artificial intelligence employment screener and gets them a face-to-face interview with another human.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section class=\"article-content__content-group article-content__content-group--feature\">\n<p>Article content<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe goal here is to match the women with jobs that are more commensurate with their skills,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>As for being compared to the U.S., he said being neighbours has been a gift. We share the same language and customs, generally get along and find it easy to do business with one another to the extent that Canada\u2019s ho-hum productivity level has not been a handicap.<\/p>\n<p>But where it starts to be a big problem is when the U.S. closes for business and Canadian companies are forced to win market share abroad.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is relatively easy for a Canadian company to do business in the U.S., and it requires productivity at a given level,\u201d he said. \u201cBut to go to Europe and Asia and compete requires a much higher productivity level.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Beyond the numbers<\/h2>\n<p>Canada may be having a productivity \u201cemergency,\u201d but its productivity is improving, just at a slower rate than other countries with similar attributes. That is partly why Frances Donald gets the urge to \u201cvent\u201d when she speaks about productivity, since obsessing over the numbers can obscure a more fundamental question: What kind of Canada do Canadians aspire to?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou could conceive a plan that would mechanically boost our productivity number,\u201d she said. \u201cBut it wouldn\u2019t actually make the Canadian economy better for most Canadians.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section class=\"article-content__content-group article-content__content-group--feature\">\n<p>Article content<\/p>\n<p>For example, not all those productivity-sapping public-sector employees are administrators pushing paper around. They are also teachers, cops, wildfire fighters and doctors. Close to 20 per cent of Canadians have already ticked past age 65, and odds are that a care facility is in their future at some point.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf I told you that we could quadruple the number of high-productivity engineers, but we dramatically reduce the number of doctors and that would result in higher productivity statistics, then you might hear Canadians say, \u2018Could I please pick the health-care workers over the high-productivity engineer?\u2019\u201d Donald said.<\/p>\n<p>Economists have spent a decade highlighting Canada\u2019s productivity ills, from internal trade barriers to reduced investment in the natural resource sector to an affordable housing crisis that only gets worse by the year.<\/p>\n<p>It is a drumbeat of doom that can overshadow what Canada has, chiefly, a highly educated population, a massive breadbasket of agricultural goods, oil and gas and critical minerals galore and plenty of room for the world\u2019s best and brightest who may be keen to sign on.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn Canada, we don\u2019t have to ask what we are going to bake out of nothing because we already have a long list of something,\u201d Donald said. \u201cOur project is to have a collective understanding of what this country has been blessed in, from things in the ground to our incredibly high level of education \u2014 spanning from goods to a blossoming services sector. Canada is not short on the ingredients to build a powerful economy; where we have fallen short is on the execution.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-async=\"\"><em>\u2022 Email: joconnor@postmedia.com<\/em><\/p>\n<p data-async=\"\"><em><strong>Bookmark our website and support our journalism:<\/strong> Don\u2019t miss the business news you need to know \u2014 add financialpost.com to your bookmarks and sign up for our newsletters here.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section class=\"article-content__content-group article-content__content-group--feature\">\n<p>Article content<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section class=\"article-content__share-group article-delimiter\" data-evt-val=\"{\" control_fields=\"\" data-evt-typ=\"page_scroll\">\n<p>Share this article in your social network<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n\n<br \/>Productivity &#8217;emergency&#8217; hits Canadians in the paycheque<\/a><br \/>\n<br \/>2025-06-20 14:16:25<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Breadcrumb Trail Links News Economy Most of us probably don&#8217;t understand or care about the poor productivity that economists and politicians are worried about, but we should. Joe O&#8217;Connor looks&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61069,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61068","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pantheregroup.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61068","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pantheregroup.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pantheregroup.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pantheregroup.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pantheregroup.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61068"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.pantheregroup.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61068\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pantheregroup.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/media\/61069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pantheregroup.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pantheregroup.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pantheregroup.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}