We have all the makings to become a true global powerhouse of economic prosperity in the coming decade
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By any global measure, we should be proud to be Canadian. According to the 2023 U.S. News Best Countries rankings, which measure global performance based on 10 metrics, Canada is the second-best country in the world, behind Switzerland. So we should feel good about ourselves, right?
The truth is that we are reaping the benefits of previous generations’ investments in resources and infrastructure. And everyone who owns a house knows that one must constantly invest in maintenance and renovations in order for it to keep its value. Unfortunately, in recent decades, we haven’t properly maintained our house, and we are starting to see cracks in some of the walls, if not the foundation.
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Alarm bells are ringing from numerous sources regarding our current situation and how it will affect our future prosperity. Most of the recent headlines warn that Canada seems to be losing its edge. The Bank of Canada recently issued a wake-up call, saying that we are losing ground on productivity, which will affect our standard of living.
Likewise, an OECD report from last year highlights real issues with Canada’s business innovation, investments and productivity. The report points to “Lacklustre productivity growth since 2015 saw gaps in per capita GDP widen between Canada and better-performing economies.” The OECD predicts that Canada will be the worst-performing (advanced) member country over the next few decades, as measured by real GDP per capita.
We should be taking note of these serious red flags. And yet, despite these warning signs, our view is that Canada has been quietly building most, if not all, of the key ingredients to become a true global powerhouse of economic prosperity in the coming decade.
Moving away from a traditional reliance on natural resources, the future of wealth creation is now rooted in technology. In fact, the wealth of today belongs to the Silicon Valley tech companies, with the well-known success stories of Google, Meta, Apple........