Out of nowhere, Canada became poorer than Alabama. How is that possible? - The Globe and Mail - "In 2024, Alabama made nearly as many vehicles as Ontario... being on the ground in Alabama, it was obvious that Canadians need a wake-up call. They tend to view the economy through a historical lens – this is a G7 country that has long punched above its weight. Yet capital is global now and competition for it is fierce. If Canada isn’t careful, places such as the Deep South will continue to steal jobs. The Eli Lilly plant awarded in December could have just as easily gone to Montreal, a pharmaceutical hub. In other words, it might be time to eat some humble pie. “People have a lot to learn from Alabama,” Mr. Hughes says... “We felt like we could win most of the time based on having available sites, available work force, good business climate, low taxes and speed to market,” Mr. Canfield explains from the office of Burr & Forman LLP in Birmingham, where he is now a managing director of economic development. The last point was key. When companies invested in Alabama, they could receive permits and begin construction quickly. Red tape was for suckers... the U.S. simply pays more for many senior white-collar jobs, and top personal tax rates in Alabama can be around 40 per cent. Today, they’re 53.5 per cent in Ontario. The size of the U.S. economy is also breathtaking – and companies make decisions faster. It’s a dream for someone in sales. “The entrepreneurial spirit was like nothing I had seen or experienced before,” he says. Daily life was also a joy. Neighbours really are friendly in the South; the kids went to public schools equivalent to top private schools in Canada; and because the family could afford it, the health care is fantastic. Mr. Sbrissa recently got a magnetic resonance imaging scan within days. As for Birmingham itself, there’s the beauty of the rolling hills, which deliver stunning fall foliage. And the city’s becoming a foodie hub. A new restaurant, Bayonet, was named one of America’s 50 best restaurants by The New York Times last fall. And despite the bible thumping, Birmingham has a sizable LGBTQ+ community and scored the same as Boston on the Human Rights Campaign’s Municipal Equality Index... population – Canada’s soared by two million people in 2023 and 2024. That’s much faster than the equivalent U.S. growth rate on a percentage basis. It takes time for all these newcomers to start materially boosting GDP and offset their drag on the per capita number... For businesses, speed to market matters. Companies that put capital at risk want to earn back those investment dollars as quickly as possible. In Canada, Prime Minister Mark Carney has floated the possibility of a new pipeline from Alberta to the Pacific Ocean, but just this week, Enbridge Inc. said it won’t touch the project because it can’t sink more money into something that may never see the light of day. Alabama’s evolution also poses a somewhat existential question for Canadians: In a competitive, global market, why should companies invest in the Great White North? Last fall, there was an uproar in Ontario because Stellantis NV, the automaker, said it would shut a plant in Brampton, Ont. The timing, tied to U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff regime, dominated headlines. But what got lost is that Brampton, a suburb of Toronto, is now a very expensive place to live, with an average detached home price of $1.05-million. The union that represents Stellantis workers has to fight for higher wages, and that makes the plant less profitable for the company... Over the years, there has been report after report on how to make Canada’s economy more vibrant. Boost interprovincial trade. Tap Canada’s highly educated work force to fuel the innovation sector. Recruit skilled immigrants. Canadians have the answers, and yet, somehow, nothing really changes. Why is that? In 2007, one of these reports was commissioned by Stephen Harper’s government, and the authors, led by Red Wilson, came to this conclusion: “Canadians do not perceive that there is an imminent crisis.”"
I like that they pretend that GDP per capita is misleading because a higher population "skews the numbers".
Left wing logic: you just need to wait and eventually mass migration will cause GDP per capita to skyrocket. So presumably the prescription is for unlimited mass migration since it will eventually pay off and the earlier you "invest" the earlier you will see returns
Meme - The Globe and Mail @globeandmail: "Out of nowhere, Canada became poorer than Alabama. How is that possible?"
The National Roast @NationalRoast: "OUT OF NOWHERE! **Pretends to be shocked** *Zac Efron promo meme*"
Time to blame Trump, pretend Canada is superior to the US because it's higher on some metrics many of which are fake (and where Canada is falling anyway), blame Harper and double down on unions, climate change policies, indigenous "reconciliation", growth-killing regulation and above all, "taxing the 'rich'"
Lucy Hargreaves on X - "Alabama's unemployment rate is 2.7%. Canada's is 6.5%. Alabama now manufactures nearly as many cars as Ontario. How did the one of the poorest states in the US start outcompeting us? The Globe went down there to find out. The short version: Alabama spent 30 years treating economic development like a serious strategy... landing investments, making it fast and easy to build, and clawing back incentives from companies that didn't deliver. Canada spent the same 30 years writing reports about competitiveness and then not acting on them. Eli Lilly just put a $6B pharma plant in Huntsville. That could have been Montreal. Alabama is no paradise. Life expectancy is 74 vs 82 in Canada, minimum wage is $7.25. But there's a line in the piece that stuck with me. In 2007, the Harper government commissioned a competitiveness report. The conclusion as to why it's difficult to take the actions needed to be more competitive: "Canadians do not perceive that there is an imminent crisis." The authors said you'd get the same answer today. I think they're probably mostly right. And as the Globe puts it: "If Canadians remain complacent, the rest of the world will eat our lunch." We're in a crisis, folks. An imminent one at that. Time to get seriously aggressive about the changes we need to make."
Wesley Yang on X - "“Out of nowhere” = after a decade of by far the largest influx of mass immigration in the nation’s history based on the faulty and now disproven premise that doing so would be a huge economic stimulus"
Apostasy Now on X - "See also the driving off of hundreds of billions of dollars in capital spending due to regulatory overburden or outright denial of plans. And tens of billions of government malinvestment in things like battery plants and EVs."
Clearly, the problem was too little immigration and too little government regulation and intervention, and Canada needs more of everything to do better
John Carter on X - "Elites went all in on mass immigration and real estate asset inflation. Turns out that depressing wages, jacking up rents, and flooding the streets with inassimilable Punjabi villagers doesn't actually raise living standards. No one could have predicted it."
John Carter on X - "My favorite part of this article is where the author tries to argue that per capita GDP is a poor metric, because Canada's was depressed by all that immigration, and it takes TIME for them to start contributing. Good times are just ahead, two more weeks, keep those elbows up."
Magills on X - "Canadians needs their own CATO analyst to tell them why unfettered immigration has actually improved their economy."
JBA Meet me in the Middle extremes are Bad on X - "The arsonists crying fire and wanting to repair it? That is the Canadian media, 11 yrs of watching the worst economic policies, mounds of corruption and installed leaders and cheering it on, wakes up to the mess and ponders the crisis. The MSM is to blame for thisπ"
Dan McTeague on X - "Clueless Globe & Mail now realizes the fruits of its Net-Zero obsession over the last decade that’s crippled Cdn industry & stunted energy/resource exports while flooding π¨π¦ with migrants to artificially spur growth. It’s led instead to inflation & private sector jobs loss"
Charlie Smirkley on X - "11.5 years of Super Gay Race Communism with infinite migration from India doesn’t supercharge an economy?"
Chris Selley: At least we're richer than Alabama in complacency - "Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre echoed the theme of seizing control over what we can during a concurrent Economic Club of Canada event, nearby at the Delta. “Canada cannot control the decisions made by foreign leaders, or words by foreign presidents. We cannot control what global shocks and volatility might happen,” he said. “But we do control what we do in our own country. We control whether our economy is solid or fragile, whether it is dependent or self-reliant, whether we drift or whether we build. “And the lesson in this moment is simple: The path to sovereignty is focusing relentlessly on what is within our power.” After more than a decade of Liberal government in Ottawa, and with Justin Trudeau-era veterans still in very senior cabinet positions, Canadians seem to have placed remarkable trust in Carney to undo the damage many of those ministers caused under Trudeau’s watch. That’s not me talking, either; that’s Carney and his ministers. “We are taking back control of the immigration system. We are returning immigration to sustainable levels,” Immigration Minister Lena Metlege Diab told the House of Commons on Wednesday. Trudeau-era immigration ministers currently serve as justice minister (Sean Fraser) and minister of identity and culture (Marc Miller) under Carney. “We’re taking back control to build Alberta strong and Canada strong,” Carney said in Calgary in November , in a speech focusing on natural-resource development. He said much the same at his own Canadian Club of Toronto appearance earlier that month. He said it in Davos. Poilievre and Carney don’t conspicuously disagree on any of this stuff — just on how good a job the Liberals have done managing Canada’s economic affairs in Washington. “The most effective response to uncertainty is not outrage,” Poilievre said at the Delta. “It is results.” Both seem convinced Canadians are seized with this issue. I really hope they both are, because I’m not at all sure that’s true. Perhaps many Canadians took the Globe’s poorer-than-Alabama piece to heart, or at least it got them thinking. I hope so. GDP per capita isn’t the be-all or end-all of wealth measures, but as economist Mike Moffatt noted , there are lots of other measures that show Canada stagnating or worse. He pointed specifically to the UN’s Human Development Index, the World Happiness Index, the Corruption Perception Index and food-bank usage ( which is through the roof in some cities). But I also saw and heard an awful lot of very comfortable Canadians just waving away the very idea that Alabamans might in some respects be better off than we are as some ludicrous fantasy. Inconceivable! And anyway, we have universal health care. And isn’t it awful how the American hockey team visited the White House? Moral superiority helped drive us into this rut. It will not help drag us out."
I too saw the usual cope about the news. It's similar to how Europeans pride themselves on being poorer than Americans
wealthmoose on X - "π¨π¦ Every Canadian should read this twice:
π¨π¦ Canada ranks —
π₯ 1st in uranium
π₯ 1st in potash
π₯ 2nd in nickel
π₯ 3rd in oil
π
5th in gold
π§ 1st in freshwater
Countries start wars for LESS than this. And somehow we are told we’re too poor to cut taxes, too broke to build homes, too weak to compete, too small to matter. It took historic levels of incompetence and ideological sabotage to bury a country this blessed. Imagine where Canada would be if we were actually allowed to win. #cdnpoli #Canada #Future #Resources #Economy #Energy #Mining #Prosperity"
Kirk Lubimov on X - "Canada has a huge issue with public sector bloat but I don't think most realize how bad it is. Around 25% of these employed in Canada work for the public sector but in many provinces, it's over 30%. The main reason for high taxes & low productivity. Breakdown by province:"
Shaun Rickard on X - "In a nutshell, a minimum of 25% of Canadians will always vote Liberal, to protect their jobs. This isn't a coincidence, its all by design."
Time to blame low productivity on the financialisation of housing and to nationalise all housing!
Cosmin Dzsurdzsa on X - "Everybody will work for the govt sooner or later in Canada because we’re basically an early Soviet-era communist hellhole at this point No guaranteed private property, dekulakization land redistribution in B.C. and China-level public sector expansion"
David Knight Legg on X - "Alberta is the engine of Canada’s jobs:
Employment growth January 2025-26
Alberta: 3.6% (mostly private sector, private capital hires)
Canada 0.6% (mostly public sector taxpayer-debt hires)
Workforce participation rate:
Alberta: 69% on rising trendline
Canada: 65% on falling trendline
Private/public split (capacity to fund govt):
Alberta 82% private employment; 18% govt
Canada 78% private sector, 22% govt
A lot of numbers moving on immigration denominators, but the public/private split should be around 85/15 if we want to give our kids a shot at a real opportunity society that can also fund govt. Alberta not there yet - but is at least leading the country towards solvency."
James E. Thorne on X - "For the record. The unintended consequence of Canadian voters constantly blaming the United States for this country’s economic and social decline is that it masks our own accountability. For decades, it hasn’t been Washington making our policy choices—it’s been us. Canadians have repeatedly endorsed governments that erode competitiveness, deter investment, and lower our standards of living. Blaming America for decisions we empowered our own leaders to make is like a child blaming their friend for mischief they chose to join. At some point, the fault lies not in our neighbour, but in ourselves."
Daniela on X - "This has been so obvious for the last decade+ that it has become even more painful watching the country I was born in devolve into an unrecoverable state of TDS—while refusing to address the effects of uncontrolled immigration, interprovincial trade barriers, strangling business regulations, untold millions on Discrimintion, Exclusion and Intolerance, millions more on ESG that destroys energy growth while not even helping ‘the environment,’ Canada’s position as the money-laundering capital of the world, the regressive and insane social justice regime, and burdensome taxes … to name just a few glaring problems."
B.C. to raise taxes, cut jobs as budget projects record deficit - The Globe and Mail - "British Columbia Finance Minister Brenda Bailey introduced a budget that includes a record-high deficit, despite income tax hikes and trims to the civil service, as the province girds for economic uncertainty. She acknowledged that B.C. is facing “serious fiscal pressures” and blamed the turbulence caused by U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade policies and tariffs... British Columbia is the first province to deliver a fiscal plan for 2026-2027. The government of Premier David Eby has been harshly criticized for racking up unprecedented deficits and a near doubling of the provincial debt since 2023... In British Columbia, the deficit for the fiscal year that ends in March is set to be a record-breaking $9.6-billion, but it is projected to jump even higher to $13.3-billion in the budget year to come. That puts B.C. at risk of another credit downgrade, as the provincial debt-to-GDP ratio – the key metric considered by bond rating agencies – rises to more than 30 per cent. That’s roughly double the rate since the NDP came to power in 2017."
Of course, this has nothing to do with the NDP's ruinous policies
James E. Thorne on X - "A Wake up call! Canada has seen this movie before. and it did not end well. In the 1980s, when the United States under Ronald Reagan pivoted decisively toward supply-side economics and pro-growth reform, Canada chose the opposite path. Rather than adapting to the new North American reality, the Liberal Party and Pierre Elliott Trudeau leaned into a narrative that cast the U.S. as the villain and used that resentment to justify doubling down on progressive, interventionist policy. And unfortunately, the Canadian electorate bought it. The result was not moral victory, but national decline. Of historic proportions! As the U.S. unleashed investment, cut taxes, and reoriented its economy toward competitiveness and productivity, Canada sank deeper into high-tax, high-spend, anti-growth orthodoxy. By the early 1990s, the country was widely regarded as a fiscal basket case, an honorary member of the Third World in the eyes of global markets and institutions. Sovereignty rhetoric did not protect Canada from the brutal reality of debt, stagnation, and lost credibility. Global Capital markets are unforgiving, and will not buy the Proformative policy’s and moral virtue signalling that many Canadians are apt to fall for. At the same time, today’s Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem appears to be following in the footsteps of John Crow, reprising a hardline, backward-looking central banking mindset just as the global regime is shifting under his feet. Today, the script is being dusted off. Mark Carney and the current Liberal establishment appear intent on replaying the PET playbook: demonize a resurgent, supply-side America; cling to progressive dogma; and subordinate growth to ideological vanity. It is a dangerous delusion. In an era of deglobalization, reindustrialization, and strategic competition, a Canada that chooses post-national lectures over hard-nosed economic alignment will not be admired, it will be marginalized. The warning is stark: if Canada insists on repeating the 1980s error in a far less forgiving world, it should expect a harsher verdict than “honorary Third World.” This time, there may be no easy way back."
Meme - Shah @thebrowardshah: "Spotted In BC: NDP stands for Needles Drugs and Poverty @Dave_Eby has absolutely destroyed the best province in Canada. Maybe @BradWestPoCo can rehab their image with common sense still hoping he runs for the leader of BC cons or federal Tories though"
"BC NDP. Needles, Drugs, Poverty"
Bloomberg on X - "Australia is shipping LNG to Canada, looking beyond its main buyers in Asia as demand for the super-chilled fuel in the region falters"
James E. Thorne on X - "Canada’s energy policy verges on insanity: New Brunswick is importing liquefied natural gas from as far away as Australia while refusing to develop its own substantial shale gas reserves, even though the province desperately needs investment and jobs and already sits near the bottom of North America in standard of living."
Raquel Dancho on X - "Let’s get this straight: Canada has one of the largest proven natural gas reserves in the world. And we are importing the fuel from Australia. The Liberals’ failure to develop this strategic resource—and its supporting infrastructure—has left us dependent on others. This is a vulnerability. A strong, sovereign Canada proceeds from leveraging our superpower: this nation’s wealth of natural resources."
Canada’s productivity strategy is to complain about the gap and do nothing - "The cycle is predictable: raise the alarm, hold a conference, publish a report, and repeat. The frustrating part is that the solutions are not exactly a mystery. Better investment in innovation, smarter capital allocation, and serious workforce development have all been on the table for decades. Yet Canada keeps choosing the comfort of conversation over the discomfort of real change, and the productivity gap just keeps growing. Canada’s productivity gap with the United States is not a new concern. According to the OECD, Canadian workers produce significantly less output per hour than their American counterparts. This gap has been widening steadily since the 1980s, and it now sits at roughly 20-25%. The data is consistent, well-documented, and nearly impossible to dispute. What makes this particularly troubling is that Canada is not a poor or underdeveloped country. It has a highly-educated workforce, abundant natural resources, and access to one of the world’s largest consumer markets. Despite these advantages, productivity growth has remained sluggish for decades. The gap is not a fluke but a structural problem rooted in decades of policy neglect. One overlooked root cause of Canada’s productivity lag is the lack of domestic competition... A major driver of the productivity gap is Canada’s chronic underinvestment in machinery, technology, and innovation... Compounding the investment shortfall is a tax environment that sends mixed signals to scaling firms. While the federal small business rate is low, the sharp increase upon reaching specific income thresholds can discourage growth. This threshold effect leads many companies to deliberately remain small to avoid a higher tax burden. Such a structural disincentive is now firmly baked into the current system. Capital gains taxes also play a critical role in shaping business investment behaviour. When investors face high rates on returns, they become more cautious about funding riskier, high-growth ventures. The recent increase to the capital gains inclusion rate has drawn significant criticism for potentially stifling necessary innovation. A tax system that punishes success at the margin fails to foster productivity. Connected to the investment problem is Canada’s struggle to turn good ideas into scalable businesses. Canada produces world-class research at its universities, but commercialisation of that research remains weak compared to peers. Too many promising innovations are either acquired by foreign companies or simply never reach the market. The pipeline from lab to economy is leaking at nearly every stage. A risk-averse business culture favouring stability over bold moves exacerbates the problem. Canadian venture capital activity trails the United States significantly on a per-capita basis. Startups frequently relocate to American hubs to access superior capital and talent pools. This brain drain systematically depletes the innovation potential Canada requires to bridge the productivity gap. Even when businesses want to innovate, they often encounter a labour market lacking necessary skills... Canada has leaned heavily on immigration to fill labour gaps, but high intake alone does not guarantee productivity gains. The primary challenge lies in credential recognition, which remains slow and inconsistent across provinces. Internationally trained professionals often spend years in jobs well below their qualification level. This represents a measurable loss of national economic output. Integration support for newcomers also varies widely depending on the province and the employer. Without consistent mentorship and workplace orientation, even highly skilled immigrants can take years to reach their full potential. Canada is successfully bringing in global talent but is not always using it efficiently. A smarter strategy must prioritise faster integration over raw numbers. Canada’s housing crisis is a major economic drag that undermines labour efficiency. When workers cannot afford to live near major economic hubs, the entire national labour market becomes mismatched and inefficient. Companies struggle to retain talent as employees spend more time commuting and less time contributing. High housing costs are no longer just a social issue but a direct drain on output. Extreme housing costs also consume a disproportionate share of income, leaving less room for entrepreneurship... Beyond housing, Canada’s physical infrastructure gaps add significant friction to a strained economy. Decades of deferred maintenance have left many transportation networks operating well below their potential... Digital infrastructure tells a similar story in rural and remote communities. High-speed internet remains unaffordable or unavailable for many Canadians today... For all the talk of productivity reform, Canada’s policy response remains largely symbolic... Economists agree on what a credible productivity strategy requires even if leadership hesitates... The risk is not a sudden collapse but a gradual decline as Canada falls behind its global peers. Other nations are not standing still while domestic leaders continue to deliberate on reform. The longer that structural change is delayed, the more expensive the eventual correction will be. At some point, the cost of doing nothing will outweigh the discomfort of taking real action."
Terence Corcoran: Carney slaps down grocery ‘greedflation’ - "Corporate “greedflation” and monopolies were not even mentioned. Instead, the causes of grocery price escalation were all pinned on government action of one kind or another in Canada and abroad. During the pandemic, the major generators of high prices were the national economic lockdowns impose by Ottawa and other governments. During 2022-23 peak lockdown inflation soared to more than 10 per cent and averaged about eight per cent. Another cause of inflation cited by Carney was supply chain problems brought on by unidentified “geopolitical” developments. Again, the grocery companies had nothing to do with these developments, leaving the causes of the entire food price inflation problem in the hands of national and International governments. The result: Carney’s summary of food inflation leaves the CBC, other media, politicians and leftist economic thinkers stranded with their twisted versions of how the economy really works. One of those twisters is Jim Stanford, former union economist consulted last week by Marketplace, the CBC’s weekly television show often dedicated to exposing how corporations are ripping off the public. Stanford was also a guide to a 2024 Commons committee that concluded it was greedflation and monopolies that had caused the dramatic increase in food prices. The latest anti-corporate argument raised by Marketplace looked at how grocery chains such as Loblaws and Sobeys require shopping centre owners to sign deals that prevent other grocery chains from setting up in the same centre. Stanford called such property controls “morally reprehensible.” A Competition Bureau deputy commissioner, Anthony Durocher, said “there is room for more competition” given the “sheer level of concentration” in the grocery sector. But there was no evidence that the rental agreements limited competition or that they led to higher food prices. For that argument, the best Marketplace could do was find a lonely Foodland store (owned by Sobeys) in a tiny strip mall in Picton, Ont. In the parking lot, the host interviewed shoppers on how they felt about the rental agreements and rising food prices. Guess what? All agreed the agreements were horrible and that they were being screwed by the food stores. There is no evidence that such deals boost food prices. For one thing, the deals could stimulate competition among owners of shopping and strip malls to set up new centres to house competing supermarkets and food stores. That the federal Competition Bureau and the CBC continue to feed the greedflation story with zero evidence beyond speculative economic theories about the nature of competition suggests the bureau itself needs a bit of economic competition. Maybe Prime Minister Carney could take on the role."
