Welcome to the Great Disruption
TORONTO—It is correct to call the times in which we live the Great Disruption. It is hard to think of many periods in human history where such a combination of disruptive trends has threatened the very foundations of society and the global order. This is not only a time when governments at home are faced […]
Few signs of life for Canada’s dead money
OTTAWA—It’s been five years since Mark Carney kicked up a storm with his suggestion that for the sake of the economy Canada’s corporations should start spending some of the huge piles of “dead money” they were hoarding. “The level of caution could be viewed as excessive,” Carney, then head of the central bank, said of […]
Trade policy about more than just reminders to export
Historically, free trade agreements were regarded as self-evidently beneficial; no efforts were needed to prepare Canadians for their effects. Experience, however, has taught us otherwise. Of the 12 free trade agreements to which Canada is a signatory and have come into force, seven of them have seen our merchandise balance of trade worsen with our respective […]
Canadian agricultural policy: why supply management?
OTTAWA—In Canada and in other countries, the markets for agricultural products are characterized by considerable instability due to factors such as unpredictable weather, technological advances, and changing demands. This poses an immense challenge to agricultural producers who often face fluctuations in prices that subsequently result in uncertain incomes. Supply management systems were established in Canada […]
Want to stop populism? Try universal basic income
LONDON, U.K.—There’s a new idea that might be the solution to runaway populism. Well, it’s not that new, really—it has been kicking around in left-wing circles for a least a quarter-century—but it has suddenly gone mainstream. It’s called universal basic income (UBI), and pilot programs to see if it really works in practice are being […]
Canada’s supply-management system ‘evolving’
While new U.S. President Donald Trump may be getting pressure from American dairy producers to pry open Canada’s supply-management system, many say it’s unlikely this protectionist leader will be looking seriously at the issue, though the system is likely to change any way. “Canada’s existing and soon-to-be-expanded protectionist policies are intentionally designed to block imports […]
Observers urge care in earmarking funds for innovation clusters
People who study innovation appear cautiously optimistic the government’s plan to funnel hundreds of millions of dollars into innovation networks and clusters will succeed, but they warn the devil’s in the details. In its 2016 budget, the federal government promised up to $800-million over four years, starting in 2017-18, to boost innovation networks and clusters. […]
Canada’s innovation agenda: can moonshots work?
“Productivity isn’t everything, but in the long run it is almost everything.” —Paul Krugman, The Age of Diminishing Expectations (1994) It is not worth the ink to repeat the ways in which Canada has fallen behind in productivity. We can recite the stats of how we lag compared to other countries, how our research and […]
Ottawa must completely redraft its innovation strategy
Multinational corporations tend to concentrate their strategic activities, including research and development (R&D), at or near the head office rather than in their foreign subsidiaries. Since Canada’s economy relies mostly on local branches of foreign corporations, mostly American, structural reasons explain why Canada has one of OECD’s worst records in terms of R&D intensity. In […]
The Top 100: Navdeep Bains, the ‘minister of everything’
For Navdeep Bains, the minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, or, “the minister of everything,” as some say, the working relationships he has been cultivating are the beginning and the end of his political power and influence this year. It is expected that in 2017, Bains will roll out the wide-spanning innovation agenda the Liberals see […]
