We pride ourselves in Alberta on our capacity to create businesses and industries, and to provide much of the foundation of our national economy. Certainly we see that drive and delivery in our construction sector.
But the hard fact remains that Canada as a whole is experiencing a long, slow decline. On productivity growth and other key measures of well-being and competitiveness, we are increasingly coming up short among our global peers and competitors. The alarm bells are ringing louder, with many commentators calling on government and industry to re-double efforts to generate productivity growth. It’s in all our interests since, as a Bank of Canada official recently put it: “Ultimately, higher productivity helps the economy generate more wealth foreveryone.”
So what’s behind our dismal growth performance? According to the OECD, business investment in Canada from 2015 to 2023 ranked 44 out of the 47 most advanced economies. And last year the C.D. Howe Institute reported that for every dollar an American business spends on training, technology and
capital – essential ingredients of innovation – a Canadian company invests 58 cents.
Investment capital is also being taxed and regulated away, and opportunities missed. Canada has a huge competitive advantage in highly in-demand natural resources, as we well know in Alberta. But visiting leaders from Germany, Greece, Japan and Poland have recently received a cold shoulder from Ottawa at the suggestion that Canada supply them with much-needed energy.
Small wonder that private sector job creation in Canada has often been weakwhile the size of government has ballooned.
We need governments at all levels willing to harness our talent, ambition and resources to grow our economy. And with about 20 per cent of construction workers expected to retire over the next five years, innovation and labour productivity need to be especially front and centre for contractors.
Fortunately, technology and innovation are changing and improving the way wedesign and build buildings. That will help meet the need to get more housing and infrastructure in place fast and efficiently. What we also need, however, is an economy-wide focus on enabling and driving productivity growth.
Read The Alberta Construction Monitor – June 2024 HERE.