The steady decline of Canada – How Liberals and Conservatives are destroying our economy

Canada has been steadily deindustrializing since the mid-2000s, and manufacturing is half of what it was in 2000. How did we get here?

Canada’s politicians on both sides of the aisle have a habit of dishing out heaps of money via corporate welfare – in the process they’ve created and allowed for the monopolization of much of Canada’s economy. What is the result for Canadians over time? Higher prices and lower wages and less innovation in the business sector.

All of this leads to a lower quality of life for Canadians. For contrast, when we consider Canada’s GDP per person (per capita), we are poorer than the United States’ poorest state, Mississippi by roughly 9,000 dollars annually (see charts below).

GDP per person (per capita) Canada in US dollars

GDP per person (per capita) USA lowest income states

Monopolies touch almost all of Canada’s economy. If we are speaking of groceries, Loblaws, Metro, Empire (owner of Sobey’s), Walmart and Costco account for over three-quarters of all food sales in Canada.

If we consider airfare in Canada, Westjet and AirCanada account for over 80 percent of airfare in the country. If we discuss the banking sector within Canada, the top five banks in Canada account for roughly 90 percent of the financial services offered.

To put it simply, in many industries within Canada, a small handful of companies control almost the entire market. Less competition leads to lower quality services, higher prices and lower wages across the nation.

What’s worse is that Canada’s politicians have done almost nothing to address these issues. They have enabled these monopolies by focusing money on corporate welfare instead of creating a more competitive business market where small and medium businesses can thrive and compete with these monopoly behemoths.

In the period from 2007 to 2019, the federal, provincial, and local government spending on business subsidies totalled 352.1 billion dollars, when adjusted for inflation. In comparison, Canada spent 24.6 billion fewer dollars on national defence during this time.

With Canada having a large number of monopolies, and Canada’s political class coddling them with endless corporate welfare – what incentive is there for the Canadian economy to innovate? When comparing investment in business to the United States, Canadian businesses invest about half as much per worker as our American counterparts.

Canada needs to address its productivity gap with the United States and it starts with ending corporate welfare and ensuring a competitive business environment for all Canadian entrepreneurs. We need faster approvals for projects and a predictable investment market for Canadian businesses.

Unfortunately, Canadian politicians like Doug Ford don’t get it and instead opt to spend billions on corporate welfare rather than make Ontario a competitive province. We need a change of leadership in Canadian politics – we need a new blue approach to politics.

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