The Oakville Chamber of Commerce and Milton Chamber of Commerce hosted former Milton Conservative MP Lisa Raitt and former Liberal deputy prime minister Anne McLellan, co-chairs of the Coalition for a Better Future, for a conversation about how Canadians can work together to achieve a long-term plan for economic growth that is inclusive and sustainable, on Wednesday, May 31, at the Oakville Conference Centre.
Rocco Rossi, president and chief executive officer of the Ontario Chamber of Commerce - provided insight, while the Honourable Perrin Beatty, president and CEO of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, moderated and contributed to the discussion and Q&A session.
To open, McLellan spoke to a reality that the government is lacking long-term plans to reach long-term goals.
The coalition has also made a commitment to net-zero emissions by 2050, adding that a plan for the economy should always be part of the dialogue, while acknowledging that it is a challenge to secure long-term strategies as changes in government occur.
McLellan continued to describe why business has an important role and that industry needs to provide the framework for politicians to work with.
She began the discussion by clarifying that there is no government entity within the coalition. It is made up of a collection of private sector, charitable and non-profit organizations. Each category has the ability to step forward and monitor views of and influence government views as an informative body. The coalition advocates for inclusive sustainable economic growth, using a 21 metric scorecard to point it in the right direction.
Its 142 members are working with the federal and provincial governments to collaborate in order to reach this goal.
They ask that the government work together with them by listening to what the capital markets and world leaders are telling them.
Raitt explains that the coalition, simply put, uses two methods of measurement to judge the economy's performance; the GDP per capita and where we rank on the prosperity index of the world.
She continued, “These are then broken down. Are we winning globally? How are we doing on the world stage? Are we living better, addressing inclusivity? And are we growing sustainably?”
With 21 metrics as a measure, one important question asked is how well are the youth prepared for the future economy? A goal of the coalition is to cut youth unemployment in half by 2030.
Raitt answers to who they believe will champion these changes and the importance of higher education to achieve these goals.
She noted universities and colleges have not been part of the discussions but would like to be.
McLellan points out, “The conversation should not be whether there are enough jobs, but rather, are there enough people for the jobs created.” She agrees with the importance of investing in these institutions, and adds, “We need to look at the jobs of the future, identify them and tailor education to prepare the youth for the jobs so that we’re filling the gaps. Education is key, in whatever form it comes, including the trades, to economic prosperity and inclusion.”
McLellan references former Deputy Prime Minister John Manley, who continues to deal with the challenges regarding investment in research & development as well as innovation, and why Canadian businesses don't invest more in comparison to their counterparts around the globe?
Informing us that, “We continue to lag the rest of the world in relation to R & D investment. We lag our counterparts in the investment of both tangible assets, like machinery, and intangible assets.”
Businesses proffer that they need a framework for those investments, for which the coalition encourages collaboration between the private sector and all levels of government.
Raitt followed by identifying a cornerstone in one of the coalition’s metrics, “Are we living better?”
She uses an example of when Canadians realize that their GDP per capita is decreasing, resulting in them having $11k less to spend than a similar family in Australia or $26k less to spend than a family in the U.S. They’ll start to wonder what's going on and make changes to correct this discrepancy.
McLellan attributes complacency, with which Raitt concurs, as the reason why risks are needed to move the economy forward. “We believe that we are good enough and our life is good enough – we get by."
She believes that currently, Canadians lack the competitive drive to go to the next step. That we are remiss in taking on a level of risk to become Canadian giants as well as global giants as some other countries, using examples of Germany and the U.S.
McLellan poses the question, “Is it cultural? How do we shake it up? and offers that competition is a good way to move people out of that mindset that we have enough. When someone comes along who is better and willing to take on more risks needed to become more digitized or train employees better, you’ll have a choice. You’ll up your game and compete, or you’ll eventually go out of business."
She reiterates that 'okay' is not good enough. Improvements can be made by changing the nature of how we do business.
“The power is in the people,” adds Raitt. The group needs them to understand what is going on and to make the connection between “why are we not living better, and how can we get the government to make the appropriate changes.”
In the Q & A, the question was asked, “What should the goal be for getting the youth involved, and what are the key sectors in the economy to get them involved in?”
McLellan informed those present that the Nanos research poll indicates that young people believe that we are not moving fast enough on climate change, that Canada has done a good job around inclusion, equal opportunity and diversity but continues to be very concerned about the future economic well-being of themselves and the country.
Raitt continued, “We have been gauging people's opinions and gathering feedback during our national tour, and we understand the clear differences of how those under 35 and those over 35 view the economy and environmental issues. Those under 35 are far more entrepreneurial-minded. Their tolerance level of risk is greater. We would love to see more competition come between those companies that enjoy oligopoly.”
Mayor Rob Burton posed the question, “What do we need to do to make trade freer among the provinces? Is the current status a barrier to growth? Are we able to get by with the trade solitude that we’ve built up in this country?”
McLellan's response was embraced by most in attendance. “At the end of the day, it's about the provinces understanding that we should be an economic free trade zone, and without that, none of us are working to our capacity and our productivity. Governments are there to smooth out the peaks and valleys. The 13 jurisdictions have got to decide that it's in their economic and social interest to reduce the barriers.”
Business owner Kerry Colborne asked if the coalition identifies growth of Canadian-controlled private corporations versus multi-nationals with a base here in Canada.
“We are very interested in seeing how homegrown Canadian companies are able to take on the world, leading us back to one of our metrics; how are we doing on the world stage,” explains Raitt.
She describes that the measure that the coalition uses relates to the number of narwhals that we have in Canada, not a multi-national company or organization. Our narwhals are identified as a corporation worth more than $1 billion.
With a goal set of 16 when there were four, she reported that for 2022, they measured 17, with the tech sector responsible for recent, significant growth following COVID.
McLellan informs, “Currently, there is no conversation around the 2030 target or net-zero emissions by 2050. That’s where we’re going, and that’s where the world is going. 2030 is an important benchmark on the way to net-zero 2050. So we advocate for those things, but we acknowledge how difficult this is. Our members will go to Ottawa or Queen’s Park and talk about difficult policy tools to help them get there.