OTTAWA — The Harper government wants Canada to be No. 10 in the world in economic competitiveness.
It sounds like a lofty goal, except for one thing — we’re already No. 9. Industry Canada’s report on plans and priorities says it wants to reach 10th place on the World Economic Forum’s index of global competitiveness by 2012-13. It could be a typo, a mistake or just that the Tories don’t have high expectations about Canada’s ability to compete.
A spokeswoman for Industry Minister Tony Clement said she would ask the department to explain, at first guessing it might be a typo. Lynn Meahan said she had not received a clear answer and would likely not get one “today.” She noted that the government has invested $10.7 billion in science and technology this year alone. Canada is wedged between Japan at eight and the Netherlands at 10. Switzerland is first, followed closely by the United States. Economist Dale Orr said there may be no mistake at all, given that the strong Canadian dollar is eroding price-competitiveness around the world, and that Canada’s productivity has lagged behind many countries in the past decade.
Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney lamented recently that productivity in Canada has inched up an “abysmal” 0.7 per cent annually the last decade — about half the rate of the U.S.
“I think we are going to have to struggle just to hold our ground,” Orr said. “You have to be quite an optimist to say we can keep up with the Americans over the next five years.” And if we’re not careful, said Orr, the Americans are going to clean Canada’s clock when competing for the same markets around the world, particularly China. “They (government) should aim higher,” he said.