Canada has deliberately, with substantial public support, built a regulatory utopia wherein time is free and cost is irrelevant. Rational people refuse to invest in this environment without substantial government cover.
Sadly, nibbling at the extremities won't cut it. Canadians have to accept that they screwed up and commit to fixing the whole problem. I don't see any sign of this happening.
David, I appreciate the specific examples of areas where Canada used to lead. I would love to know more of your thoughts on what happened - too much regulation? Complacency? Brain drain? Maybe our educational system failed to keep up? All of the above?
The growth of leviathan is inversely proportional to growth in the economy, productivity, and even in cultural stability. I take issue with your dismissal of CANDU reactors. They are still competitive and still offer the advantage of requiring natural and unenriched uranium and represent economies of scale with life expectancy now at the century level. SMRs are all the rage but offer no relief from the dead hand of regulatory excess while producing a fraction of the output that offers long term unit costs (beyond 30 years) lower than all takers for the large plants.
You would be hard pressed to find a better reactor than CANDU. It should be the world standard. This is one area where our government should be pushing the hard sell.
"Given competing political agendas and consultation requirements, resource extraction and large infrastructure projects are now nearly impossible to execute."
Yet LNG Canada, the TransMountain expansion, Coastal GasLink pipeline and Site C dam have all entered service recently with significant economic impacts. Almost $200 billion in energy and resource projects are planned for northern BC. ReNew magazine's values the top 100 public infrastructure projects underway at $343 billion, a record. Apparently, nothing gets built though.
Those are potentially useful counter-examples. Although in 2026, none of them fits the "we punched above our weight" category. They're basically important but weaker reruns of existing projects.
Specifically, LNG Canada wasn't exacty cutting edge innovation, and it did arrive years late and - as far as anyone knows - well over budget.
TMX overran its budget by around 500% and was badly delayed by court challenges, regulatory reviews, and protests.
Coastal GasLink Pipeline was only 75% over budget and the delay was significant.
Site C Dam isn't fully complete yet - despite originally being expected in the early 2020's. And, so far, it's doubled its original cost estimates.
I'm not claiming that no one in Canada is using shovels anymore. Rather, the post was about how there's not a lot of world-leading innovation going on. And what does happen involves pushing **against** government and entitled activists rather than collaborating.
I would love to know more about the perverse tax incentives and government policies that send signals against investment.
I think that Canada has spent at least the last 20 years having, or trying to have, this conversation about poor productivity and its inability to get things done.
Canada has deliberately, with substantial public support, built a regulatory utopia wherein time is free and cost is irrelevant. Rational people refuse to invest in this environment without substantial government cover.
Sadly, nibbling at the extremities won't cut it. Canadians have to accept that they screwed up and commit to fixing the whole problem. I don't see any sign of this happening.
David, I appreciate the specific examples of areas where Canada used to lead. I would love to know more of your thoughts on what happened - too much regulation? Complacency? Brain drain? Maybe our educational system failed to keep up? All of the above?
Maybe that’s all too much for one column!
I would say that the biggest problems by far are over regulation and perverse tax incentives. Government policies signal that investment isn't wise.
But you're right: this should get a bit more attention.
The growth of leviathan is inversely proportional to growth in the economy, productivity, and even in cultural stability. I take issue with your dismissal of CANDU reactors. They are still competitive and still offer the advantage of requiring natural and unenriched uranium and represent economies of scale with life expectancy now at the century level. SMRs are all the rage but offer no relief from the dead hand of regulatory excess while producing a fraction of the output that offers long term unit costs (beyond 30 years) lower than all takers for the large plants.
Well I certainly won't mind being proven wrong on CANDU.
You would be hard pressed to find a better reactor than CANDU. It should be the world standard. This is one area where our government should be pushing the hard sell.
"Given competing political agendas and consultation requirements, resource extraction and large infrastructure projects are now nearly impossible to execute."
Yet LNG Canada, the TransMountain expansion, Coastal GasLink pipeline and Site C dam have all entered service recently with significant economic impacts. Almost $200 billion in energy and resource projects are planned for northern BC. ReNew magazine's values the top 100 public infrastructure projects underway at $343 billion, a record. Apparently, nothing gets built though.
Those are potentially useful counter-examples. Although in 2026, none of them fits the "we punched above our weight" category. They're basically important but weaker reruns of existing projects.
Specifically, LNG Canada wasn't exacty cutting edge innovation, and it did arrive years late and - as far as anyone knows - well over budget.
TMX overran its budget by around 500% and was badly delayed by court challenges, regulatory reviews, and protests.
Coastal GasLink Pipeline was only 75% over budget and the delay was significant.
Site C Dam isn't fully complete yet - despite originally being expected in the early 2020's. And, so far, it's doubled its original cost estimates.
I'm not claiming that no one in Canada is using shovels anymore. Rather, the post was about how there's not a lot of world-leading innovation going on. And what does happen involves pushing **against** government and entitled activists rather than collaborating.
I would love to know more about the perverse tax incentives and government policies that send signals against investment.
I think that Canada has spent at least the last 20 years having, or trying to have, this conversation about poor productivity and its inability to get things done.
I have touched on tax incentives from time to time in previous posts. Here's one example:
https://www.theaudit.ca/p/the-problem-of-corporate-tax-rates
Thanks David!