Fuelling Growth: Expert Perspectives on Canada’s Productivity Challenges

Canada’s economic prosperity is deeply tied to its productivity, shaping everything from wages and living standards to business competitiveness and government revenues. Yet, in recent decades, Canada’s productivity growth has faltered. By 2024, labour productivity had fallen back to 2017 levels. Since 2015, Canadian families have seen the slowest growth in their real disposable income outside of the Great Depression or the 1990s recession.

Addressing this national decline is critical, but the challenge is complex, involving diverse factors including weak capital investment, barriers to interprovincial trade, regulatory inefficiencies and lacklustre business innovation. Without a concerted and sustained effort to reverse this trend, Canada risks falling further behind our trading partners in an increasingly competitive global economy.

This report builds on the insights from Canada’s Productivity Summit and the subsequent expert workshops, providing a deeper exploration of the challenges and opportunities shaping Canada’s economic future. Through focused discussions on fiscal and monetary policy, innovation, labour markets and resource development, this working paper captures crucial areas of consensus and ongoing debate.