Canada's Productivity Initiative: Halifax

Canada's Productivity Initiative will gather experts from across the country to explore multiple aspects of our nation's economic growth and productivity. Taking place on June 5, 2025, the session in Halifax will be hosted by the University of Calgary's School of Public Policy, in collaboration with the Halifax Partnership, and located at the Halifax Convention Centre.

The Halifax session will address Interprovincial trade and government regulation. It will include an experts-only workshop in the morning, followed by lunch with a keynote address, panel discussions on the three topics and an evening networking reception. A session of Canada's Productivity Initiative has already taken place in Ottawa, and additional sessions will be held in Vancouver, Montreal, Saskatoon, and Toronto throughout 2025.

Why attend?

Productivity is at the heart of any robust economy, underpinning long-term improvements in living standards, and it has far-reaching implications for almost all areas of public policy. Countless factors impact economic performance, but relatively little is known about the reasons for Canada's recent challenges. Since 2015, Canadian families' real disposable income growth has been slower than any other eight-year period outside of the Great Depression or the 1990s recession. Explanations range from a lack of business innovation, lacklustre capital investment and interprovincial trade barriers, to inefficient features of our taxation and regulatory system. This Halifax session will examine how we can invigorate growth and increase economic stability for the benefit of Canadians in the future in terms of two key subjects: interprovincial trade and regulation. 

"A national system is ideal, but a province or territory could allow businesses or professionals from any other jurisdiction to operate within its borders without requiring additional certification or regulatory adjustments.."

-- Excerpt from the What We Heard Report from Canada’s Productivity Summit.

Continue to check back as we frequently make updates to our program agenda.

"Reducing interprovincial trade barriers could boost Canada’s productivity by several percentage points."

-- Excerpt from the What We Heard Report from Canada’s Productivity Summit.