{"id":3994,"date":"2025-05-22T04:00:29","date_gmt":"2025-05-22T08:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cpp.hec.ca\/en\/?p=3994"},"modified":"2025-05-21T09:02:49","modified_gmt":"2025-05-21T13:02:49","slug":"productivity-the-key-to-a-strong-resilient-domestic-market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cpp.hec.ca\/en\/productivity-the-key-to-a-strong-resilient-domestic-market\/","title":{"rendered":"Productivity: the key to a strong, resilient domestic market"},"content":{"rendered":"

Faced with the renewed surge in American protectionism, the Centre for Productivity and Prosperity \u2013 Walter J. Somers Foundation (CPP) has now published Productivity: the key to a strong, resilient domestic market<\/em><\/a>. Its main finding is categorical: Canada\u2019s structural productivity deficit is drastically limiting its room to manoeuvre in efforts to counter American tariffs.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause it was unable to make corrections 15 years ago, when the warning signs were flashing, Canada is now exposed to mounting American protectionism, since its sizeable structural productivity deficit limits its opportunities to develop new markets, both internationally and domestically,\u201d says Robert Gagn\u00e9, CPP Director and co-author of the study. \u201cAnd regardless of what we hear, tearing down barriers to interprovincial trade will not be enough to offset the impact of threatened US tariffs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since the US tariffs were announced, widespread media reports have suggested that interprovincial trade barriers are equivalent to an estimated 25% tariff or a loss of $5,100 in Canadians\u2019 per capita standard of living. According to HEC Montr\u00e9al researchers, however, these estimates are probably exaggerated. \u201cEven if all regulatory obstacles in the country could be eliminated, it would be unrealistic to hope for a 6.9% increase in the standard of living in Canada,\u201d explains Jonathan Deslauriers, CPP Executive Director and co-author of the study. \u201cBecause essentially, the true barriers to interprovincial trade are structural in nature. They have to do with the distances between regional markets and businesses\u2019 inability to overcome them, owing to their poor productivity.\u201d<\/p>\n

To solve this dilemma, Canada as a whole will have to stimulate private investment and open up the domestic market in order to spur competition. Rather than dithering over a problem that should have been corrected thirty years ago by implementing the principle of mutual recognition to ensure the free movement of products despite the lack of harmonization of provincial standards, the provinces will have to get to the root of the country’s endemic productivity lag to improve the resilience of the domestic market, and thus enable Canadian companies to cross the borders of their local market. \u201cIn such a context, it becomes essential to strengthen trade routes from east to west by investing massively in transportation infrastructure. The announcement of an HSR between Quebec City and Toronto is a step in the right direction. However, concrete efforts must be made and electoral promises fulfilled quickly,\u201d adds Gagn\u00e9.<\/p>\n

\n

To read more : Deslauriers, Jonathan, Robert Gagn\u00e9 and Jonathan Par\u00e9, Productivity : the key to a strong, resilient domestic marke<\/a>t, Centre for Productivity and Prosperity (CPP) \u2013 Walter J. Somers Foundation, HEC Montr\u00e9al, May 2025<\/p>\n<\/div>

Read the publication<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":3982,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3994","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-public-policy","category-publications"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cpp.hec.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3994","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cpp.hec.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cpp.hec.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cpp.hec.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cpp.hec.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3994"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/cpp.hec.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3994\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4004,"href":"https:\/\/cpp.hec.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3994\/revisions\/4004"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cpp.hec.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3982"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cpp.hec.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3994"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cpp.hec.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3994"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cpp.hec.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3994"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}