This presentation will analyse the Liberal Party of Canada's Economic Council recommendation on how to grow the economy. The presentation will look at labor, trade, investment, innovation, productivity, infrastructure and skills development

1. CANADA ECONOMIC
COUNCIL CRITIQUE
By: Paul Young, CPA, CGA
October 25, 2016

2. AGENDA
 Overview of the economic council
 Comments from media
 Key areas
 Analysis of key areas of the report
 Critique
 Other Sources

3. OVERVIEW
 Liberal Government of Canada appointed an economic council to
provide recommendation on how to grow the economy in Canada
 The council includes members from private sector

4. KEY AREAS
 Capital investment
 Infrastructure
 Innovation
 Talent and labor markets
 Competitive Markets, including trade
Source – Scotiabank - http://www.gbm.scotiabank.com/English/bns_econ/fedaceg.pdf

5. KEY COMMENTS FROM MEDIA
 Municipalities - http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/canadian-
cities-push-back-on-plans-for-infrastructure-bank/article32505944/
 Privatization - http://nupge.ca/content/13193/federal-advisory-council-
recommends-widespread-privatization
 Same plan, but will it work this time? http://spon.ca/ottawas-bold-new-
plan-for-economic-growth-is-eerily-familiar/2016/10/24/
 Minister of Finance comments - http://www.fin.gc.ca/n16/16-135-eng.asp

6. CAPITAL INVESTMENT
Report did not address the following areas:
• Goods producing sector is about 29% of GDP
• Factors impact goods producing
• Automation (extraction and refining)
• Automation/Fabrication (3-D Printing, Laser
Welding, Robotics,
• Distribution (access to market)
• Regulations/Red Tape (Mining, Oil/Gas,
Manufacturing project approval, environmental
regulations,
• Taxation (Fair Competitive Taxation system)
• Hydro Rates (capping rates)
Source – Stats Canada
Analysis on the report:
• FDI (Foreign Direct Investment)
• Canada needs to attract more FDI
• The report did not mention key aspects of policies like the
following:
• Taxation (Carbon Taxation, CPP Hikes)
• Provincial policies (Hydro rates, natural resources,
• Infrastructure did not mention need for export driven
investment (pipelines, roads, ports, etc.)

7. INFRASTRUCTURE
Source: Stats Canada
Concerns the Report did not address:
• Oversight to ensure money is not wasted
• Municipalities (arbitration, compensation and other costs)
• Procurement process – (P3 in many cases have been over budget) - Source -
https://www.policyalternatives.ca/sites/default/files/uploads/publications/Saskatchewan%20Office/2015/11/Privatiz
ation%20Nation%20(11-05-15).pdf
• Canada is export driven country. Exports are $512B.
• Canada needs to expand the capacity to exports
• New pipelines
• Port Expansion (in land and water)
• Access to markets (FIPA and Trade Agreements)
• Source: http://www.slideshare.net/paulyoungcga/policy-trade-canada or
http://www.slideshare.net/paulyoungcga/trade-and-investment-for-canada
Source – Scotiabank

8. INNOVATION
 Canada needs to do more with innovation
 More innovation Centers
 Better alignment with innovation funds with new technology
 Competitive R&D Tax credit programs
Source: http://www.slideshare.net/paulyoungcga/innovation-and-research-
and-development-tax-credits-canada

9. SKILLS DEVELOPMENT
Source – Scotiabank
Report did not address the following:
• Canada needs to address its
education system to ensure education
is align to jobs in demand
• Policies
• BC imposed real estate restriction
of foreign ownership
• Immigration process
• Qualifying credentials has been
an issue for years. This is part of
trade barriers (Provincial)
Source:
http://www.slideshare.net/paulyoun
gcga/government-policies-
education-skills-development-
canada-october-2-2016

10. COMPETITIVE MARKET
 Concerns with the report on competitiveness
 Trade deal, but the deals need to be fair deals
 Red Tape/Regulations are big issue for business (http://www.cfib-fcei.ca/english/article/6893-red-tape-accountability-
report-card-2015.html)
 Productivity is an issue for Canada - http://www.slideshare.net/paulyoungcga/canadian-manufacturing-analysis-including-
trends-and-assessment-of-government-policies or http://www.conferenceboard.ca/hcp/details/economy/measuring-
productivity-canada.aspx
 Hydro rates are key driver for business.
 Ontario which is still about 35% of GDP has the highest rates in North America - http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-
business/ontario-policies-could-put-auto-making-at-risk-fiat-chrysler-ceo-warns/article25418311/
 The report did not address new taxation (Carbon taxation)
 Many of Canada’s trading partner do not have carbon taxation, like United States and China.
 Increase CPP taxation. CPP deduction is match by each dollar by business.

11. COMMENTARY
 My concern with this report is that Liberal have introduced policies like carbon taxation that will make Canada less competitive to its peers
 My concern with the report is that Canada is export driven as such needs the capacity to move goods to market. The report should have went into
more specifics on how to expand exports. For each $1B of exports there is 5,500 jobs
 My concern the report did not mention retail sales. Retail sales drive 2/3 of the economy in Canada. The report should have address issues like
duties/tariffs as part of consumer pricing
 My concern the report did not discuss education in more detail, especially that we need to look at how we align kids today to current jobs as well
as future jobs.
 My concern the report did not discuss how Liberals want to move to carbon less economy. The problem is technology to replace carbon is either
no there yet in terms of its development or carbon will be required as part of the refining, extraction and fabrication process. FYI – Canada’s clean
business is only about 50B. The 50B is growing at 8%per year. It would take decades to phased out carbon.
 My concern is the report did not address fiscal management issues that exist at all levels of government. The fiscal management issues could lead
to more money being wasted in areas of infrastructure
 My concern is the report talk about private investment into infrastructure. The problem is that many infrastructure project may lack the size in
terms of returns that either pension funds or institutional investors required as part of their investment model
 My concern is the report did not address issues with productivity. Productivity is a big issue in Canada as lower productivity can lead to profitability
issues for companies. Companies will invest where they can make return on their investment.
 The report did not go far enough into the fact that it will take multitude of policies to support economic growth. Many policy changes will have to
happen at both the Provincial and Municipal level.

12. OTHER SOURCES
 Labour Market – Canada - http://www.slideshare.net/paulyoungcga/government-policies-
labour-market-canada-67545343
 Retail Sales – Canada - http://www.slideshare.net/paulyoungcga/retail-sales-canada-
august-2016
 Slow Growth - http://www.slideshare.net/paulyoungcga/canada-slow-economic-growth-
what-needs-to-happen
 Housing Market - http://www.slideshare.net/paulyoungcga/real-estate-trends-and-
analysis-for-canada-august-2016
 Canada Manufacturing Sales - http://www.slideshare.net/paulyoungcga/manufacturing-
sales-and-trends-for-canada-august-2016
 Key Market Trends - http://www.slideshare.net/paulyoungcga/key-market-and-industry-
trends-for-north-american-september-2016