Quote:
Originally Posted by Fuzz
I really don't want to get in the middle of Ozy going off the deep end for dubious reasons, but I'd just ask a counter question:
Given the widening gap between other advanced economies and the US is similar to the gap between Canada and the US, how can Trudeau's policies be to blame?
I do suspect that gap has a lot more to do with the US getting major benefits from tech growth that has global impacts and sales more than anything else, not a change in oil prices. And this isn't really an area Canada has the scale to compete at.
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I think that’s a great, thoughtful question - and my answer would be an example for contemplation. I think it’s clear from my post history and that I’m a big proponent of Canada’s oil and gas industry because it’s such a big part of Canada’s economy. When you look at Canada being a resource based economy, you need to take steps to encourage and support development of those resources, as it benefits all Canadians.
With that, you can’t implement policies like Bill C-69 or put in place carbon taxes, which place unnecessary strain on an industry that is incredibly capital intensive. It’s great for Canada to be a climate leader, but practices like that just handcuff the industry and it’s my belief that Canada can be a climate leader and still support industry. These are policies that take away from companies’ ability to re-invest capital, which help GDP to grow.
I 100% agree that the gap widening is partly a function of how well the US economy has done. But with that, I also think Canada has done itself no favours to support what has historically driven the Canadian economy to perform well, and priorities have shifted to things that don’t add relative value for Canadians.