Category: Chairman’s Desk – Page 9 – Navigator

To compete with Donald Trump, Canada needs a new political tool box

Posted on February 14, 2024February 3, 2025 by

My last column discussed how our abysmal productivity will likely grow problematically acute under a new Trump administration.

It really hit a nerve.

Yet, it wasn’t the fear of Trump that caught attention, but rather the disaster that is our nation’s productivity emergency. I put forward the idea that the best way to deal with Trump was to get stronger economically and the best way to do that was to boost productivity.

While many of you quickly agreed, our political leaders are still clinging to the idea that hand-wringing about Trump as well as perpetuating a puppyish reputation in a dog-eat-dog world will somehow save us from economic doom.

Let’s be clear: It won’t.

Canada can only thrive in a Trump-led world by adding new tools to our political tool box. Let me explain.

Donald Trump represents more than just a pearl-clutching excuse to our nation’s political classes. He is the living embodiment of an uncharitable lens Canada’s elected leaders refuse to look through: the view of Canada from the outside.

For decades, that outside-looking-in lens revealed how Canada attracted international companies through our high-quality health-care, our skilled workforce and our stable, sensible government, but is today autofocused on how we must resort to bribing these same companies with preposterously high incentives.

It’s an autofocus that now shows our economy suffering from an alarming brain drain with many high-skilled immigrants picking up their bags and turning around shortly after arriving.

And that same lens projects Canada to be the worst-performing economy out of 38 advanced countries over the next forty years, achieving the lowest real GDP per capita growth.

Dead. Last. Behind Luxembourg, Columbia, and Chile.

What serious Canadian thinks that’s OK?

The very difficult, inescapable truth is Canada is sleepwalking into the future with our politicians leading the way.

All Canadians, but most especially those we have chosen to lead us, need a bucket of cold water to wake up, some Adderall to keep focused and a kick in the pants to get going.
In that last column, I wrote, “Our economic problems run so deep that an effort analogous to a wartime one is needed.”

A wartime effort is needed because it is the only frame of reference that will allow us to escape the political games that have obfuscated and distracted us from the clear structural issues plaguing our economy:

That agricultural supply management is bad for food prices and ruinous for our international trade deals.

That interprovincial trade barriers are killing our competitiveness and stifling investment.

That our public service needs sizable cuts and massive reform that takes advantage of modern technology and drives results.

That we simply must find a way to deliver our natural resources to market, particularly natural gas, in a responsible fashion that ensures we recycle profits into innovation that helps solve climate change.

None of these problems can be solved with the current political tool box. That’s the core of my point. These perpetual sticking points, regional complaints and special interest roadblocks can only be solved with new tools.

And that’s where my wartime analogy comes into play.

In times of war, we created new ministries for co-ordinating domestic industry, transformed our economy to meet global demand, and established new Crown corporations to build houses, among other initiatives.

It’s not complicated. We need the same approach today – Canada urgently requires transformative political leadership or the economic pain we’re experiencing today will feel like a mosquito bite tomorrow.

Brian Mulroney has a famous line, “Political capital is accumulated to be spent on the great pursuits of a nation.” Less well known but just as important is the line that followed it, “If you’re afraid to spend your capital, you shouldn’t be there.”

Let that be instructive to all of Canada’s political leaders today.

It’s time for those letting us sleepwalk into the future to step aside. It’s time for those willing to take us to war on our productivity challenges to step up and start spending their political capital — even if it means acting in a way that’s contrary to their short-term political interests.

History will thank them for it.

READ ON THESTAR.COM

How Canadian politicians should prepare for a second Trump presidency

Posted on January 29, 2024February 4, 2025 by

Part cliché. Mostly truism. It is said that there are no sure things in politics.

But, after his unprecedented victories in both New Hampshire and Iowa, Donald Trump locking up the Republican nomination looks pretty damn certain.

When politicians are presented with uncomfortable realities, they can do one of two things. Run around aimlessly with their pants on fire. Or, wake up, become serious and get to work.

Sadly, Canadians politicians have been trending down the former path this past week.

Jagmeet Singh described Trump as “vengeance-filled” and an “egomaniac.” Justin Trudeau opined about his “unpredictability.”

Characterizations as profoundly unenlightening as they are unhelpful.

While those characterizations might well be true, not only is it unwise to further rile an egomaniac by calling him one, it looks weak to respond to a brewing development by perceiving it first as a major threat, rather than an opportunity.

It looks weak, because it is weak.

There may be a storm brewing south of the border — but, frankly, we have bigger problems to deal with. Our economy, and more specifically our productivity, is in a terminal state of weakness. And if Trump is going to create a storm of unpredictability, danger, and vindictiveness, we cannot afford to make excuses but need to use the wind from his storm to sail our own ship faster, and more efficiently than ever before.

The scale of our problem is staggering. Leave aside all the issues we have with housing, addiction to unskilled labour, or whatever else it may be. Our productivity, the fuel of economic growth, driver of competitiveness, and elevator of living standards, is a catastrophe.

Researchers from the Centre for Productivity and Prosperity found that four decades ago, when adjusted for inflation and currency fluctuations, Canadians enjoyed a higher per capita standard of living than average among the major Western economies.

Now, Canadians are, on average, annually living $5,000 below that average. And if the current trend continues, we will be nearly $18,000 below that average by 2060.

If Trump, anathema he might be, becomes president again, one can only hope the panic that will ensue among our political class translates into a much-needed kick in the ass.

In fact, it just might be that a Trump victory is good for Canada.

Our economic problems run so deep that an effort analogous to a wartime one is needed. And, if Trump needs to be a catalyst for that, by sidelining us from free trade, or enacting superficial, performative measures at our border, so be it.

The brutal truth is that, with or without Trump, we are in a national economic emergency. Some action is better than no action, to be sure. That said, I would have preferred, if during the Liberal’s cabinet retreat this week, the government had outlined a plan to tackle our productivity emergency instead of spending all this time on a “Canada-U. S. engagement strategy.”

It isn’t as though we are in a position of strength when it comes to economic negotiations with our American friends. Our productivity is in a sustained free fall that hasn’t been seen since the postwar years. While the U.S. will remain our most important trading partner and ally, if this ailment continues to fester we will become increasingly less important to them.

Sadly, we already are. And our politician’s current rhetoric toward the upcoming U.S. election reeks of ignorance on this point. It has no impact on Trump’s political calculus if Trudeau and Singh portray him as the big bad wolf. If anything, it probably plays to his advantage.

What would make Trump sit up, take notice and take us seriously? A concentrated effort to restore our economic usefulness.

Two birds, one stone.

Without a seat at Queen’s Park, Ontario is Bonnie Crombie’s to discover — and conquer

Posted on January 16, 2024February 3, 2025 by

So, which will it be: door No. 1 or door No. 2?

The question, of course, is one of the very first that confronts the newly elected leader of the Ontario Liberal party, Bonnie Crombie.

And what will the door she chooses tell us about how she intends to lead?

Until just this past week, Crombie was the mayor of Mississauga. But now that she is clear of this obligation and can fully turn her mind to defeating Premier Doug Ford and the Ontario PCs, Crombie must decide whether — and when — to seek a seat in the Ontario legislature.

And this is where those two doors come into play

Many would advise that it is crucial for Crombie to get a seat as quickly as possible. Those who hold this view — door No. 1 — would argue that it is only there, in the people’s house, that the new Liberal leader can effectively hold the government to account and demonstrate her ability to one day become premier.

They would further argue that it is from that green leather seat that the new leader can best form a relationship with the press gallery, which is an essential ingredient in a successful general election campaign.

And, finally, they would say it is respectful of our democratic process.

Others — and I am one of them — see things very differently and strongly believe Crombie’s best choice is door No. 2.

Door No. 2 holds that she need not worry about getting a seat until the next election. Those who believe this is the best approach understand that, for her, sitting in the legislature is a waste of time.

We believe this for several reasons — both strategic and tactical. Throw in practical as well.

Let’s start with the practical: the Liberals aren’t considered, under the rules of the legislature, to be an official party. What does that mean? It means that Question Period is essentially the Marit Stiles and Doug Ford show, with Crombie looking like a not-ready-for-prime-time understudy. It means the Liberals are not guaranteed a question every day.

A lot of time and effort that would be more efficiently spent elsewhere would have to be directed to ensuring the leader’s victory.

But now to the strategic: it simply doesn’t matter. Not a whit.

Experience in a legislature? She already has it. Crombie sat as a federal Liberal MP from 2008 until 2011.

Relationships with the media? She’s got those as well. Besides, long gone are the days when the gallery was the gatekeeper to communicating with the public.

But more than all of that, being free of the obligations of being tied to Queen’s Park will allow Crombie to play to her strengths as a terrific retail politician.

Now, it is generally believed that incumbent governments have a structural advantage in elections, that incumbency allows them to hold most of the cards.

But it is her abilities as a retail politician where Crombie pulls even with the premier. Without question, Ford is the most accomplished retail politician of his generation. He’s proven he can connect with Ontarians from all walks of life. It was central to his ability to lead Ontario through the pandemic. It remains his superpower.

That said, his responsibilities as premier, which keep him tied to the Pink Palace, don’t let him show off those powers as much as he might like.

And Crombie’s freedom from the very same restrictions allow her to shine.

So while Ford’s Conservatives will look to define the new leader with a multi-channel ad campaign, Crombie will be free to tour the province in a bus with her face splashed on all sides, giving real-life proof to another reality.

Door No. 2 it is.

In the face of gloom, here are three reasons to be hopeful

Posted on December 27, 2023February 3, 2025 by

All doom and gloom. Or is it?

It’s beyond cliché to say that the world – and our country along with it – is confronting tremendous and unprecedented challenges. But isn’t that the story of life? Dealing with the new, the unfamiliar, even the horrendous.

To be sure, as we sit on the cusp of a new year, not only is there much to despair, the sanguinity we will need to meet these immense challenges presents a challenge itself.

All that said, here are three reasons to be optimistic heading into 2024:

1. More competitive federal politics. Much of the malaise felt by Canadians has to do with the cost of living and housing. Now, these are real issues but I believe they are getting better for one reason: this government faces a real challenger for the first time in its existence. And just like increased competition in other fields reaps advantages for consumers, this will benefit Canadians.

Pierre Poilievre, unlike his post-Harper predecessors, has exerted meaningful and existential pressure on the government. The result? The prime minister and deputy prime minister are now rolling out and owning major housing announcements, and the federal government is finally taking a role in housing supply, partly through its accelerator fund; a role it hasn’t played in decades.

Sure, the purveyors of doom and gloom will argue it’s too little too late but every house that’s built will make the most meaningful of differences in a Canadian family’s life.

This pressure from Conservatives will continually force Justin Trudeau and his government to perform at their best – a standard that slipped in the face of weak opposition – in other areas as well. And that is good news for all of us.

2. Unprecedented resolve on climate change. This year’s COP28 conference was bound to be controversial and many saw the result as underwhelming. It goes without saying that tackling climate change requires urgent and decisive action, not empty words and domineering special interests.

Of course, there remain significant shortcomings. But for the first time in history, we have commitments from nearly 200 countries to move away from fossil fuels. For young people especially, this seems like the bare minimum. However, for someone with greyer hair who has seen (especially Conservative) politicians for years obfuscate and deny the impact or even legitimacy of climate change, this feels historic.

Wildfires have ravaged our communities in recent years, painfully bringing home the reality of climate change. As the United States Special Presidential Envoy John Kerry noted, this kind of international co-operation is awe-inspiring and sends a strong message to the world. For Canadians, it brings promise that the destructive impact of climate change is no longer up for debate at the highest levels of global governance.

In 2024, we cannot let our politicians and the international community off the hook. But we should be very glad that this major hurdle has been cleared.

3. The promise of Canada’s next generation. Many scrooges are down on this next generation. I’m not. There is plenty of reason to believe that this next generation of Canadians are as capable of meeting the challenges of their age, as those who came before them.

This year, many important people in my life who had made major societal contributions through their selfless service passed away. For me, their lives underlined the burden that falls to the next generation.

But this generation is marked by its resiliency and adaptability. They will grow up with an unparalleled level of education, in a multicultural society with access to diverse wisdom and experience we never had.

But there is the challenge for all of us: Statistics Canada tells us our youth are facing an unprecedented wave of depression. Many had to endure generational hardship and disruption through the pandemic. Despite this, now education participation rates are way back up to pre-pandemic levels. Now is not the time to give up on them.

There you go. Three reasons to feel optimistic about the year to come.

Pierre Poilievre’s wake-up call to Canadian media

Posted on December 12, 2023February 4, 2025 by

This past week, two developments attracted the nation’s attention.

Pierre Poilievre released a 15-minute video on Canada’s “housing hell” that has, at the time of writing, garnered 4.8 million views. And the CBC announced they would be cutting 10 per cent of its workforce.

What does a politician’s message on Canada’s housing crisis have to do with mass layoffs at our public broadcaster?

Everything.

First, Poilievre’s video. Like many groundbreaking political tactics, it’s less about the message, more the medium. In the 1995 Ontario election that saw Mike Harris win a landslide victory, we (I was part of Harris’s campaign) printed millions of copies of “The Common Sense Revolution”.

The revolution was not just self-styled — nor about the “common sense” message alone. It was also about how that message was delivered. The platform was distilled into a single, accessible brochure. Released a year earlier than was customary, and placed in every mailbox.

Nearly three decades later, Poilievre has managed to do something similar. Not just in this video but through his entire social media strategy.

And, to the astonishment of many, he’s breaking through.

But it isn’t just his political foes who should be taking notes. The CBC’s layoff announcement blamed “fierce competition from the digital giants.” In reality, the competition comes from anyone, anywhere.

The fight for precious clicks and seconds is as wide open as it is cutthroat. And the CBC has been losing, and losing badly, for some time.

Poilievre demonstrated last week that he is not only the CBC’s most vocal critic but its direct competitor. He did not appear on their programs to drive his message. Instead, he simply delivered it directly to Canadians. His own way, on his own channels and for a hell of a lot less than traditional advertising.

The financial pressures and job cuts in legacy media extend far wider and deeper than the CBC. We’ve seen wide-scale redundancies across the industry. The pain felt by this nation’s media is endemic. But so too is the sheer intractability of the challenges they’re facing.

Chopping off your leg is a foolish proposition until a doctor tells you it’ll save your life. The problem facing Canadian media is they don’t know if chopping off their leg will save anything. They can’t properly diagnose what’s ailing them. Nor can they see around the corner to the next technological revolution that will blow up their latest strategy. Who can?

While we can’t look into a crystal ball, we can, collectively, look in the mirror and acknowledge that we can’t allow our nation’s media landscape to get much worse. For it to be the next Kodak, Sears or Blockbuster – those who couldn’t, or wouldn’t – change before market changes obliterated them.

Blockbuster is an instructive example. In 2000, the company had the chance to buy Netflix for $50 million. It balked. It could not see the forest for the trees, despite it staring them in the face. Today, Netflix is valued at around $200 billion and Blockbuster is a relic.

Not all solutions present themselves so conveniently. But here is the teaching moment: the signs were there. Blockbuster ignored them. Canadian media would be foolish to make the same mistake.

This past week, many commentators restated what they’ve claimed for years – that Pierre Poilievre is the worst thing to happen to the CBC in decades.

They’re wrong.

More significant than his criticism, Poilievre’s tactics should be the wake-up call the broadcaster needs, a timely sign of how much its model needs to change, and how fast.

But, in their own way, the tactics are also deeply revealing. They confirm that Canadians now depend on social media and want to consume their news in a new way – their way. And, like it or not, technology is allowing them to do just that.

Mainstream media has a clear choice: It can meet Canadians where they are by innovating fearlessly, embracing new approaches, understanding that failure is a price to be paid and really, really working to understand their audiences. Or it can go the way of Blockbuster.

Let’s not have that.