Hub Podcasts Slow economic growth is Canada's biggest challenge
Jun 2, 2025
Canada faces critical economic challenges, particularly sluggish growth and stagnating living standards. Experts discuss the impact of immigration on productivity and propose reforms to boost investment. There's a heated debate about the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, weighing its benefits against the need for labor market improvements. The podcast dives into the urgent demand for foreign workers in sectors like agriculture and construction and explores potential solutions, including learning from successful international practices.
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Canada's Staggering Growth Paradox
- Canada's economic growth struggles despite fastest population growth in G7 highlight infrastructure and productivity weaknesses.
- Improving productivity, business investment, technology use, and regulatory reforms are crucial for increasing living standards.
Policy Blueprint for Growth
- Boost business investment, diffuse new technologies, and reform regulations to reward ambition.
- Reform tax, housing, immigration, education, and childcare policies to support growth and economic mobility.
Challenges of Foreign Worker Program
- The temporary foreign worker program helps fill skilled labor gaps but has design flaws causing wage suppression and market distortion.
- Without reform, ending it abruptly risks major project delays and regional economic harm.
