Trudeau isn't addressing key policies and its making Canada worse business group says

One of the most prominent business groups in Canada has taken Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his government to task over their failure to implement key economic policies that could help the country prosper. 

The Business Council of Canada is a non-partisan advocacy group that comprises the country’s leading businesses and the organization is not happy with how the federal government is handling the Canadian economy. 

Photo Credit: Twitter @BizCouncilofCan

Chief Executive Office of the Business Council of Canada Goldy Hyder scolded Trudeau and his federal government for not strengthening Canada’s economy via the adoption of policies that could have helped avert the country's current economic problems. 

Photo Credit: Twitter @goldyhyder

Prior to a government cabinet retreat in August 2023, the Business Council of Canada wrote the Prime Minsiter and noted that there were three key policy areas that the federal government needed to address if Trudeau wanted to help the economy. 

The federal government needed to reign in spending and adopt a fiscal anchor but not before delivering on the promises Trudeau made to reform permitting in the country and seizing on the opportunities of the energy transition. 

“Sufficient progress has not been made in any of these priority areas,” Hyder explained in the organization’s letter. “The government’s failure to act with urgency has weakened and worsened our domestic economic growth. 

Hyder added that because of Trudeau’s failure to act, Canadians continued to struggle with affordability issues that the business leader noted were the result of “high-interest rates, persistent inflation, and low productivity."

Trudeau was urged to bring these issues up during the cabinet retreat scheduled to start on January 21st, writing that Canada’s business leaders were “once again respectfully asking you to address these issues as a matter of priority.”

Hyder’s plea to Trudeau was followed by a brief overview of the Prime Minister's action on the three policy areas outlined, and the review did not look very good for the Liberal Party when it was laid out by the Business Council of Canada. 

For example, Hyder noted the Business Council of Canada advised that the government implement a fiscal anchor based on a “debt-servicing cost-to-ratio.” This advice was not taken and the government chose a different approach. 

The government promised in its 2023 Fall Economic Statement to keep Canada’s deficit below one percent of Canada’s GDP in the 2026-2027 fiscal years, but Hyder noted it was not clear how this would be accomplished. 

Moreover, using government figures, the 2026 deficit would be capped at $32 billion but today’s deficit percent is 1.4% of GDP. To hit government targets, spending would need to be cut by $12 billion or $50 billion over four years. 

“Given your government has increased expenses annually, on average, by well over 5 per cent each year since 2016, the proposed anchor is just not credible,” Hyder wrote before moving on to the other two key problems. 

Trudeau’s track record on reforming permitting in Canada wasn't much better than the Prime Minister's spending projects and Hyder explained that Budget 2023 promised a concrete plan on the reforms before the end of 2023. 

Hyder noted that as of the writing of his letter, the government had not even produced a draft plan on permitting reform let alone a concrete plan and no reasoning on why it had not hadn’t been provided to the public by the government. 

“Delays in correcting the federal project approval process create uncertainty, discourage investment, and push Canada farther away from achieving its goal to transition to a low carbon economy. As a result, Canada and Canadians are falling behind,” Hyder wrote. 

Finally, Hyder derided Trudeau for the government's inability to deliver on commitments that it made to accelerate investment in the transitioning energy sector. Companies in Canada are still waiting for “long-promised tax credits to become law.”

“The government has also failed to deliver on its promise to create a carbon contract for difference program, while the recent decision to pause the Canada Innovation Corporation compromises the ability to advance emerging technologies in Canada,” Hyder added. 

Addressing these priorities immediately would have a beneficial impact on Canada and Canadians according to Hyder, and he urged the Prime Minister to make these policies a priority or he would risk a “further erosion” of Canadian living standards.