By Hugh Holland
Productivity is defined as output (Gross Domestic Product) per hour worked. Several recent reports have drawn attention to Canada’s waning productivity relative to some other countries. Here are some sample productivity numbers and other related data.
(See chart source below)
Productivity affects our standard of living and general happiness. Growth in labour productivity indicates a higher level of output for every hour worked. But productivity reflects much more than just how hard we work. It reflects investments in tools and technologies (E.g., a bulldozer or a backhoe is much more productive than a hand shovel), effective utilization of available workers, including immigrants, and the level of internal cooperation.
Remembering the basic and timeless principles of economics and good planning is important. Our productivity and standard of living are improved when we minimize our threats and weaknesses and maximize our strengths and opportunities in line with global needs and trends. The data shows the refundable carbon tax has no effect on productivity but does provide an incentive to transition to clean energy in line with the most basic principle of economics. If we want to make real progress, we must axe Poilievre’s “Axe the Tax” campaign.
Every day, the need to address global warming becomes more obvious. Just as climate scientists have been predicting for many years, most of the heat from global warming is accumulating in the water that makes up 70 per cent of the earth’s surface. That is causing more evaporation and the formation of atmospheric rivers over coastal areas everywhere, as well as drought conditions and wildfires in inland areas. On this Easter weekend of 2024, we experienced infrastructure-wrecking extreme rain in Newfoundland and California and the earliest wildfire ever in Quebec. The USA is expecting the tornado season to be earlier than ever this year. How much more proof do we need?
The biggest global need at this point is the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The world has only one atmosphere. Our pollution soon becomes China’s pollution and vice versa. The second biggest global need is to replace finite oil and gas before we run out of them in about 50 years. That would pile a global energy crisis on top of a global climate crisis.
Canada’s carbon emissions per capita are second only to Saudi Arabia and more than twice China’s. That means we have no credibility to lecture others about reducing their emissions until we reduce ours. It also makes it hypocritical for us to try to sell our oil and gas to other countries.
It will always be difficult to compete in manufacturing with the economies of scale of China and the USA’s large populations. But for the past 50 years, Canada has been a powerhouse in carbon-based energy. Crude oil has been our #1 export by far. But if we want to maintain our standard of living, we must and can transition to becoming a powerhouse in new zero-carbon energy.
The decisions and investments to build the Trans Mountain oil pipeline and the Coastal Gas Link pipeline were made 8 to 10 years ago, and they will both be coming onstream this spring to temporarily boost our productivity and help countries that still need our oil and gas. But at this point, it makes no sense to invest in additional oil and gas infrastructure that would become obsolete before it can be completed.
The prairies of Alberta and Saskatchewan are hotspots for wind and solar energy. The western provinces and territories are hotspots for geothermal energy that can make both electricity to replace gasoline as well as hydrogen to replace diesel and jet fuel. The skills and resources of the existing oil and gas industry provide the strengths needed to capture those opportunities. The Coastal Gas Link pipeline and terminal can be converted from shipping LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) to shipping hydrogen to the vast markets in Asia. To their credit, Alberta seems to have recognized some of those opportunities and decided to accept the $300 million offer from Ottawa to build solar energy.
The Atlantic provinces and the St Lawrence basin of eastern Quebec have very long coastal areas that can be very productive for making wind energy. Canada has already signed contracts to use that opportunity to make hydrogen for Germany. Blaine Higg’s idea to ship LNG from New Brunswick to Europe makes no sense. Europe wants clean energy. If New Brunswick could make LNG, why haven’t they been doing it to produce their own electricity? LNG will be obsolete before the infrastructure to make it can be built.
BC, Manitoba, Ontario, and Quebec still have strength in hydro, but that, too, is waning with climate change’s erratic drought conditions. Ontario continues to lead in the cleanest and safest forms of nuclear energy. Saskatchewan has enormous uranium resources needed for nuclear energy.
If we follow the basic and timeless principles of planning and economics, Canada has all the strengths and opportunities needed to improve our environment, standard of living, and happiness.
Hugh Holland
Links to chart information:
- The GDP and productivity data comes from the OECD.
- Level of GDP per capita and productivity (oecd.org)
- Emissions per capita data
- List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita – Wikipedia
- The Happiness Index / Rank
Hugh Holland is a retired engineering and manufacturing executive now living in Huntsville, Ontario.
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Very good article! For a better perspective and impact, I would have preferred seeing the carbon emissions shown in tons per country (China 10,432,751,400, Canada 675,918,610) as well as per capita.