Wednesday, September 02, 2026

Mid-Week Post

Your middle-of-the-week happiness ...




Canada's economic performance has fallen further behind that of the U.S. over the past quarter century, with the gap in GDP per person more than doubling and the Americans pulling ahead on incomes, employment, investment and productivity.

That's according to a new study published by the Fraser Institute, which found that, in 1999, inflation-adjusted GDP per person in Canada was $48,076, while in the U.S. it was $58,842. By 2024, GDP per person had grown to $83,286 in the U.S. compared to just $59,529 in Canada — meaning the gap had widened from $10,766 to $23,757 over 25 years.

The study compared economic outcomes in the two countries by looking at measures including living standards, incomes, employment, investment, and productivity. In every category, Canada has fallen further behind over the first quarter of the century, it found.

For example, in 2010 (the earliest year of comparable data), inflation-adjusted median employment income was $6,126 higher in the U.S. than in Canada. By 2024, that gap had increased to $8,663.

"When comparing the economic performance of Canada relative to the U.S. since the beginning of the 21st century, it's abundantly clear that Canadian policymakers have failed to create an environment where we can prosper," said Jake Fuss, director of fiscal studies at the Fraser Institute, in a news release.

He added that the ability to transform raw materials and other inputs into demanded goods and services increased by more than double the amount (26.7 per cent versus 67.9 per cent) in the U.S. compared to Canada, "which explains much of our languishing living standards."

The Fraser Institute outlines three factors that explain the widening gap in economic performance between the two countries.

The first is a decline in private sector employment as a share of total employment in Canada. This decreased from 81.2 per cent to 78.5 per cent, meaning the government sector outgrew the private sector. The opposite occurred in the U.S., as private sector employment increased from 85.8 per cent of total employment to 86.5 per cent.

Meanwhile, labour productivity — a key driver of income growth — in the U.S. grew by 67.9 per cent between 1999 and 2025 compared to a 26.7 per cent increase in Canada during the same period.

Finally, business investment in Canada — which equips workers with the tools and technology they need to produce goods and services — dropped from nearly 90 cents per worker for every dollar invested in the U.S. to 54 cents between 2007 and 2024.

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The tariffs and counter-tariffs have hit some states and provinces harder than others.

In Canada, some provinces have been more exposed to US sectoral tariffs on steel, steel derivatives, aluminium, and autos and vehicle parts that don't comply with the current North American trade deal, known as the USMCA.

Ontario, the most populous province with a significant manufacturing sector, has been hardest hit by the auto and steel tariffs.

Several Ontario auto parts and assembly plants have announced layoffs and production cuts, and the province is estimated to have lost tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs since early 2025.

Metal exports from Quebec - which produces steel, copper and aluminium - fell 36% between February 2025 and 2026, and there was a 3.6% drop in employment in the sector, according to data released in July.

The Royal Bank of Canada estimates that Ontario and Quebec are the most impacted by US sectoral tariffs, while Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Prince Edward Island are the least exposed.

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Now, according to Axios, Washington is discussing an ownership stake in more than a dozen producing Venezuelan oilfields containing an estimated 90 billion barrels of proven reserves.  Canada can’t say it was not warned this could happen in advance.

“Calling this deal huge would be an understatement,” one U.S. official told Axios. “It is massive.”

The agreement has not been finalized, and its precise ownership, operating and revenue arrangements remain under negotiation. Nevertheless, its potential scale should command the immediate attention of Prime Minister Mark Carney and every Canadian policymaker responsible for energy and economic development.

This is not simply another foreign oil project. Venezuela holds approximately 300 billion barrels of proven reserves, the largest reported total in the world. Much of that resource is heavy crude capable of competing directly with barrels from Canada’s oil sands.

If American capital, technology and political power are mobilized to restore Venezuelan production, Canada could eventually face much stronger competition inside the U.S. refining market upon which it remains heavily dependent.




HA!:

Joseph McLuckie can’t count the number of sleepless nights he has had ever since the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) determined about three months ago that his small business owes more than $180,000 in tariffs on a more-than-a-year-old shipment.

McLuckie is the managing director and owner of JPSM Golf, a small business based out of Pickering, Ont., that sells electric golf trolleys. These trolleys carry golfers’ bags throughout the course as they play.

JPSM Golf has been operational for the last 20 years, starting off in the basement of McLuckie’s home in Leaside before it moved to its 9,000-square-foot storefront.

Instead of celebrating his company’s 20th anniversary, McLuckie is agonizing whether he will be able to pay all six of his long-term employees should he have to pay the $182,883.95 the CBSA says he owes.

“You wake up in the middle of the night, you have a random thought, and it keeps you awake for a couple of hours, because I know if I had to pay this tomorrow, I’m out of cash,” McLuckie said in an interview with CTV News Toronto.

The shipment in question was delivered to JPSM Golf from China in April 2025. It was a 40-foot container filled with 330 Formula remote trolleys, a brand McLuckie’s company designed and developed on their own.

 

It's like it pays to produce stuff in Canada.





I found hospitals in Seoul, South Korea, to be sanitary and well-equipped. There was almost no waiting period when I went to an emergency room and even minor sprains or other problems got immediate attention. Despite my basic level of health insurance in Korea, I paid very little for an overnight stay in a private double room in the 2000s.

In the last 20 years, my wife and I have continued to travel to places like Korea, Singapore and Malaysia, and while we haven’t been in hospitals overnight, we’ve been able to get amazing and affordable care in Asia. 

Given the taxes we pay in Canada, I’m still having a hard time believing that the only hospital where I was forced to sleep in a hallway was in Saskatoon.

I’m grateful for the care I received from the doctors and nurses who took care of me, but I also felt sorry for them. Most of the team had been working for hours. I had seen many of the same faces for over 10 hours. They looked exhausted. It’s not a stretch to say they were being pushed to their limits in a broken health-care system.

Even after leaving the hospital, the delays have continued as I'm once again in a different kind of hallway: a long waiting list to get a basic test completed. Nurses and nurse practitioners have made calls and tried to get information on how long it will take for me to see a specialist, but the list seems to be the list. I still face a two to three month wait to get further testing done.

This is worse than hurry up and wait. It’s simply wait and pay high taxes that aren’t consistent with the level of care.

I'm appalled that the only place I was ever warehoused in a hospital hallway was in my own country and the city in which I grew up.




Because science:



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