ITIF Logo
ITIF Search

Canada

Featured

Assessing Canadian Innovation, Productivity, and Competitiveness

Assessing Canadian Innovation, Productivity, and Competitiveness

Canada faces unprecedented challenges in innovation, productivity, and competitiveness. The first step in addressing them is to develop a clear understanding of the Canadian economy’s underlying structure and performance in each area. Policymakers must then tailor strategies for specific industries and technologies instead of focusing on principally on macro factors.

More Publications and Events

June 9, 2025|Blogs

Canada’s Mining Industry Needs Twenty-First Century Data

It’s more important than ever for Canada to invest in domestic production capabilities. Natural Resources Canada must update its value-added analysis to clarify the current state of the mining industry and guide sound industrial policymaking.

May 29, 2025|Blogs

Fuel for Thought: A New Mechanism to Fund Canadian Innovation

Canada stands at a pivotal moment to leverage its natural resource boom into long-term industrial strength by tying faster permitting and land access to reinvestment in innovation. A modest levy on resource extraction could fund a new federal agency focused on turning Canadian R&D into real production and globally competitive advanced industries.

May 7, 2025|Op-Eds & Contributed Articles

The New Carney Government Must Anchor University Research to Canadian Industry

Canada risks falling behind as a low-productivity, resource-based economy just as China rises as a global technology leader and U.S. protectionism grows. To help turn the ship of state toward a technology-driven economy, the government should take the simple but impactful step of giving Canadian industry more say in setting university research priorities.

May 1, 2025|Op-Eds & Contributed Articles

Canada Should Harness Its AI Advantage, Not Squander It

In an era when AI is poised to improve everything from crop yields to cancer detection, Canada’s central priority should be accelerating AI adoption to enhance economic prosperity and quality of life, not erecting barriers to innovation through overly precautionary regulation.

April 28, 2025|Blogs

Fact of the Week: Large Canadian Firms Pay Between 11 and 20 Percent Higher Wages Than Small Firms

A new fixed effects model finds that larger firms pay between 11 and 20 percent higher wages than small firms.

April 16, 2025|Reports & Briefings

An IT Policy Playbook for Canada

The Canadian economy is shifting faster than its institutions are. This playbook lays out an agenda to address what Canada must fix, build, and scale in order to compete through technology.

April 16, 2025|Op-Eds & Contributed Articles

Galvanizing Canadian Ambition: Going From Middle Power to Global Leader

Canada has long embraced its identity as a “middle power,” but it has the potential to be more than just a supporting player. With greater ambition and the right vision, Canada can shape global markets and emerge as a dominant force.

April 10, 2025|Blogs

Mittelstand, Not Middlemen, Will Help Canada Climb the Value Chain

The goal for the next Canadian decade should be simple yet ambitious: to support and scale at least 100 mid-sized, export-oriented companies that dominate strategic niches in global markets—Canada's own generation of Mittelstand-esque champions.

March 31, 2025|Blogs

Why Canada Must Keep Talking to Trump’s America

Canada’s path forward requires becoming a more productive trading nation that is less reliant on external forces and more capable of turning ambition into economic power. Walking away from the most consequential trade conversation of the next decade won’t get Canada there. It has room to negotiate with the U.S. and should use that leverage to secure the full and permanent removal of tariffs.

March 17, 2025|Blogs

Canada Should Hire Scientists Trump Fires

Trump and Musk are disrupting America’s scientific community, giving Canada a rare opportunity to attract top talent and position itself as a global innovation powerhouse.

Back to Top