When Justin Trudeau came to power in 2015, he embodied generational change and promised renewal, transparency, and ambition. Early achievements, such as the Canada Child Benefit, which significantly reduced child poverty, and enhancements to the Canada Pension Plan, which secured better retirements for future generations, reflected this promise.
Yet, over time, the government’s initial momentum gave way to an overemphasis on political optics at the expense of substance. Its failure to meet the moment was not due to a single misstep but rather the cumulative impact of weaknesses in governance, economic underperformance, and policy incoherence.
Economic policy failures
Trudeau’s tenure coincided with a period of sluggish growth, declining productivity, and mounting fiscal vulnerabilities.
GDP per capita, a critical measure of prosperity, has now been negative for eight of the last nine quarters, lagging peer countries like the U.S. and underscoring Canada’s struggles to transition to a high-value, innovation-driven economy.
Its singular focus on the electric vehicle sector repeated historical mistakes of rent-seeking and subsidy-driven branch plant economic policy. Opportunities to leverage Canada’s natural advantages and foster innovation in energy, agriculture, biotechnology, and advanced infrastructure were neglected in favour of ineffective industrial policy measures.
Public debt expanded at an alarming rate, without a coherent strategy to align spending with long-term pressures such as an aging population. Even as economic conditions improved post-pandemic, the government persistently overspent and missed its own fiscal targets, betraying an absence of discipline and accountability. Meanwhile, labour productivity remained stubbornly low, a symptom of neglected innovation and outdated regulatory frameworks.
Rising immigration levels were not matched by corresponding housing supply increases, exacerbating affordability challenges for millions of Canadians.
Read the full article here / By Robert Asselin, Business Council of Canada
