Regulations are choking Canada's economy

[I am Groot]

A good roundup of the main reason for Canada's deteriorating economic situation.

he World Bank’s Business Ready assessment of 101 countries captures the extent of the problem. On the regulatory framework metric—the rules businesses must actually navigate—Canada ranks 33rd, closer to China than to the United States, which ranks fifth. Drill into the OECD subset, and the picture worsens. As Alicia Planincic reported, Canada earns D grades in taxation, international trade, and business location, and fails outright on market competition with a score of just 49 out of 100.

On business location—the rules governing land acquisition, property transfers, and building permits—Canada ranks dead last among 25 OECD peers. The U.S. scored 94 out of 100. Canada scored 63.

The OECD Product Market Regulation indicators confirm a troubling trajectory. Canada’s standing has deteriorated from 10th in 1998 to 26th in 2023, with particularly poor rankings on administrative burden (32nd), licensing (36th), foreign investment openness (40th), and governance of state-owned enterprises (40th).

 

https://thehub.ca/2026/04/16/how-canadas-economy-is-choking-from-federal-regulations-7-graphs/

 

[TreeBeard]

28 minutes ago, I am Groot said:

main reason for Canada's deteriorating economic situation.

Every article based on any objective measures will point to American trade policy/tariffs being the main reason for the downturn in Canada’s economy. 
 

It’s going to be painful for years to come.  
 

To claim otherwise is delusional.  As if we can tweak some red tape and Canada will be back on the economic track that it had been.   Pure rightwing fantasy.

 

Edited April 16 by TreeBeard

[eyeball]

Thanks for this, its good to know we're losing in the race to the bottom.

The less that moves the less that gets hurt.

[Goddess]

What a bunch of liars!  We're the BEST in the OECD!

Our Liberal government has created the most welcoming business environment in the whole world!

Businesses are flocking to Canada!  Our taxes are the lowest and the regulations are simple and easy!

All hail the Liberal government!

[I am Groot]

On 4/16/2026 at 4:45 PM, TreeBeard said:

Every article based on any objective measures will point to American trade policy/tariffs being the main reason for the downturn in Canada’s economy. 

Bullshit. Stop feeding off the government paid media. Canada's economic downturn has been underway long before Trump became president. Our productivity lag, our steady fall in GDP per person, our steadily worsening government budget overruns have all been the product of homegrown policies. Not all those policies came from Trudeau. Some predated him, going all the way back to the 1980s. 

Every chart you look at shows our deterioration starting well before Trump was president even the first time. It greatly accelerated starting in 2015 due to the proliferation of industry killing policies by the Liberal government.

On 4/16/2026 at 4:45 PM, TreeBeard said:

To claim otherwise is delusional.  As if we can tweak some red tape and Canada will be back on the economic track that it had been.   Pure rightwing fantasy.

Tweak? No. I'm thinking more like taking a chainsaw to the regulations. We also need a big change in policies that are built around the government solving every problem in life. Government has to be hugely downsized, and not just at the federal level. We added a MILLION new public sector workers in the last decade! All of them feeding off taxes. Nearly half of ecverything a middle class person makes no goes to government. That has to be cut. We need to complely end the acceptance of refugees, who are, overall, a massive cost to government budgets,  nearly completely halt immigration, and completely halt, except for agriculture, foreign workers. We also need to stop allowing foreign students to work here or bring their families over.

 

[I am Groot]

[I am Groot]

[I am Groot]

Edited April 18 by I am Groot

[Goddess]

25 minutes ago, I am Groot said:

Government has to be hugely downsized, and not just at the federal level. We added a MILLION new public sector workers in the last decade! All of them feeding off taxes.

Liberals believe the biggest industry in Canada should be "government workers."

You can tell that's what they believe because that's the policies they have implemented.

[I am Groot]

Why do I bring immigration into this? Because as we have expanded the number of immigrants we have lowered the quality. Immigrant economic outcomes have been steadily detiorating. They were deteriorating even in 2016, but have gotten much worse now. Refugees are even worse. Again, Canada prefers not to give us much information on this, but the people we're taking in aren't any different than what Europeans are taking in.

 

[suds]

On 4/16/2026 at 4:45 PM, TreeBeard said:

Every article based on any objective measures will point to American trade policy/tariffs being the main reason for the downturn in Canada’s economy. 
 

It’s going to be painful for years to come.  
 

To claim otherwise is delusional.  As if we can tweak some red tape and Canada will be back on the economic track that it had been.   Pure rightwing fantasy.

 

Here's a link for an investment report by the Royal Bank of Canada. Trudeau's term in office resulted in a record of $1 T of investment money fleeing the country. It did turn around somewhat in 2025  so you can't blame everything on Trump's tariffs. It was absolutely on Trudeau's anti business policies. But, according to the RBC, all is not lost if we begin doing things in the right way and encourage investment money to stay and increase economic growth. Such as,  in order of priority..... 1) big investments in oil pipelines and LNG terminals  2) new electric power generation in the form of nuclear, hydro electric, renewables, and grid modernization  3) increased agriculture and food processing   4) mining of metals and minerals required to build new energy infrastructure and off of fossil fuels  5) defence spending to broaden arctic surveillance and space based defence systems  6) space and satellite communications.

The cost they estimate would be around $1.8 T over the next 10 years and would propel Canada into becoming the G7's growth leader. A lot of this stuff has been repeated time after time, and if we keep on repeating it, it might start to sink in. Carney does seem to have big plans, let's see if he's able to carry them out.

Very important ....... no mention of blowing untold billions on freaking high speed rail  😉

 

https://www.rbc.com/en/thought-leadership/the-growth-project/capital-gains-how-canada-can-unlock-the-1-8-trillion-it-needs-for-growth/

Edited April 19 by suds

[suds]

 

12 hours ago, I am Groot said:

Thanks for the chart on how much investment has plummeted since 2015.  Sure, there was covid, but most of the damage was done between 2015 and 2020.

Edited April 19 by suds

[Army Guy]

Liberals don't like graphs and facts it ruins there talking points, they are always point fingers every where but themselves...they don't like to be shown that they the voters brought this on to every Canadian....we are here today because the liberals voted in m0rons...stand up take a bow....your decision making skills suck...

[eyeball]

55 minutes ago, Army Guy said:

Liberals don't like graphs and facts it ruins there talking points, they are always point fingers every where but themselves...they don't like to be shown that they the voters brought this on to every Canadian....we are here today because the liberals voted in m0rons...stand up take a bow....your decision making skills suck...

As usual with you people you use the words Liberal and liberal so it's hard to know the specific's of your grievance - whether they're ideological or partisan.

Lefty usually works but according to you guys Carney is a lefty and the NDP are Liberals so... you're always kind of all over the map I'm afraid.

 

Edited April 19 by eyeball

[eyeball]

23 hours ago, suds said:

The cost they estimate would be around $1.8 T over the next 10 years and would propel Canada into becoming the G7's growth leader.

In ten years fossil fuels will be getting pushed out of the way by alternatives.

We'll be years late and a trillion short. The time to start making hay from oil and gas was 50 years ago.

We'd probably have a huge sovereign fund for the trillion we need to launch into alternatives and start making hay from them.

[eyeball]

On 4/18/2026 at 6:40 AM, I am Groot said:

Tweak? No. I'm thinking more like taking a chainsaw to the regulations.

No doubt unleashing big corporations would allow them to make trillions. Clear cutting regulations sounds easy but you'd also have to get the RCMP to act against protestors the way ICE does.

Canada just doesn't have the stomach for that.

[I am Groot]

16 hours ago, eyeball said:

No doubt unleashing big corporations would allow them to make trillions. Clear cutting regulations sounds easy but you'd also have to get the RCMP to act against protestors the way ICE does.

Canada just doesn't have the stomach for that.

Do you lefties not recognize that there is a midpoint between a new copper mine taking 18-25 years to work its way through all the studies, regulations, hearings and lawsuits to get permission to start operating, and having ZERO regulations? 

[Army Guy]

18 hours ago, eyeball said:

As usual with you people you use the words Liberal and liberal so it's hard to know the specific's of your grievance - whether they're ideological or partisan.

Lefty usually works but according to you guys Carney is a lefty and the NDP are Liberals so... you're always kind of all over the map I'm afraid.

 

I find it funny that the left can use "you people" when ever they want, and some how it is not racist....Don Cherry....but when the right uses it they are fired from their job....

No liberal means just that, a Liberal, or liberal voter....

Lefty sometime includes all left side of the spectrum, Liberal, NDP, Green party....

But lets be real the NDP and Green party are on the far side of the left spectrum....like on the fringes....I normally refer to them as wackidoodles of the political landscape... 

Edited April 20 by Army Guy

[eyeball]

1 hour ago, Army Guy said:

I find it funny that the left can use "you people" when ever they want, and some how it is not racist....Don Cherry....but when the right uses it they are fired from their job....

Don Cherry aimed his comment at immigrants.

1 hour ago, Army Guy said:

Lefty sometime includes all left side of the spectrum, Liberal, NDP, Green party....

But lets be real the NDP and Green party are on the far side of the left spectrum....like on the fringes....I normally refer to them as wackidoodles of the political landscape... 

They all have their factions I suppose - meanwhile if you people regarded yourselves as a race would you say its at the pinnacle?

 

[suds]

On 4/19/2026 at 8:31 PM, eyeball said:

In ten years fossil fuels will be getting pushed out of the way by alternatives.

We'll be years late and a trillion short. The time to start making hay from oil and gas was 50 years ago.

We'd probably have a huge sovereign fund for the trillion we need to launch into alternatives and start making hay from them.

From the Royal Bank of Canada link on energy growth that I provided above......

'Canada’s oil and gas industry sits at a strategic crossroads. Canadian producers appear poised for growth: the International Energy Agency (IEA) forecasts that under current policy, global oil and natural gas demand will continue to increase through 2050.⁵ The demand for oil is driven in part by growth in developing markets, aviation, and petrochemicals. LNG capacity is surging to unprecedented levels—300 billion cubic metres of new export capacity is scheduled to hit the market by 2030—bolstering global LNG supply by about 50%, some two-thirds of which originate in the U.S. and Qatar.'

*** The IEA (International Energy Agency) are the people who keep an eye on the entire global energy system to ensure it keeps running smoothly. I don't know of anyone else who does that. Where do you get your information from?

[eyeball]

3 hours ago, suds said:

*** The IEA (International Energy Agency) are the people who keep an eye on the entire global energy system to ensure it keeps running smoothly. I don't know of anyone else who does that. Where do you get your information from?

Climate change science when it comes to demand for fossil fuel. Between alternatives and as the writing on the wall becomes clear again it'll drop. 

I get it there's a surge of optimism for the drill baby burn crowd these days following the surge in climate change indifference but it's not going to last.

A bunch of shiny new infrastructure will be for naught.  We'd be so much farther ahead if we invested in alternatives instead.

[suds]

36 minutes ago, eyeball said:

Climate change science when it comes to demand for fossil fuel. Between alternatives and as the writing on the wall becomes clear again it'll drop. 

I get it there's a surge of optimism for the drill baby burn crowd these days following the surge in climate change indifference but it's not going to last.

A bunch of shiny new infrastructure will be for naught.  We'd be so much farther ahead if we invested in alternatives instead.

The 'growth project' put forward by RBC suggests we do both. I get it that you have a problem with oil and gas. I for one, do not have a problem with alternatives such as nuclear, hydro electric, or renewables. We can't just shut off dominant energy sources such as oil and gas until we have the means to replace it. We also have to double our energy capacity by 2050 or our economy and living standards suffer. There are other real important things to consider than just achieving net zero emissions. One can't just concentrate on net zero without looking at the whole picture. And the longer we fuk around with political concerns, the more it's going to cost.

[eyeball]

1 hour ago, suds said:

We can't just shut off dominant energy sources such as oil and gas until we have the means to replace it.

We can certainly wind them down while winding up alternatives.

1 hour ago, suds said:

We also have to double our energy capacity by 2050 or our economy and living standards suffer.

We can meet that by developing alternatives while moving towards a zero-growth economy, starting by reducing our population growth.

1 hour ago, suds said:

There are other real important things to consider than just achieving net zero emissions. One can't just concentrate on net zero without looking at the whole picture.

It's looking at the whole picture that's driving the need to move towards net Zero.

1 hour ago, suds said:

And the longer we fuk around with political concerns, the more it's going to cost.

Yup.

[eyeball]

On 4/20/2026 at 9:58 AM, I am Groot said:

Do you lefties not recognize that there is a midpoint between a new copper mine taking 18-25 years to work its way through all the studies, regulations, hearings and lawsuits to get permission to start operating, and having ZERO regulations? 

Yeah, it would indicate a duly diligent proponent has done their homework and I would expect a corresponding high degree of success.

Remember Poilievre saying lobbyists should take their asks to people directly - that's it's useless to lobby politicians?

[suds]

20 hours ago, eyeball said:

It's looking at the whole picture that's driving the need to move towards net Zero.

Net zero is a big picture but hardly the whole picture. Consider that in the name of climate change and saving the planet, the Liberals made it difficult for big business to operate (with their laws and regulations) and new investment dried up (moving elsewhere) to the tune of $1 Trillion. Our economy took a hit because of it, as well as GDP per capita which is a somewhat fairly accurate indicator of a country's  living standards. Also consider that this country hasn't  had one balanced budget since the Harper years. The Liberals then decide to open the doors to mass immigration to kickstart the economy and raise GDP. So we end up with inflation, housing shortages, doctor shortages, and a hell of a lot of added debt. We should all realize by now, that poor government policy (even though made with the best of intentions) can lead to very serious social and economical consequences. A country becomes wealthy and has high living standards by exporting its products and resources to other countries. If we're going to accomplish net zero by 2050 or anywhere near to it, we're going to require a well run economy. And that should be rule #1. So what's your plan, or the Liberal's plan, besides shutting anything down associated with oil or gas? Please, somebody have a plan before we totally destroy this country.