Former finance minister Morneau 'worried' over Canada's economic trajectory
In his first speech since leaving federal politics, former finance minister Bill Morneau painted a blunt picture of his time on Parliament Hill and voiced concern with Canada's economic trajectory.
Morneau, who held the post from 2015 to 2020, said he was and still is deeply concerned that Ottawa is spending more time finding ways to redistribute wealth across the country than focusing on the importance of enhancing collective prosperity.
鈥淚 can tell you that there's no real sense of urgency in Ottawa, about our lack of competitiveness. It's like we're the proverbial frog in the pot and not realizing what's happening to us as the heat gradually increases,鈥 he told the C.D. Howe Institute on Wednesday evening.
鈥淭his is our fundamental problem. Nothing else is solvable if we don't put this one first.鈥
The former executive chairman and CEO of Morneau Shepell 鈥 now Lifeworks 鈥 adds that he鈥檚 鈥渕uch more worried鈥 about Canada鈥檚 economic prospect of today than he was seven years ago.
鈥淪imply put, we're living off our past success, and it goes back a long way,鈥 he said.
Morneau pointed to a study from the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) detailing Canada鈥檚 decline in gross domestic product growth since 1982 and another that painted a bleak picture of the country鈥檚 economic outlook over the next 40 years when compared to other countries.
鈥淭he contrast in potential is startling. Australia and the U.S., they're expected to rise by about 45 per cent, Denmark and Japan, about 50 per cent, Hungary 60 per cent. The country with the lowest projected GDP increase over the same period, Canada. And it鈥檚 not even close, our real GDP is projected to grow by only about 30 per cent,鈥 he said.
He cited an 鈥渁nemic level鈥 of capital investment as a primary source of the problem, attributable to poor collaboration between government and the business sector.
Morneau never made explicit reference to his successor Chrystia Freeland or his former boss, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, but did spend time offering advice to current and future leaders.
That included suggestions on staffing decisions, and ensuring that 鈥渋mportant relationships鈥 get the time and attention they deserve with specific reference to needed collaboration with provincial and territorial premiers; a call to make the U.S. a central focus as it relates to trade and economic prosperity; a pitch to de-politicize big policy moves; and a demand to get serious about Canada鈥檚 energy transition.
Poilievre has made attacking the Bank of Canada a key pillar of his campaign to date, questioning its independence, vowing to have it audited, and committing to bar it from using its own digital currency.
鈥淲e鈥檙e in a country with political institutions that are in many cases, the envy of the world. Yet there are politicians, who absolutely do know better, who are not only taking those institutions for granted, they鈥檙e willing to actively undermine them if it gives them the slightest political advantage,鈥 Morneau said.
鈥淭hat might help you sell a few more memberships, it might even help you win an election. But when you put exciting the base ahead of crafting good policy, when you cynically pander to conspiracy theorists, you鈥檙e doing incalculable harm to the country you claim to love.鈥
Morneau called on all parties to publicly condemn this kind of behavior.
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