By Canadian Press

Feds, provinces must work together to tackle productivity crisis: Premier Smith

Oct 16, 2024 | 1:32 PM

Canada’s economic productivity crisis can only be solved if the federal and provincial governments come together to address issues like major project approvals and inter-provincial trade barriers, Alberta’s premier said Wednesday.

Danielle Smith made the remarks in Calgary at a national conference on productivity, a term which describes how much an economy produces per hour worked.

Canada’s lagging productivity record has been in the spotlight in recent months. Earlier this year, senior deputy Bank of Canada governor Carolyn Rogers called it an “emergency,” saying that in 2022, Canadian productivity was 71 per cent of that of the U.S. and that Canada lags behind its G7 peers.

Alberta has the highest economic productivity of all the provinces, thanks to its oil and gas sector which — along with utilities and mining — has among the highest productivity level of any industry.

But the productivity of the oil and gas sector has declined by an average of 0.5 per cent annually since 2019, according to a recent report by TD Economics.

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Smith said the sector, like others in Canada, has suffered from too many regulatory roadblocks and onerous red tape, as well as too many barriers to the free movement of goods and services between jurisdictions.