Chart of the Week:  We have an investment problem 

You often hear that Canada’s GDP per capita has stagnated, and the U.S. is pulling even further ahead. That’s true, but it misses an even more important point.

Looking under the GDP hood, we should be concerned with what’s been driving Canada’s paltry GDP growth over the last decade. It’s mostly consumption and government spending. That’s not sustainable. The Canadian economy desperately needs investment and the exports that stem from building more productive capacity. As our Chart of the Week shows, investment per person has not grown at all over the last two decades. Neither have exports.

I have found that discussion of Canada’s languishing GDP per capita often turns into a discussion about the measure itself. Critics argue it’s an incomplete gauge of living standards and well-being. Those are valid concerns (though I would argue that the measure still has value). 

So what if we talked less about GDP per capita and more about investment - a primary source of weakness?

People can debate GDP per capita as a measure, but it’s much harder to argue that we shouldn’t be concerned about the decline in investment in Canada. That’s the topic of my latest article, co-authored with energy expert Peter Tertzakian at Studio.Energy.