Chart of the Week: Needing a lift - GDP per capita by province  

Improving the economy is a critical national issue. To see why, our Chart of the Week shows output per person has been stagnant in Canada over the last decade, and the weakness is broad based across provinces. This makes the productivity emergency discussed well before Trump 2.0 something that should concern all Canadians. Somewhat lost in the trade war noise, the fundamental issue for the Canadian economy has not changed - the need to restore labour productivity and with it gains in per person incomes.

In terms of levels, Alberta is still at the top, though the gap with other provinces has shrunk since the 2015-16 recession. Saskatchewan, another major resource producer, ranks second on this metric. Quebec, Manitoba, and the Atlantic provinces rank below the national average.

With population growth slowing to a crawl, and the Canadian economy expected to grow 1.7% this year, we expect to see improvement in this metric in 2026. But there is a long way to go to close the widening gap against the U.S.