… But our greatest challenge is at home. One of the world’s most over-governed nations, Canada is on the verge of earning new stripes for ineffective governance. Many Canadians found a safe financial haven with CERB and other support payments during the early years of the pandemic. But the federal government workforce’s almost unchecked expansion has not been matched by higher quality services or improved attention to citizen’s needs.
Government application and reporting systems have turned into expensive slogs, while reporting on outcomes has declined dramatically. Approval processes for mines and major infrastructure projects deter all but the most determined companies. The country is an outlier on oil and gas production; African nations are urging major investments, while Canada does its best to keep this energy in the ground, at great cost to its treasuries.
