In an era of global trade and economic uncertainty, 90 per cent of Canadian business leaders want the government to act quickly to address productivity concerns, a new KPMG survey says.

Governments “must act with urgency to ensure Canada remains competitive and prosperous,” the survey of 250 leaders from medium and large-sized businesses says.

Monika Manza, Canadian Managing Partner, Advisory Services for KPMG in Canada, says: “Businesses need certainty. They are counting on government to take immediate and decisive actions.”

Some of these actions include:

Removing interprovincial trade barriers and harmonize regulations and credentials (64 per cent)
Undertaking a comprehensive tax review to improve competitiveness (58 per cent) and
Streamlining processes and expedite resource and major infrastructure projects (56 per cent)

In fact, 82 per cent of Canadian business leaders said removing interprovincial trade barriers would boost their company’s productivity.

Productivity requires leadership “to break down artificial barriers to domestic trade,” Manza says. “Business leaders want governments to reestablish Canadian tax competitiveness, making the country an attractive place to invest and allow them better access to capital so they can expand and continue to fund technology investments. And they want quick action to get the country building major projects that will take advantage of Canada’s abundance of valuable natural resources.”

The survey found addressing barriers to investment in innovation was a prime concern for respondents — 92 per cent said “a more resilient, prosperous economy” required increased private investments in technology, and 88 per cent said companies’ should undertake bolder technology adoption efforts. However, 59 per cent of respondents said they could not afford such investments in the current economic climate.

“These results reflect a more ambitious mindset within Canadian business, but they also acutely underscore the difficulties our economy faces right now,” said Benjie Thomas, chief executive officer and senior partner at KPMG Canada.

At a time when Canada needs business to “fire on all cylinders and maximize productivity,” Manza says, more than half of companies have eliminated profit and sales outlooks and 66 per cent of respondents are experiencing increased difficulty in planning for long-term investments.

"Canadian firms are at a critical junction in their efforts to modernize and boost productivity,” Thomas says.

Seventy-five per cent of respondents say digitization efforts yielded expected returns and benefits, while another three-quarters found investments in AI have boosted their productivity by 10 per cent or more.

“There is a big risk that these investments will be stranded if companies don’t have the capital to continue to invest,” Thomas says. “Tech investment requires a strong bottom line and nine in 10 business leaders say it is essential that governments ‘act with urgency’ and not fall ‘prey to complacency’ in driving tax reform, eliminating interprovincial trade barriers, improving access to capital, and building infrastructure that unites us and opens new markets.”