Time to complete the national dream of one Canadian economy
‘ Canada has arrived at one of those rare historical watersheds where there is broad political consensus on how to meet our continental and global economic challenges,’ write Jacquie LaRocque and Ken Polk.
Lisa Raitt, Scott Brison and Frank McKenna sit in their Bay Street investment banker offices, and they have rural Canada on their minds. We’d say “finally,” but these three grew up in those communities. To many, though, especially those living in urban centres, we are entering a new era. Lisa, Scott and Frank know that to build and do big things, and to get to “one Canadian economy,” it will be rural communities — their way of life, their people and their riches — that transform a slogan into a reality for every single Canadian.
If we were to bet, the former bankers inside the government know this too.
The rural economy and the way of life that drives it must not only thrive but also be central to every decision Ottawa makes. From business taxes collected because of entrepreneurs, to health care. From procurement of digital services to moving Canadian goods from point A to B in volumes that the world needs and that we have, and doing so on time (or better). From agile regulations that get things done and reward risk-taking rather than hindering it to physical and human infrastructure that supports exports. It all starts in rural Canada.
Canada Day 2025 comes in the wake of the passage of the Building Canada Act in the Canadian Parliament. It hammers in a plank of the Liberals’ Canada Strong platform, which was premised during the campaign on the paramount need to build Canadian economic resilience at a time when our economic and security relationships are fracturing under varying and disruptive pressures.
If it works as Prime Minister Mark Carney is betting it will (and over 70 per cent of Canadians are hoping it will, according to a recent Angus Reid poll), this should help set better rules so the government can invest wisely. It will encourage businesses to put in more money too, helping build important roads, railways and trade routes that grow our economy and connect the country and us to the world.
“As we move into this next phase of Canadian nation-building with a focus on ending our economic overdependence on the U.S., Ottawa, together with the provinces and territories, must not only transform our economy but also widen its focus beyond where it gets elected. It will require that an explicit rural lens be applied to all cabinet and departmental decisions. That means proactively benchmarking all government decision-making against how they meet rural needs, address rural challenges and create rural opportunity.”
What rural Canadians — and by extension all of us — are looking for as these projects move ahead is evidence, at long last, that federal government, in its full institutional strength, truly understands the as yet unrealized potential rural Canada holds. It’s essential that the Prime Minister and the government, from top to bottom, treat rural Canadians as vital partners in building one Canadian economy.
To achieve one Canadian economy, Liberals must think beyond where they elect MPs
Rural Canadians are the unsung heroes of Canada’s extraordinary success story. Rural Canada already accounts for 30 per cent of our national output. Additionally, we depend on exports from rural Canada to fuel our growth — Canada’s natural resource exports were valued at $422 billion in 2022, comprising 58 per cent of the value of Canada's total merchandise exports.
Everything from the critical minerals that will power electric vehicles and clean energy and cell phones; to the sheer open spaces needed to accommodate the spine of our national wireless digital networks to solar and wind energy; from the potash that helps the world grow more food, including what our Canadian farmers export globally, the lumber that will build the homes we need to end the housing crisis, to the oil, gas and electricity that will drive high powered new AI data centres — all of this comes from rural Canada. Let’s not forget the agricultural and financial and other cooperatives that are the heart of their communities, or the tech companies that power virtual healthcare and more in remote areas. They also start in rural Canada.
This has been all too easily forgotten over time as Canada has rapidly urbanized, and governments, especially Liberal ones, have increasingly won elections based on urban and suburban votes with an implicit urban/suburban lens on budgetary and policy making.
As we move into this next phase of Canadian nation-building with a focus on ending our economic overdependence on the U.S., Ottawa, together with the provinces and territories, must not only transform our economy but also widen its focus beyond where it gets elected. It will require that an explicit rural lens be applied to all cabinet and departmental decisions. That means proactively benchmarking all government decision-making against how they meet rural needs, address rural challenges and create rural opportunity.
It means breaking down barriers to growing our economy without compromising the goals of sustainability and Indigenous reconciliation. It means a serious effort to reduce the red tape, overzealous regulation, interminable licensing and other hurdles that repeatedly get in the way. And it will mean fortifying, hardening and even future-proofing our supply chains and human and physical export infrastructure. The tone set by the Prime Minister and the Premiers, like Doug Ford, tells us we can and we will.
Let us all resolve to fulfill our national dream
Canada has arrived at one of those rare historical watersheds where there is broad political consensus on how to meet our continental and global economic challenges. There is tentative hope in rural Canada that the Carney government is adopting the driving aspiration that has been dear to the hearts of rural Canadians since Confederation. For them, “one Canadian economy” has always been the dream. For generations, they have understood that there can only be one Canadian economy, not separate rural and urban ones. And for sure, across generations, they’ve helped shape outcomes meant to serve all Canadians. They will judge the Prime Minister by the extent to which he delivers a “Canada Strong” that is, at heart, “Rural Strong,” not as a slogan, but as an imperative.
This Canada Day, these Bay Street bankers know that two critical constituents are watching: those “back home” living in rural Canada, and the world. They need to see evidence that we’re really serious about achieving our full national economic promise, and that as a country, we can do anything if we would just get out of our own way.
But they won't wait long.
Happy Canada Day. We have so many opportunities ahead of us.
