Finance minister misleading Canadians about economic growth

From the Fraser Institute

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland recently said Canada will have “the strongest economic growth in the G7.” But is that true? And are Canadians better off because of it?

The Trudeau government regularly uses comparisons among G7 countries (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States) to gauge Canada’s economic performance. And when comparing economic growth in the aggregate (meaning overall growth, as measured by GDP), Minister Freeland is correct that Canada’s economy performs well compared to the rest of the G7.

Specifically, from 2000 to 2023, Canada’s average GDP growth (adjusted for inflation) was second-highest in the G7 at 1.8 per cent annually (only behind the U.S.). And in a recent report, the International Monetary Fund projected that Canada’s overall GDP growth will be second-highest in 2024, and lead the G7 in 2025.

But there’s a serious problem with these measures—they fail to account for population growth rates in each country and therefore don’t measure whether or not individuals are actually better off.

Simply put, economies grow when there are more people producing goods and services (i.e. the population grows) or when people are able to produce more per hour worked (i.e. productivity increases). In recent years, the Canadian economy has grown almost exclusively due to population growth, which has grown at historic rates due to record levels of immigration, while productivity has declined to the point it’s now considered an emergency.

In fact, from 2000 to 2023, Canada led the G7 in average annual population growth, which has served to inflate the country’s rate of aggregate GDP growth.

So, to more accurately measure Canada’s economic performance relative to other countries, economists use GDP per person, which accounts for differing population growth rates. This measure is a much better indicator of individual incomes and living standards.

On this measure, Canada is an economic laggard. Canada’s average annual growth rate in GDP per person (inflation-adjusted) from 2000 to 2023 was 0.7 per cent—tied for second-last in the G7, above only Italy (0.1 per cent).

If you include a broader subset of advanced economies, and focus on the Trudeau government’s tenure, the picture is even worse. From 2014 to 2022 (the latest year of available data), Canada was tied for the third-lowest average annual growth rate in inflation-adjusted GDP per person out of 30 countries in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Canada’s average growth rate during that period (0.6 per cent) was only ahead of Luxembourg (0.5 per cent) and Mexico (0.4 per cent).

Looking ahead, Canada’s long-term economic prospects are similarly dismal. According to the OECD, Canada is expected to see the lowest average annual growth rate in GDP per person in the OECD, from 2020 to 2030 and 2030 to 2060.

When Minister Freeland boasts about aggregate GDP numbers—while ignoring how historic levels of population growth fuelled by record-high immigration inflate the numbers—she’s misleading Canadians. In reality, Canadian living standards are falling behind the rest of the developed world, and are expected to fall further behind in years to come.

Authors:

Jake Fuss

Director, Fiscal Studies, Fraser Institute

Grady Munro

Policy Analyst, Fraser Institute

Related Topics:#CanadaEconomy #CanadaGDP #CanadaProductivity #FraserInstitute #GradyMunro #JakeFuss CanadaEconomicGrowth

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Canada Caves: Carney ditches digital services tax after criticism from Trump

Published on June 30, 2025

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From The Center Square

By Brett Rowland

Canada caved to President Donald Trump demands by pulling its digital services tax hours before it was to go into effect on Monday.

Trump said Friday that he was ending all trade talks with Canada over the digital services tax, which he called a direct attack on the U.S. and American tech firms. The DST required foreign and domestic businesses to pay taxes on some revenue earned from engaging with online users in Canada.

“Based on this egregious Tax, we are hereby terminating ALL discussions on Trade with Canada, effective immediately,” the president said. “We will let Canada know the Tariff that they will be paying to do business with the United States of America within the next seven day period.”

By Sunday, Canada relented in an effort to resume trade talks with the U.S., it’s largest trading partner.

“To support those negotiations, the Minister of Finance and National Revenue, the Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, announced today that Canada would rescind the Digital Services Tax (DST) in anticipation of a mutually beneficial comprehensive trade arrangement with the United States,” according to a statement from Canada’s Department of Finance.

Canada’s Department of Finance said that Prime Minister Mark Carney and Trump agreed to resume negotiations, aiming to reach a deal by July 21.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Monday that the digital services tax would hurt the U.S.

“Thank you Canada for removing your Digital Services Tax which was intended to stifle American innovation and would have been a deal breaker for any trade deal with America,” he wrote on X.

Earlier this month, the two nations seemed close to striking a deal.

Trump said he and Carney had different concepts for trade between the two neighboring countries during a meeting at the G7 Summit in Kananaskis, in the Canadian Rockies.

Asked what was holding up a trade deal between the two nations at that time, Trump said they had different concepts for what that would look like.

“It’s not so much holding up, I think we have different concepts, I have a tariff concept, Mark has a different concept, which is something that some people like, but we’re going to see if we can get to the bottom of it today.”

Shortly after taking office in January, Trump hit Canada and Mexico with 25% tariffs for allowing fentanyl and migrants to cross their borders into the U.S. Trump later applied those 25% tariffs only to goods that fall outside the free-trade agreement between the three nations, called the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.

Trump put a 10% tariff on non-USMCA compliant potash and energy products. A 50% tariff on aluminum and steel imports from all countries into the U.S. has been in effect since June 4. Trump also put a 25% tariff on all cars and trucks not built in the U.S.

Economists, businesses and some publicly traded companies have warned that tariffs could raise prices on a wide range of consumer products.

Trump has said he wants to use tariffs to restore manufacturing jobs lost to lower-wage countries in decades past, shift the tax burden away from U.S. families, and pay down the national debt.

A tariff is a tax on imported goods paid by the person or company that imports them. The importer can absorb the cost of the tariffs or try to pass the cost on to consumers through higher prices.

Trump’s tariffs give U.S.-produced goods a price advantage over imported goods, generating revenue for the federal government.

Brett Rowland

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Canadian Oil Sands Production Expected to Reach All-time Highs this Year Despite Lower Oil Prices

Published on June 30, 2025

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From Energy Now

S&P Global Commodity Insights has raised its 10-year production outlook for the Canadian oil sands. The latest forecast expects oil sands production to reach a record annual average production of 3.5 million b/d in 2025 (5% higher than 2024) and exceed 3.9 million b/d by 2030—half a million barrels per day higher than 2024. The 2030 projection is 100,000 barrels per day (or nearly 3%) higher than the previous outlook.

The new forecast, produced by the S&P Global Commodity Insights Oil Sands Dialogue, is the fourth consecutive upward revision to the annual outlook. Despite a lower oil price environment, the analysis attributes the increased projection to favorable economics, as producers continue to focus on maximizing existing assets through investments in optimization and efficiency.

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While large up-front, out-of-pocket expenditures over multiple years are required to bring online new oil sands projects, once completed, projects enjoy relatively low breakeven prices.

S&P Global Commodity Insights estimates that the 2025 half-cycle break-even for oil sands production ranged from US$18/b to US$45/b, on a WTI basis, with the overall average break-even being approximately US$27/b.*

“The increased trajectory for Canadian oil sands production growth amidst a period of oil price volatility reflects producers’ continued emphasis on optimization—and the favorable economics that underpin such operations,” said Kevin Birn, Chief Canadian Oil Analyst, S&P Global Commodity Insights. “More than 3.8 million barrels per day of existing installed capacity was brought online from 2001 and 2017. This large resource base provides ample room for producers to find debottlenecking opportunities, decrease downtime and increase throughput.”

The potential for additional upside exists given the nature of optimization projects, which often result from learning by doing or emerge organically, the analysis says.

“Many companies are likely to proceed with optimizations even in more challenging price environments because they often contribute to efficiency gains,” said Celina Hwang, Director, Crude Oil Markets, S&P Global Commodity Insights. “This dynamic adds to the resiliency of oil sands production and its ability to grow through periods of price volatility.”

The outlook continues to expect oil sands production to enter a plateau later this decade. However, this is also expected to occur at a higher level of production than previously estimated. The new forecast expects oil sands production to be 3.7 million b/d in 2035—100,000 b/d higher than the previous outlook.

Export capacity—already a concern in recent years—is a source of downside risk now that even more production growth is expected. Without further incremental pipeline capacity, export constraints have the potential to re-emerge as early as next year, the analysis says.

“While a lower price path in 2025 and the potential for pipeline export constraints are downside risks to this outlook, the oil sands have proven able to withstand extreme price volatility in the past,” said Hwang. “The low break-even costs for existing projects and producers’ ability to manage challenging situations in the past support the resilience of this outlook.”

* Half-cycle breakeven cost includes operating cost, the cost to purchase diluent (if needed), as well as an adjustment to enable a comparison to WTI—specifically, the cost of transport to Cushing, OK and quality differential between heavy and light oil.

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SOURCE S&P Global Commodity Insights