Business
Federal government seems committed to killing investment in Canada
From the Fraser Institute
Business investment in the extraction sector (again, excluding residential structures and adjusted for inflation) has declined from $101.9 billion to $49.7 billion, a reduction of 51.2 per cent
Canada has a business investment problem, and it’s serious. Total business investment (inflation-adjusted, excluding residential construction) declined by 7.3 per cent between 2014 and 2022. The decline in business investment in the extractive sector (mining, quarrying, oil and gas) is even more pronounced.
During that period, business investment in the extraction sector (again, excluding residential structures and adjusted for inflation) has declined from $101.9 billion to $49.7 billion, a reduction of 51.2 per cent. In fact, from 2014 to 2022, declines in the extraction sector are larger than the total decline in overall non-residential business investment.
That’s very bad. Now why is this happening?
One factor is the heavy regulatory burden imposed on Canadian business, particularly in the extraction sector. How do we know that proliferating regulations, and concerns over regulatory uncertainty, deter investment in the mining, quarrying and oil and gas sectors? Because senior executives in these industries tell us virtually every year in a survey, which helps us understand the investment attractiveness of jurisdictions across Canada.
And Canada has seen an onslaught of investment-repelling regulations over the past decade, particularly in the oil and gas sector. For example, the Trudeau government in 2019 gave us Bill C-69, also known as the “no new pipelines” bill, which amended and introduced federal acts to overhaul the governmental review process for approving major infrastructure projects. The changes were heavily criticized for prolonging the already lengthy approval process, increasing uncertainty, and further politicizing the process.
In 2019, Ottawa also gave us Bill C-48, the “no tankers” bill, which changed regulations for vessels transporting oil to and from ports on British Columbia’s northern coast, effectively banning such shipments and thus limiting the ability of Canadian firms to export. More recently, the government has introduced a hard cap on greenhouse gas emissions coming from the oil and gas sector, and new fuel regulations that will drive up fuel costs.
And last year, with limited consultation with industry or the provinces, the Trudeau government announced major new regulations for methane emissions in the oil and gas sector, which will almost inevitably raise costs and curtail production.
Clearly, Canada badly needs regulatory reform to stem the flood of ever more onerous new regulations on our businesses, to trim back gratuitous regulations from previous generations of regulators, and lower the regulatory burden that has Canada’s economy labouring.
One approach to regulatory reform could be to impose “regulatory cap and trade” on regulators. This approach would establish a declining cap on the number of regulations that government can promulgate each year, with a requirement that new regulations be “traded” for existing regulations that impose similar economic burdens on the regulated community. Regulatory cap-and-trade of this sort showed success at paring regulations in a 2001 regulatory reform effort in B.C.
The urgency of regulatory reform in Canada can only be heightened by the recent United States Supreme Court decision to overturn what was called “Chevron Deference,” which gave regulators powers to regulate well beyond the express intent of Congressional legislation. Removing Chevron Deterrence will likely send a lot of U.S. regulations back to the drawing board, as lawsuits pour in challenging their legitimacy. This will impose regulatory reform in and of itself, and will likely make the U.S. regulatory system even more competitive than Canada.
If policymakers want to make Canada more competitive and unshackle our economy, they must cut the red tape, and quickly.
Author:
From the Daily Caller News Foundation
By Thomas English
President Donald Trump’s Monday executive order establishing the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) presents a more modest scope for the initiative, focusing primarily on “modernizing federal technology and software.”
The executive order refashions the Obama-era United States Digital Service (USDS) into the United States DOGE Service. Then-President Barack Obama created USDS in 2014 to enhance the reliability and usability of online federal services after the disastrous rollout of HealthCare.gov, an insurance exchange website created through the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Trump’s USDS will now prioritize “modernizing federal technology and software to maximize efficiency and productivity” under the order, which makes no mention of slashing the federal budget, workforce or regulations — DOGE’s originally advertised purpose.
“I am pleased to announce that the Great Elon Musk, working in conjunction with American Patriot Vivek Ramaswamy, will lead the Department of Government Efficiency (‘DOGE’),” Trump said in his official announcement of the initiative in November. “Together, these two wonderful Americans will pave the way for my Administration to dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess government regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies.”
The order’s focus on streamlining federal technology and software stands in contrast to some of DOGE’s previously more expansive aims, including Elon Musk’s claim that “we can [cut the federal budget] by at least $2 trillion” at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally in November. Musk now leads DOGE alone after Vivek Ramaswamy stepped down from the initiative Monday, apparently eying a 2026 gubernatorial run in Ohio.
The order says it serves to “advance the President’s 18-month DOGE agenda,” but omits many of the budget-cutting and workforce-slashing proposals during Trump’s campaign. Rather, the order positions DOGE as a technology modernization entity rather than an organization with direct authority to enact sweeping fiscal reforms. There is no mention, for instance, of trillions in budget cuts or a significant reduction in the federal workforce, though the president did separately enact a hiring freeze throughout the executive branch Monday.
“I can’t help but think that there’s more coming, that maybe more responsibilities will be added to it,” Susan Dudley, a public policy professor at George Washington University, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. Dudley, who was also the top regulatory official in former President George W. Bush’s administration, said the structure of the new USDS could impact the recent lawsuits against the DOGE effort.
“I think it maybe moots the lawsuit that’s been brought for it not being FACA,” Dudley said. “So if this is how it’s organized — that it’s people in the government who bring in these special government employees on a temporary basis, that might mean that the lawsuit doesn’t really have any ground.”
Three organizations — the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), National Security Counselors (NSC) and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) — separately filed lawsuits against DOGE within minutes of Trump signing the executive order. The suits primarily challenge DOGE’s compliance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), alleging the department operates without the required transparency, balanced representation and public accountability.
The order also emphasizes not “be construed to impair or otherwise affect … the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.”
“And the only mention of OMB [Office of Management and Budget] is some kind of boilerplate at the end — that it doesn’t affect that. But that’s kind of general stuff you often see in executive orders,” Dudley continued, adding she doesn’t “have an inside track” on whether further DOGE-related executive orders will follow.
“It’s certainly, certainly more modest than I think Musk was anticipating,” Dudley said.
Trump’s order also establishes “DOGE Teams” consisting of at least four employees: a team lead, a human resources specialist, an engineer and an attorney. Each team will be assigned an executive agency with which it will implement the president’s “DOGE agenda.”
It remains unclear whether Monday’s executive order comprehensively defines DOGE, or if additional orders will be forthcoming to broaden its mandate.
From Conservative Party Communications
The Hon. Pierre Poilievre, Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada and the Official Opposition, released the following statement on the threat of tariffs from the US:
“Canada is facing a critical challenge. On February 1st we are facing the risk of unjustified 25% tariffs by our largest trading partner that would have damaging consequences across our country. Our American counterparts say they want to stop the illegal flow of drugs and other criminal activity at our border. The Liberal government admits their weak border is a problem. That is why they announced a multibillion-dollar border plan—a plan they cannot fund because they shut down Parliament, preventing MPs and Senators from authorizing the funds.
“We also need retaliatory tariffs, something that requires urgent Parliamentary consideration.
“Yet, Liberals have shut Parliament in the middle of this crisis. Canada has never been so weak, and things have never been so out of control. Liberals are putting themselves and their leadership politics ahead of the country. Freeland and Carney are fighting for power rather than fighting for Canada.
“Common Sense Conservatives are calling for Trudeau to reopen Parliament now to pass new border controls, agree on trade retaliation and prepare a plan to rescue Canada’s weak economy.
“The Prime Minister has the power to ask the Governor General to cut short prorogation and get our Parliament working.
“Open Parliament. Take back control. Put Canada First.”
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