At The Logic’s event in Calgary Tuesday morning, businesspeople, energy executives and First Nations leaders gathered to discuss how the country might better exploit its natural resources industry to build a more productive economy. Conversation at the roundtable event—called Resilient Canada, a nod to The Logic’s ongoing productivity series—ranged from urging the federal government to rewrite its review process for major projects to warning about the rise of Western alienation and how it could crimp investment. (The Logic)
Talking point: U.S. trade threats have amplified Canada’s productivity woes, attendees said, placing new urgency on what they see as the need to unleash the country’s long-restrained energy sector. Canada’s response will need to be economy-wide, however, extending beyond natural resources to tap new sources of revenue. Event attendee Charles St-Arnaud, chief economist at Alberta Central, said his back-of-the-napkin math suggests Canada will need to secure a whopping $6 trillion in new investment over the next decade to climb out of its productivity rut. “We’re at a point where we don’t have a choice,” he said.