The list of projects being considered for fast tracking by Prime Minister Mark Carney’s much-touted Major Projects Office aren’t all bad, as such.
Should Canada mine and process the critical minerals needed for modern high-tech industries? Yes.
Can we build new hydroelectric, nuclear, and wind-power plants to power industry and growing household demand for power? Certainly, especially where we can displace fossil fuels.
Do we need new port facilities to expand our access to markets outside of North America? Undoubtedly, especially given the chaotic state of trade with the United States right now.
But the list of projects so far reveals a limited view of what Canada has to offer the world, and its own citizens, when it comes to jobs and industry.
They suggest that Canada’s future is the same as its past – that we are to be a nation whose main export is raw materials and agricultural products drawn from our vast landscape. We are still to be the “hewers of wood and drawers of water” that we have been since Canada was founded.
There’s no shame in an economy founded on natural resources, but such an economy is exposed to severe booms and busts. If the world economy is riding high, Canada can provide oil and gas, rare earths, copper, and nickel, grains, legumes and beef, fish and timber. But when the world economy contracts, resource-based economies take a beating.
We’ve seen this many times in Canada. Ask any Albertan who’s worked in the oil patch for 20 years or more. Ask any British Columbian who has worked in mining, forestry, or fishing.
There are some hopeful signs in the just-passed federal budget that this isn’t the current government’s entire plan for Canada’s economic future.
One of the best ideas is the $1.7 billion allocated to recruit more scientists, researchers, and doctoral students to Canada. Eliminating years of brain drain is one of the best ways possible of boosting our long-term competitiveness.
On the other hand, that’s in direct conflict with massive cuts to the overall foreign student enrolment. Is it better to have quality over quantity? We’re about to find out.
Canada does have industries that don’t rely on natural resources. We’re a powerhouse in film and television production, video game development, we have a decent software sector, and we’ve made inroads with robotics and our nascent nuclear industry. We still have, despite the battering it’s taken in recent years, a vital cultural sector.
The Carney government seems to be hedging its bets right now. In the near future, we mine and drill and ship it offshore. In the future, maybe, we innovate.
Hopefully, the next round of major projects will consider the Canada we could be, not just the one we have been.