Canada had the third-lowest growth in GDP per person from 2014 to 2022 among 30 advanced economies, finds a new study published by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan Canadian public policy think-tank. Alex Whalen, director of the Fraser Institute’s Atlantic Canada Prosperity Initiative co-authored the study We’re Getting Poorer: GDP per Capita in Canada and the OECD, 2002–2060.“In terms of GDP per person, a broad measure of living standards, Canada’s performance has weakened substantially in recent years,” said Whalen.The study examines Canada’s historic and projected GDP per capita growth compared to similar OECD countries, It finds that from 2002 to 2014, Canadian income growth as measured by GDP per person roughly kept pace with the rest of the OECD, but from 2014 to 2022 Canada’s growth rate stagnated.In 2002, Canada’s GDP per capita was higher than the OECD average by US$3,141. By 2022, it had fallen well below the OECD average by US$231.Canada lost ground compared to key allies and trading partners such as the United States, United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Australia between 2014 and 2022.For example, Canadian GDP per person in 2014 was $44,710 (80.4% of the US total of $55,605) but by 2022, Canada was only at $46,035 versus $63,685 in the US. In other words, the gap had grown from $10,895 to $17,649 by 2022 (all measures in inflation-adjusted US dollars). Lawrence Schembri, a senior fellow with the Fraser Institute and co-author said Canada is falling behind on numerous fronts.“Canada has been experiencing a collapse in investment, low productivity growth, and a large and growing government sector, all of which contribute to reduced growth in living standards compared to our peer countries in the OECD,” Schembri said. .The Conservative Party drew attention to Canada’s “miserable” economy in a press release. They reminded Canadians that in 2021, Trudeau said that he doesn’t “think about monetary policy.”“After nine years of Justin Trudeau, life has never been so hard for Canadians. Unemployment and economic misery rise, while paycheques are shrinking. Trudeau’s inflationary spending has driven up the price of groceries, gas and heating. His endless tax hikes drive businesses, jobs and investments out of our country,” read the news release.“Under Trudeau, Canada has had the worst growth in income per person since the 1930s. Families are having to spend $700 more for groceries this year than they did in 2023, and millions of people are having to line up outside of food banks just to survive, including one in ten people in Toronto.”The Conservatives said the “negligible 0.25 percent rate cut” in lending by the Bank of Canada will do little to arrest the nose dive.“Over the last two years, Trudeau’s insane inflationary spending forced the Bank of Canada to hike rates at the fastest pace in history to try and slow down Justinflation. And despite multiple warnings from Common Sense Conservatives that the Liberal’s spending was keeping interest rates higher for longer, Trudeau decided to pour an extra $61 billion of spending onto the inflationary fire in their most recent budget. This will cost the average family an extra $3,687,” the release explained.“Canada now has the worst housing inflation, and among the lowest economic growth in the OECD. Business investment per worker in Canada is barely half that in the US. Our GDP per capita is smaller than it was 5 years ago, while the American economy is up 8 percent. And our national debt has doubled.”
