Op-Eds
Published in the Financial Post
After two rounds of consultations, Finance Canada is considering reforms to its scientific research and experimental development (SR&ED) program. The review takes place against the backdrop of distressingly poor productivity performance and worries about the amount and effectiveness of R&D performed in Canada and the incentives for innovative startups to commercialize and scale-up their operations.
These concerns exist even though the federal government spent almost $11 billion last year to support innovation. Innovative firms get support to: hire skilled workers, perform R&D, commercialize inventions and scale-up their operations.
The program review should recognize where…
Surging immigration numbers are top-of-mind for Canadians. But as we reconsider targets for newcomers and address pain points such as housing, we also need to pay attention to talent retention.
Tens of thousands of people leave Canada every year, many of them talented and entrepreneurial people we will miss. Importantly, a significant fraction are themselves immigrants, which may mean we are missing an opportunity to boost Canada’s long-term growth and prosperity.
A recent study by Statistics Canada, using a data set that combines detailed immigration department data with a Canada Revenue Agency database, highlights the significant phenomenon of emigration among immigrants in Canada. The overall…
It’s easy to see what Volkswagen VWAGY and Stellantis STLA-N get out of the billions in subsidies that Canada is dangling in front of them for domestic battery plants. Such subsidies clearly improve the companies’ returns on investments enough to attract these electric-vehicle battery plants away from other jurisdictions such as the United States or Europe. It’s harder to see what the Canadian and Ontario governments get in return.
They won’t get a stake in the firms’ profits. These are subsidies, not investments. Federal and provincial governments won’t own a portion of the plants and they will not share in the financial returns. Governments may capture some corporate income tax revenues, but…
On November 22, 2022, as part of the Ontario Chamber of Commerce’s Ontario Economic Summit, The Hub’s executive director Rudyard Griffiths moderated a “Munk-style” debate involving Globe and Mail columnist Andrew Coyne, C.D. Howe Institute CEO Bill Robson, former Ontario Cabinet minister Sandra Pupatello, and The Hub’s own editor-at-large Sean Speer. The debate’s resolution read: Be It Resolved: Ontario Needs Reshoring as Part of Its Growth Agenda. Pupatello and Speer argued in favour of the motion. Coyne and Robson against it.
Thanks to the organizers for inviting us here to debate this very important question. Our worthy opponents, Sandra and Sean, make a very valiant case in favour of reshoring as part of Ontario’s growth…
Canada is not keeping up in the global competition for innovation-led growth and prosperity.
Our research and development intensity is low relative to other countries and not enough of our inventions are commercialized at home. Can Ottawa’s current review of the Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED) tax credit announced in its last budget make a difference?
In principle, yes, but early indications are that the review will focus on issues of dubious merit or those that would best be handled with new measures rather than by modifying SR&ED.
The federal review has two objectives. The first is to assess whether the SR&ED program is effective in encouraging R&D that benefits Canada. The…
