Canada Has a Possibility Crisis
An upside-down flag is a universal distress signal – let’s start there. Canada is shrinking—not in size, but in ambition. We used to dream big. Now, we manage decline. Everyone keeps saying Canada has a productivity problem. That we need to work harder, be more efficient, and squeeze out a few extra GDP points.
But let’s be real—Canadians aren’t lazy. We’re not stuck because we don’t hustle. We’re stuck because we don’t dream big enough. We don’t enable enough opportunity. A few to many branch plants. The good news is that in the early months of 2025 Canada has started waking again.
Canada doesn’t have a productivity crisis. We have a possibility crisis.
And that’s far worse.
For years, economists have wagged their fingers at our mediocre G7 rankings, pointing out that our economic output per capita lags embarrassingly behind the United States. The numbers don’t lie—the average Canadian earns $17,000 less per year than their American counterpart.
Yet despite endless debates, policy papers, and PowerPoints, our economy feels like it’s stuck in a perpetual snowstorm with summer tires.
Here’s the real kicker: when people hear “productivity,” they don’t think innovation or opportunity. They hear “work harder”—as if the problem is that Canadians are just too busy eating poutine to put in a proper day’s effort. But that’s not what productivity is about. And it’s certainly not where our focus should be.
We’ve been asking the wrong question all along.
What Is Productivity, Really?
Ask an economist, and they’ll give you a dry textbook definition about the ratio of output to input. Sounds straightforward, right? But to the average person, it’s abstract nonsense—like trying to decode the instructions for DIY furniture.
Worse, “productivity” has become a guilt trip. A word that feels less like a rallying cry and more like a corporate demand to grind harder, do more with less, and sacrifice your sanity for GDP growth. No wonder Canadians feel exhausted and uninspired.
But productivity isn’t about working harder. It’s about unlocking potential. It’s about creating more value with the same—or fewer—resources. It’s about thinking smarter and differently.
Productivity isn’t an economic metric. It’s about people.
And that’s why we need to stop talking about productivity and start talking about possibility.
The Possibility Crisis
Possibility is a word that invites action. It’s hopeful, exciting, and collaborative. It doesn’t blame—it inspires.
A possibility crisis is what happens when a country stops believing in its own potential. When businesses can’t scale. When talent drains south. When government inertia chokes new ideas before they even start.
It’s why Canadian entrepreneurs struggle to grow. Why innovation feels stagnant. Why so many people feel stuck.
A possibility crisis is what happens when opportunity stagnates. And we’ve been stuck in neutral for far too long.
Possibility Equals Prosperity
Shifting from productivity to possibility changes everything.
Instead of asking, “How can we squeeze more out of what we have?” we start asking, “How can we create more opportunities for everyone?”
Possibility fuels everything that matters—innovation, growth, and progress. It happens when we invest in education so people can seize the opportunities of tomorrow. It happens when we cut the red tape strangling entrepreneurs. And it happens when we build real infrastructure—not just pour money into bureaucratic sinkholes.
Possibility isn’t just an economic strategy. It’s a vision for a country where people can build, thrive, and contribute.
And when we create that country, prosperity isn’t just possible—it’s inevitable.
A Call to Action
Canada’s possibility crisis isn’t going to fix itself. It’s going to take guts, vision, and maybe a few uncomfortable conversations.
Here’s where we start:
Reimagine Education. We need creativity, critical thinking, and adaptability—not just memorization. Get rid of factory-style schooling; the world has moved on. I spent some time as an adjunct professor, and it’s not pretty—the bureaucratic inertia is deadly. The desire to dream big usually starts in school—lose that and you lose the game. The good news is that this can be changed, and shifting to a possibility mindset across our entire culture would work wonders.
Streamline Entrepreneurship. Being an entrepreneur in Canada feels like competing in a triathlon wearing cement shoes. Cut the red tape. Hold ineffective incubators accountable—the big economic numbers tell the real story of systemic failure, not growth. And here’s a radical thought: stop hiring people who’ve never taken a risk in their lives to run programs for risk-takers. Lead, follow, or get out of the way. Mostly just get out of the way—and leave some money on the table.
When it comes to helping entrepreneurs build, the rule is simple: only build what builds. We don’t need another institutional incubator or government-funded “innovation hub” that excels at nothing but overpromising and profoundly underdelivering. These institutions don’t fuel entrepreneurship – they drain it. They slow it down, wrap it in red tape, and suffocate it with meetings, buzzwords and failing process. Many are part of the problem.They claim to support risk-takers but are fundamentally risk adverse – makes my head explode. They shuffle money in circles, write glowing reports, and pat themselves on the back for “fostering innovation” while delivering little but wasted potential and the OECD numbers prove that on a macro scale. There are exceptions and they should set the lead. No more consultants masquerading as entrepreneurs. No more bloated advisory boards full of career bureaucrats. No more pitch competitions that go nowhere and for heaven’s sake stop pretending to be an effective gateway to investment money.
The future won’t be built in boardrooms. It will be built by real entrepreneurs, solving real problems, without asking for permission.
Invest in Infrastructure. The Eglinton Crosstown in Toronto is a national embarrassment—a multi-billion-dollar project that drags on for years, hemorrhages money, and still fails to deliver on time. This isn’t just frustrating; it’s a systemic failure that rewards incompetence over execution. Heads should roll when public projects blow past budgets and timelines, not excuses, not another round of “reviews,” and certainly not more taxpayer-funded damage control. Public works should be something we’re proud of—not something we grumble about over coffee.
And yet, while cities choke on outdated transit and failing roads, this is the big idea? A tunnel under the 401? Seriously? This is what passes for ambition? Canada doesn’t need more band-aid projects; it needs infrastructure that creates real possibility. Infrastructure isn’t just concrete and steel. It’s vision. It’s about building a Canada that actually moves—physically, economically, and intellectually. Instead of stale ridiculous projects repackaged as progress, let’s ask the real question: What would a country that thinks big actually build? Because this isn’t it.
There is also other infrastructure that may need some improvement and that’s the structure and missions of the public services – let’s find ways to innovate there – to help it become a powerful force for innovation and benefit – good enough for government work should become the highest of standards. I’ve sat on enough government committees to see that we have real work to do here and from what I’ve seen it’s not so much a people problem as much as it is a purpose problem. If you can’t frame purpose, then it can’t exist. Politics and leaderships sometimes don’t align as you think they should. Is this the lens we should start looking at healthcare challenges with?
Foster Collaboration. Canada doesn’t need to copy Silicon Valley. We need our own identity—built on our own strengths. That means getting the best minds from business, government, and academia in the same room and listening to them. And by best minds, I mean people with broad, diverse experiences. A lifetime of the same should be disqualifying. New ideas come when convention gets shredded.
Inspire a Growth Mindset. Canadians are too polite to brag. Maybe it’s time we start. Let’s dream bigger, aim higher, and build a country that makes the world take notice. And no, we don’t need more tech bros or crypto schemes. We need things that matter. Competition is motivation. Given what’s happening in North America as I write this—it’s later than we think. No more slow. Slow is the prosperity killer. The idea that success is elitist and that risk that becomes reward should be taxed into submission erodes the very progress that risk enables. If we punish ambition, we invite stagnation. I’m not advocating for a billionaire class – just the opposite – find ways to encourage more and wider wealth generation that encourages reinvestment. It would be great if Canada could have the same GDP as California and given our innate wealth it’s a failure we don’t. I would set that as a very ambitious goal because having someplace to aim is always the best way to start.
Let’s Build Something Extraordinary
Canadian’s accept slow growth and dwindling opportunities— Stop. Stop. Stop. If you think this is a broken country, then piss off. We don’t need you here. We need those that build, not whine. For all the problems I’ve highlighted change is possible and achievable – all that holds us back can be pushed aside with collective effort to embrace possibility. By looking a little critically at our current situation, we can see that change will do us good. – we have to call out the challenges and poor systems because you can’t evolve without an understanding of both truth and effect. If you can’t face the bad you will never understand what better can be. Possibility opens the path because it leads to desire.
Canada doesn’t have to settle for mediocrity. We have everything we need to be a global leader in possibility—but only if we stop settling for slow growth and dwindling opportunities. Enough whining. Enough small thinking. Enough apologizing for being ambitious.
Possibility is the only way forward.
I’m in! Are you?
Brady