“Tax policy is uncompetitive. Business bashing has become commonplace by people who’ve never spent two seconds working in private industry,” says Derek Holt – Vice President & Head of Capital Markets Economics at Scotiabank.
In a note to clients, Scotiabank Vice President & Head of Capital Markets Economics expressed his extensive concern with the direction of public policy in Canada.
It’s worth reading, as it provides a succinct but wide-ranging summary of the way our country is declining:
“In a bigger picture sense, I’m deeply worried about public policy in my country. Productivity is in a tailspin. A greater share of GDP is spent on here-today-gone-tomorrow current spending by governments and households than in decades. Tax policy is uncompetitive. Business bashing has become commonplace by people who’ve never spent two seconds working in private industry. Competition policy changes face serious criticisms. Changes to labour laws have benefited unions while collective bargaining exercises are driving wage growth to the moon despite collapsing productivity. Major sectors of the economy are literally being taken over by government with recent examples being child care, dental care, and now pharmacare. Do we get better quality outcomes in state-run health and education sectors? Tried visiting an ER lately? ‘nough said.
Bank of Nova Scotia economist Derek Holt laments about the policy direction in Canada, in his daily note to clients: pic.twitter.com/MTsKWWFlu5
— Paul Vieira (@paulvieira) March 5, 2024
Holt makes many important points, and gets at the deeper issue: Basically nothing in Canada is going in a positive direction. It’s rare that we see so many negative indicators, and so few positive ones.
Thus, it’s no wonder the governing Liberals are trailing so badly in the polls. At some point, if a government can’t get anything right, people will look to make a change and no amount of spin can change that.
Spencer Fernando
