Federal funding ensures Canada’s Productivity Initiative is a long-term priority for the School of Public Policy
From a major summit in Fall 2024 through a series of issue-specific conferences from Halifax to Vancouver over the last year, Canada’s Productivity Initiative has evolved to be a groundbreaking national research partnership charged with addressing one of the country’s most pressing economic challenges.
A federal investment of $6 million over 15 years was announced Monday, Feb. 9 that will provide long-term support for the Initiative that was launched the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy and will now bring together government, academic and research organizations from across the country to drive improved productivity.
By combining world-class research and policy co-creation, Canada’s Productivity Initiative, led by Dr. Trevor Tombe, Director of Economic and Fiscal Policy at the School, will build national capacity to design and implement transformative economic policy.
“Canada’s economy doesn’t operate in silos, and neither should research so what this partnership does is bring together over 30 researchers, six federal departments and universities across four provinces and that’s just the beginning,” said Tombe. “For policymakers this partnership does bring access to policy-ready research … what that does is reduce the lag between new insight and real-world decisions.”
Following the national Summit that was supported by the Government of Alberta and attracted more than 800 attendees in Calgary in Fall 2024, Canada’s Productivity Initiative held smaller-scale events across Canada to address specific aspects of productivity.
The sessions were held in Ottawa (tax, competition policy), Halifax (interprovincial trade), Vancouver (infrastructure, transportation), Montreal (talent, immigration) and Saskatoon (agriculture, natural resources).
The series of mini conferences concludes in Toronto (innovation, technology) on Feb. 12 with keynote speaker Carolyn Rogers, Senior Deputy Governor of the Bank of Canada, who sounded alarm bells about Canada’s declining productivity in Spring 2024 when she said Canada was an “in emergency, break glass” moment.
“Productivity is not an easy challenge and there are no easy solutions or one-and-done solutions. What we’ve seen in Canada is we’ve allowed it to slip over decades. That’s a result of the lack of attention being paid to the challenge,” said Martha Hall Findlay, Director of the School of Public Policy. “Donald Trump has been challenging without question, but he has single handedly given Canada a massive wakeup call in terms of what we need to do to improve our own economic prosperity, not for his sake but for our own sake.”
Dr. Ed McCauley, President and Vice-Chancellor, University of Calgary, was one of the keynote speakers at the initial Summit and he lauded the leadership and start something mindset by Tombe and Hall Findlay to recognize the need for action and responded.
“We didn’t wait to be asked to take this on, we put our considerable research excellence on the table and began asking the tough questions that will lead to solutions,” said McCauley. “I’m thrilled the School of Public Policy has been tasked by the federal government to get this important work done.”
The grant is a first of its kind from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) through its new pilot Policy Innovation Partnership Grants program. It is aimed at funding long-term, high-impact research in key areas of importance to Canada’s future.
“This innovative partnership will demonstrate how researchers, higher education institutions and policymakers can work together to develop actionable solutions to Canada’s most important issues,” said Council President Ted Hewitt.
Along with the University of Calgary, the partnership includes the Bank of Canada; Finance Canada; Global Affairs Canada; Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada; Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada; and Statistics Canada) and university partners, HEC Montréal, Memorial University, Western University, McMaster University and the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto) and non-governmental partners including the Centre for the Study of Living Standards, the Alberta Centre for Labour Market Research and the Canadian AI Adoption Initiative.
“Boosting Canada’s productivity requires bold ideas, strong partnerships and research that drives real‑world impact,” said Hon. Melanie Joly, federal Minister of Industry. “This investment brings together leading experts from across the country and will generate the evidence and insight needed to shape smarter economic policy for the long term.”
The Policy Innovation Partnership Grants is a pilot program to support partnerships between postsecondary institutions and at least one federal government department and establish long-term research programs focusing on areas of importance to Canada’s future.
On this topic:
New national research partnership to improve Canada’s productivity receives inaugural grant – Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
UCalgary to lead national research partnership to improve Canada’s productivity with historic grant – UCalgary News
Learn more about Canada’s Productivity Initiative.