Running Hard, Standing Still: The Productivity Problem Canada Can’t Outgrow 

Canada isn’t short on talent, research or ideas. Yet living standards are under pressure, and productivity growth has slowed. What is really holding the economy back? 
 
In this episode, host Marwa Abdou brings together two leading economists for a rare back-to-back look at the productivity puzzle from both a macroeconomic and innovation perspective. 
 
Paul Beaudry, Professor at the Vancouver School of Economics and former Bank of Canada Deputy Governor, reframes productivity as a measure of value, not effort, and challenges the assumption that more education and labour force growth automatically translate into stronger outcomes. Dan Breznitz, Co-Director of the University of Toronto’s Innovation Policy Lab, pushes the conversation further, arguing that invention alone does not create prosperity. What matters is whether economies build the capacity to scale ideas, diffuse technology and embed innovation inside real firms. 
 
Their insights point to a deeper tension: Canada’s challenge may not be a lack of ambition but a gap between what the country knows how to produce and what it is structured to use. It’s a timely conversation about economic design, competitiveness and the choices that could determine whether Canada pulls ahead or stands still.