It's not gossip or impression: Canadian living standards are indeed on the decline.
A little personal preamble. I'm a part of a Russian-language-speaking group of people living all across Canada on Facebook. There, we can share advice, ask questions, look for help, but mostly just chat and have a good laugh, which others probably won't understand, just because some don't have a similar background, while others have a different present, living in other parts of the world.
While there is indeed a lot of good advice and humour there, one rather concerning and sad matter that's being brought up over and over again is "Canada is not the same anymore". This is usually a claim made by immigrants of 20-30-plus years ago and questioned by those who recently moved or are thinking about immigration (some people like that would knock at the group doors every so often with questions about Canada).
It's a bit harder for me to compare how Canada "used to be", as I've been living here only since 2013, and I always thought it's been good. I knew some things weren't as progressive if compared to other developed countries, like air travel or cell service coverage, but it never felt critical. Besides, I could easily understand it, as it is indeed hard to make some things work or be more efficient with a relatively small population in such a big country.
The pandemic definitely changed social landscapes, and many areas and industries will probably never return to how they used to be (for the better or worse, time will show). Following the supply chain crisis and global economic distress made it even tougher. But I didn't think it's been reshaping the country's living standards more than any other places. Apparently, it has. While others majorly were able to get back on track, Canada is falling behind.
According to the July TD Bank report, "Despite turning in solid headline growth in recent years, Canada has lagged behind the U.S. and other advanced economies in terms of standard of living performance (or real GDP per capita)." I haven't noticed it as much as some locals and old-time immigrants. I came too late to experience that "good, old Canada", as underperformance already accelerated during the oil shock in 2014-15, and then continued through the pandemic.
We might not feel it here in Saskatchewan as much, as along with other commodity-based economies (Alberta and Newfoundland and Labrador), we still record the highest per-capita GDP levels because of spending in the energy sector, but since our "status as leaders has come under some pressure over the past decade" less new, large-scale resource investment is coming our way.
There is growth in Canada and there is activity, but economic growth doesn't necessarily equate to economic prosperity, experts note. Even though the country is rapidly growing its population (mainly through immigration means), which resulted in a quick return to economic activity after the pandemic, in such specific sectors as housing and consumption, Canada's economic performance is not there.
When compared to other advanced economies, Canada is among the few countries that haven't recovered to their pre-pandemic standard of living. It's measured by real gross domestic product per capita, which has been shrinking for the last 30 years and seems like it will continue moving in the same direction.
Experts blame the sagging performance in labour productivity for this decline. It's attributed to several factors, including "lacklustre" investments into non-residential structures, machinery and equipment, and intellectual property; a decline in research and development spending, leading to an innovation gap; large concentration of small firms that tend to export and invest less than bigger companies; as well as inefficient regulatory and tax policies.
These systematic factors in the eyes of people, who have been enjoying Canada's standard of living for years, resulted in the sense that the country is different from what it used to be and continues to decline. There are quite a few posts about old-timers immigrating from Canada as they don't want to bear the storm.
Unfortunately, TD's forecasts for the near and far future are less than promising as well. "Little turnaround in Canadian living standards appears to be on the horizon," they say.
The existing problems will require systemic, inventive and long-term solutions, as it has been long overdue. Until then, it seems that Canada will be drifting further and further away from its high-standard self from two-three decades ago and falling behind the rest of the developed world with each year passing by.
