Positioning Canada for Success in a Greener World

Now is a prime opportunity to start thinking about where Canada goes from here. It seems like there is a light at the end of the covid tunnel with vaccination rates climbing and the lifting of restrictions in some areas. Of course maybe it is just the spring blossoms starting to emerge. Certainly it will take more than the sights and sounds of spring to set our country up for recovery from such a major set back that included so much unemployment and deficits.

In that vein, some are calling for public policy makers to use this as a catalyst for advancing a societal transition. I wholeheartedly agree. We need a reset within Canada about where we are and where we are going. Let me share a few thoughts on this.

Imagine a future 20, 30 or 50 years from now. If you want to stretch your imagination perhaps its 100 years from now. What things might you envision that life looks like. Some things that your vision of the future might include:

• electric vehicles – many jurisdictions have set target dates for when internal combustion engines will no longer be available for new passenger vehicles
• Working from home – the Covid-19 pandemic has already provided a real life test of this possibility
• 3D printers allowing us to print our own consumer products – for fans of Star Trek perhaps replicators might be available
• Solar panels and wind turbines combined with batteries power many of our energy needs
• Vacations and travel have become a virtual experience with mass online real time social gatherings providing us with cultural experiences
• Space travel is available as a tourist experience and colonies are in the inception phase perhaps on Mars

Now take a step back and think about what is required for any of these future staples of daily life. Many of these technologies currently exist. Clearly, some significant leaps in technology and engineering will be required to make some of these broadly available.

Another obvious conclusion should be that raw materials and energy will be of enormous importance. Silicone, lithium, rare earths and of course many of our current staples: iron, aluminum, gold, carbon. Materials such as plastics will become even more central to our lives. Being a resource rich country with technology and an industry capable of extracting and processing resources will be a major strategic and economic importance into the future.

Contrast this sharply to the vision of Canada’s economy that many would like to paint where we are service providers and specialize in the high tech economy. There is absolutely nothing wrong with us improving our ability in health care or robotics or any technology. However, it would be a clear and undeniable mistake for Canada to ignore its resource sector and act like the future will not require resources in larger measure than the past. Canada is extremely well positioned as a resource economy for a high technology future full of renewable energy but only if we take advantage of our current mining and oil and gas extraction industries and build off of and grow these sectors.