A country cannot survive on government jobs, bureaucracy, and “plans.”

By Doug MacIver via Facebook.

Re-printed without permission.

A country cannot survive on government jobs, bureaucracy, and “plans.”

At some point you actually need people willing to risk capital, build businesses, hire workers, open plants, drill, mine, manufacture, innovate, and expand.

And according to this RBC report highlighted by the National Post, Canada has watched new investment completely collapse during the Liberal years in power. 

Think about how insane that statement is for a second.

Canada has every natural advantage imaginable.

Oil.

Gas.

Potash.

Uranium.

Gold.

Nickel.

Forestry.

Agriculture.

Fresh water.

Highly educated people.

Stable banking.

We should be an absolute economic powerhouse.

Instead, we became a country where investors look at the regulatory environment, taxes, uncertainty, activist politics, endless bureaucracy, and anti-business rhetoric and simply say:

“No thanks.”

Then they take their money somewhere else.

The scary part?

None of this happened overnight.

This was years of policies.

Years of red tape.

Years of punishing productivity.

Years of telling entrepreneurs and investors they were the problem.

Years of making it harder to build literally anything in this country.

And people still voted for more of it.

That’s the part I struggle wrapping my head around.

At what point did Canadians stop voting FOR something and start voting AGAINST people instead?

Because that’s exactly what happened.

Millions voted emotionally.

Millions voted based on personality.

Millions voted because they were told to fear the alternative.

Millions voted because “Orange Man bad” politics infected Canada too.

Millions voted because CBC headlines and social media narratives told them who the villains were supposed to be.

Meanwhile the country slowly hollowed out underneath them.

Investment leaves.

Productivity collapses.

Young people can’t afford homes.

Doctors leave.

Businesses leave.

Skilled workers leave.

Capital leaves.

And somehow people act shocked by the result.

What exactly did people think was going to happen when governments openly attacked the very industries funding the country?

You cannot tax, regulate, guilt, and obstruct productive sectors forever while expecting growth to magically continue.

That’s not how economics works.

That’s not how human behaviour works.

That’s not how investment works.

Money goes where it’s welcomed.

Money leaves where it’s punished.

Simple.

And before someone says “corporations are greedy”…

Of course they are.

Investors seek return.

Businesses seek profit.

That’s literally the entire mechanism that creates jobs, pensions, wages, infrastructure, and tax revenue in the first place.

You don’t have to love corporations to understand that chasing all investment out of your country is economic suicide.

The other uncomfortable reality nobody wants to say out loud?

Canada has an aging population that overwhelmingly votes.

A lot of retirees already own homes.

Already built wealth.

Already lived through Canada’s strongest decades economically.

Meanwhile younger Canadians are inheriting declining opportunity, impossible housing costs, stagnant productivity, and massive government debt.

And every election becomes another emotional “stop the scary guy” campaign instead of a serious discussion about economic growth and national competitiveness.

That strategy works right up until the bill arrives.

Well…

The bill is here.

And the saddest part is Canada still has unbelievable potential.

We are not a poor country.

We are not lacking resources.

We are not lacking talent.

We are lacking leadership willing to say:

“Enough. Let builders build again.”

Because no government press conference, slogan, subsidy, or “economic update” can replace actual private investment.

Ever.

That’s the difference between creating wealth…

And redistributing decline.

PS #HappyMothersDay