Atlantic Canada may have mostly avoided the worst of the 2008 financial crisis and doesn’t have the big industries that Ontario or Western Canada rely on, but its productivity has fallen for four consecutive years and now trails the national average by roughly 25 per cent.
Part of the reason for that is that decades of protective isolation are evaporating as
sagging productivity, trade volatility and artificial intelligence disrupt the status quo, says Nova Scotia billionaire
John Risley, who warns the region has hit a breaking point. “The global economy is changing faster now than at any time in our lifetimes, and I don’t think Atlantic Canadians fully appreciate that,” he said. “We need to wake up before it’s too late.” But Atlantic Canada’s economic decline isn’t just a regional issue, according to
Frank McKenna, deputy chair of TD Bank Group and former premier of New Brunswick. He said if infrastructure, energy projects and trade corridors stall in the region, it drives up costs and slows growth across Canada.
