Dany Assaf - Everybodys Business: How to Ensure Canadian Prosperity through the Twenty-First Century

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Copyright 2023 by Dany Assaf, Walid Hejazi, Joe Manget

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First edition, March 2023

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Manufactured in Turkey

Cover designed by Lena Yang

Book composed by Karl Hunt

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Title: Everybodys business : how to ensure Canadian prosperity through the twenty-first century/Dany Assaf, Walid Hejazi, Joe Manget.

Names: Assaf, Dany H., author. | Hejazi, Walid, 1963- author. | Manget, Joe, author.

Identifiers: Canadiana (print) 20220442762 | Canadiana (ebook) 20220442819 |
ISBN 9781990823077 (softcover) | ISBN 9781990823176 (EPUB)

Subjects: LCSH: Industrial productivityCanada. | LCSH: AbilityEconomic aspectsCanada. | LCSH: CanadaEconomic conditions21st century.

Classification: LCC HC120.I52 A87 2023 | DDC 338.0971dc23

eBook 978-1-990823-17-6

Like a hockey player skating with his head down blind to the perils of the game, Canada is about to get levelled by bigger and stronger players in an increasingly aggressive and competitive global arena. We may get up and wonder how we were blindsided and beaten at our own game. A founding member of the G7, a strong democracy, an open society with leading education and health care institutions, an energy superpower with access to the most powerful technology, yet left in the dust of the 21st century. We will all be accountable for that.

And it will only get worse once we have run out of ways to tax one another and our cupboards are bare. How will we create that new prosperity for the next generation like previous generations did for us that produced one of the worlds wealthiest countries?

Well, one way would be for us to truly take advantage of the fact today we are on the cusp of the greatest revolution of opportunity and wealth creation in human history. Never before have the objective barriers to economic opportunity been lower, markets and data so interconnected, all with powerful modern technology relatively easy to get into the hands of all Canadians to exploit these opportunities. With the right framework and mindset, Canadians and humanity at large could make the gains of the Industrial Revolution look like pocket change. The efficiency and productivity of the global economic engine firing on all technology-enabled cylinders can create extraordinary levels of shared prosperity. We are only really beginning to appreciate the potential of the economic power that can be unleashed if we shift our economy from a focus on industry to a focus on the individual. The tools of productivity have been democratized and, when in doubt, our best bet has always been to just double down on ourselves and invest in the potential of the Canadian people for our next and best chapter.

The spirit of this shift was also reflected in the words of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) which asked its members to support workers rather than jobs in their policy responses to economic recovery post-COVID-19 (OECD November 2020 Interim Report). There is a silver lining in that, with modern technology, never has it been easier or more beneficial for individuals in global communities to coordinate and connect to advance their economic, social, security, energy, and environmental agendas for themselves and their children.

The Global Village that Marshal McLuhan envisioned more than fifty years ago has gotten much smaller. Technology, travel, and immigration have brought people of different backgrounds together like never before. Security is completely dependent on cooperating with allies to face state and non-state adversaries. No country can ignore the opportunity the global economy provides as a market for goods and services. Environmentally, our global ice caps are not melting because of pollution generated in Tuktoyaktukno walls will keep carbon emissions out of anyones country. The war in Ukraine has also reminded us all of our energy vulnerabilitiesnothing can be accomplished and no progress made while freezing in the dark. But the economic opportunity of this age was also summed up by Indias Prime Minister Modi in his response and advice to President Putin to end the war in Ukraine because todays era is not an era of war.

Canada is a prosperous, peaceful country that is respected globally, and Canadians are the envy of much of the world. We are one of the most diverse nations on earth, uniquely poised to capitalize on the modern technology-enabled global economy.

Yet we see storm clouds gathering.

The sources of prosperity that have driven Canadas success over the past 150 years will diminish in the future, and a continued reliance on these traditional economic drivers will undermine Canadas prosperity as well as its social and environmental character. These challenges require significant changes in public policy, business strategies, and individual economic engagement.

In 1967, on the countrys 100th birthday, we had a lot to celebrate. We were the worlds ninth largest economy, an impressive achievement for a country of only 20 million. Yet fifty years later, we had fallen to 16th place. Projections have Canada dropping to 25th place over the next fifty years, surpassed by Mexico, Thailand, Nigeria, Vietnam, Iran, and the Philippines, among others. We also ranked third in the world in terms of income per person, behind only Switzerland and the United States. By 2017, we were in 15th place and we continue to fall. Few countries have been blessed with the natural resources that we have. They have had to compensate and try harder, and the digital world has allowed them to flourish. We grew complacent with our natural riches, and now risk being left behind in the new economy. We know that what got us here will not take us there.

This book is the realization of a spark that was ignited in Torontos Air Canada Centre in 2014. The Toronto Maple Leafs were playing the Boston Bruins. In the stands, two friends were watching with their fourteen-year-old sons. Over cups of Tim Hortons coffee, the dads were engrossed in a conversation, not about who was going to win the game (the Leafs won), but about the future of Canada. Like the Leafs, who hadnt won a Stanley Cup since 1967 (on Canadas 100th birthday), the Canadian economy felt like it had been adrift for a long time. What will Canada look like on its 200th birthday? What is motivating our national sense of purpose? What will galvanize us in this century to work for something greater than ourselves, to create opportunity for all Canadians to reach their potential, and to provide an unrivalled quality of life?

Like many Canadians, we held a strong conviction that Canada had unfulfilled potential and its best days could lie ahead, but also felt that we need a revival of purpose, consensus, and vision to propel us higher. In such a competitive world, we needed to become more excited by the idea of winning than worried by the fear of losing.