Canada's global and business competitiveness: competition policy reform in a changing world

Purpose – Exploration of the policy reforms necessary to strengthen Canada's competitiveness among world trading economies. The paper aims to compare Canada's competitiveness with two economic partners, the USA and the UK, and two emerging economies, China and India. Design/methodology/approach – Data from the annual Global Competitiveness Reports (GCRs) were used to compare Canada with the other countries. Findings – Canada requires a national strategy to create a generation of Canadian innovators, entrepreneurs and executives with a global mindset. Research limitations/implications – Although Canada has many global trading partners, the paper compares Canadian competitiveness with only two economic partners and two emerging economics. Also, only data from the GCRs are used. Other measures of competitiveness need to be taken into consideration to better understand Canada's global and business competitiveness. Originality/value – This paper provides new insights into Canada's lack of global competitiveness. The main reasons for this lack of competitiveness are analysed and recommendations are provided for Canadian policy makers to enhance competitiveness.