The Canadian government has tried almost every conceivable policy to assist declining firms, industries and regions. Such programs have included loans, grants, investment tax credits, special unemployment compensation, early retirement plans, employment tax credits and nationalization. The results have not been impressive. There is always a continuous movement of entrepreneurs, labour and capital to new opportunities and often when an industry is far removed from a major centre this decline has particular regional and employment implications. Policy options are required as much for addressing the social and political problems of declining communities and regions as for declining industries. There have been a number of studies that show that income losses imposed on individual workers, although in some cases not insignificant, appear almost trivial when compared with the government subsidies or higher costs imposed on Canadian consumers. Labour adjustment assistance, particularly in the form of lump-sum payments, has the ability to produce more rapid economical adjustment for declining industries.
