Posted on 04/23/2010 11:44:13 AM PDT by FormerACLUmember
Ian Lee is very blunt about what Ottawa should be doing to grow its economy. He wants us to take advantage of the struggling American economy and get companies to move here from the U.S.
"We have the opportunity," says Lee, "to steal some of their businesses."
Lee, the outspoken director of the MBA program at Carleton University's Sprott School of Business, says for the first time ever, Canada is a much more attractive place to do business than the U.S.
"Never in the history of our country have we been ahead of the United States," he says. "The United States has always been richer, more powerful, more aggressive, more dynamic, more successful, more entrepreneurship. And right now they're going off of the cliff.
"Their banking is a mess. Their real estate is a mess. Their tax system is a mess. The place is going bankrupt before your eyes."
Lee remembers when the Wall Street Journal portrayed Canada's economy as Third World. Now Canada has become a model of stability and it's the fundamentals in the U.S., he says, that are in terrible shape. And we should capitalize. "Without celebrating the mess they're in, at the same time, we have to be hard-nosed and strategic," he says. And we shouldn't feel bad, Lee says, because "the Americans have been doing this for years."
Lee remembers talking to an Ottawa business owner several years ago who was being recruited to move his company to Ogdensburg, New York. He was invited to a meeting with all three levels of government, plus some economic development agencies, all of whom were encouraging him to relocate.
"They were all together in one room on one day in one meeting with one Canadian businessman with one purpose: bring that Canadian business stateside," Lee says. "They sat in front of him and negotiated how much each could bring to the table to get him to move his business to the States. They were very market-driven and very entrepreneurial.
"We've got to do something like that here, where OCRI and the Chamber of Commerce and the economic development ministries federally and provincially jump in like that."
Lee says Canada has several advantages over the U.S. right now.
Corporate taxes are already lower, and that's before anticipated hikes to deal with record budget deficits south of the border.
"The hook is that it's going to be cheaper to do business in Canada than in the United States and it's going to be more stable," he says. "We have a trained, stable workforce with a low cost of doing business. And no looming tax hikes."
To succeed in growing our economy by importing American businesses, Lee says all three levels of government would have to work together and get aggressive, and the city would need to cut red tape and make the process simple.
But no matter how bad the economic fundamentals in the U.S., how realistic is it for an American business owner to simply pull up stakes from his or her homeland and move across the border to the land of Timbits and maple syrup? Isn't that the equivalent of trying to get Sidney Crosby to quit the Penguins for the Senators?
"I'm not talking about companies from Virginia or Alabama or Mississippi who don't even know where Canada is," he says.
"I'm talking about businesses within 300 miles of the Canadian border. Especially those in states that are going through a living hell right now.
"There have to be some businesses that are taxed up the wazoo who must be looking at Canada because they're so close. The idea must have crossed their minds to look at the possibility of shifting into Canada."
Erin Kelly, the executive director of the Ottawa Chamber of Commerce, says there's nothing wrong with trying to woo American businesses. But she says that's a small part of the equation.
The bulk of the growth in Ottawa's economy, she says, will come from the expansion of existing companies, especially established mid-size firms. Kelly says with facilities like the Entrepreneurship Centre, the city puts a lot of emphasis on helping start-ups get off the ground, but not a lot of thought into helping mid-size companies expand.
And she says the city should look closely at the model of Invest Toronto, an agency that attracts foreign investment and expansion rather than just recruiting companies to relocate.
Borrowing a phrase from U.S. president Barack Obama's campaign, however, Lee says there is no harm in trying to get American companies to uproot and relocate to Canada's capital.
"Maybe it will turn out that it's not viable. But I think if they can do it," he says, "yes we can, too."
If only Canada was as blessed with an abundant supply of cheap hispanic labour as the great state of Texico....
“How are the Canadians on guns?”
Tons of guns.
Soviet style registration.
No socialist confication. So far.
the Canadian dollar is now at 1:1 parity with the Greenback.
It was quite a bit lower just a few years ago. See what drilling for your own oil will getcha?
Wow, we’re out-socialisting Canada? Yikes!
The article is spot-on.
It is true that we are now suffering under the socialist regime but at the end we are Americans and we are going to defeat socialism and prosper in our free market capitalist economy. We are still # 1 and we will remain so for centuries to come.
I like your positive attitude.
Thanks for your comments!
We are Americans. We are always optimistic and positive. That is why we are great.
Ouch! Thats got to hurt.
Ping.
You’re welcome.
This quote, “Their banking is a mess. Their real estate is a mess. Their tax system is a mess. The place is going bankrupt before your eyes.” , is the money quote.
If it makes a few freepers (small f) feel better to bash us while the floor falls out from under them, well, I guess I can’t blame them right now. I’d be angry too, if I was an American.
Look, I appreciate all the work you did translating Iraqi papers, but you are out of line with that comment.
I should know my place???
A large US corporation , which employs many Americans, is benefiting from purchases by my Canadian company.
We Canadians are not your enemy.
If it gets bad enough, we may, in fact, offer you sanctuary.
Whom should know whose place?
However what is wrong with saying that Canadians should know their economic place compared to the US? The US GDP is almost ten times that of Canada. Also Canada is a socialist welfare state, not as bad as Europe but still a socialist welfare state.
Please see my post # 35 that I just wrote to fanfan.
Lee, the outspoken director of the MBA program at Carleton University's Sprott School of Business, says for the first time ever, Canada is a much more attractive place to do business than the U.S.Thanks fanfan!
The gun registry’s days are numbered. The opposition has been stalling the repeal, but in the meantime the government has been extending the “temporary amnesty” for gun owners who haven’t registered.
Thanks for the ping.
"Their banking is a mess. Their real estate is a mess. Their tax system is a mess. The place is going bankrupt before your eyes."
Ping
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