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Michael Guglielmin: Canada must create more attractive business conditions to compete with the U.S.

Sir Wilfred Laurier’s insight still holds: we need fewer regulations and lower taxes to offset our disadvantages in scale and market access

Sir Wilfrid Laurier understood something fundamental about competing with the United States: Canada cannot win by matching America’s size or resources. We win by being more competitive. He believed the burdens of government, taxes and regulation had to be kept lighter here than south of the border to attract investment, industry and people.

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More than a century later, that wisdom feels painfully relevant. The collapse of trade talks with the United States has left our steel and manufacturing sectors in limbo. Lingering high tariffs, retaliatory measures and a cloud of uncertainty are hanging over businesses that form the backbone of Ontario, Quebec and other provinces.

Michael Guglielmin: Canada must create more attractive business conditions to compete with the U.S. Back to video

Many of the structural problems facing Canadian industry predate U.S. President Donald Trump. Canada entered this trade fight with too little economic room to manoeuvre. Years of weak investment, regulatory........

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