Atlantic Canada Needs a Wake-Up Call, And So Does the Rest of Canada

I recently read Andrew Rankin’s piece in the Financial Post, “‘We need to wake up’: Atlantic Canada a microcosm of the problems facing the rest of the country,” and I think it hits closer to home than many of us would like to admit.

Here’s what the article is saying — and why I agree with it.

Atlantic Canada’s productivity has fallen for four consecutive years and now trails the national average by roughly 25%. That’s not a blip. That’s a trend. And trends, if ignored long enough, turn into realities that are very hard to reverse.

John Risley put it bluntly: the global economy is changing faster than at any point in our lifetimes — and Atlantic Canada may not fully appreciate how quickly the ground is shifting under our feet.

He’s right.

This Isn’t Just an Atlantic Problem

Frank McKenna makes another important point in the article: if Atlantic Canada stalls, it doesn’t just hurt the region. It drives up costs and slows growth for the entire country.

Infrastructure bottlenecks, energy delays, trade barriers — these ripple outward. We’re not a side note to the Canadian economy. We’re part of the engine.

And yet, productivity here continues to lag.

The Self-Inflicted Drag

One of the more uncomfortable truths in the article is that a significant portion of the problem is self-imposed.

We still maintain different regulatory systems, licensing regimes and procurement rules across the four Atlantic provinces. That creates internal trade barriers. According to the IMF, these barriers are equivalent to a 9% tariff on goods and services inside our own country.

Think about that.

We criticize foreign trade barriers while tolerating our own.

The IMF estimates removing these barriers could increase productivity per worker by nearly 40% in Prince Edward Island and over 23% in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

That’s not incremental improvement. That’s transformational.

And yet we move slowly.

The World Isn’t Waiting

Externally, the pressures are mounting:

• Trade tensions with the United States.

• China massively expanding electricity generation — the backbone of AI and advanced industry.

• Artificial intelligence reshaping competitive advantage.

Electricity is the new oil in many respects. AI and advanced manufacturing don’t run on good intentions — they run on power, scale and speed.

If we don’t position ourselves accordingly, we will simply watch others do it.

Fiscal Warning Signs

The article also highlights something we can’t ignore: deteriorating provincial finances.

• Nova Scotia facing a record deficit and credit downgrade.

• New Brunswick moving from surplus to shortfall.

• PEI at a record deficit.

• Newfoundland and Labrador carrying Canada’s highest debt-to-GDP ratio.

At the same time, our region relies more heavily on public-sector employment than the national average.

Public sector stability is important. But overreliance can dull urgency and dampen private-sector dynamism.

You can’t regulate your way to growth. You have to build it.

Where I Think the Article Is Right

The message from both Risley and McKenna is essentially this:

We need scale.We need ambition.We need federal and provincial alignment.And we need to move faster.

Waiting for a crisis to force reform is a dangerous strategy. As Risley said, it’s like cancer — catch it early and you can treat it; wait too long and options narrow.

I agree.

Some Ideas That Could Actually Help

If we’re serious about turning this around, here are a few practical steps:

1. Eliminate Interprovincial Trade Barriers — For RealNot just talk about it. Fully harmonize professional licensing, procurement standards and mobility rules across Atlantic Canada. Make it seamless to scale across the four provinces.

2. Fast-Track Energy InfrastructureProjects like large-scale transmission (such as Clean Grid Atlantic) should be treated as generational infrastructure. Electricity demand is growing — especially with AI and electrification. We should be a supplier, not an afterthought.

3. Restore and Expand Skilled Immigration ProgramsThe Atlantic Immigration Pilot was successful in bringing skilled workers to the region. Productivity requires talent. We need to compete aggressively for it.

4. Create a Serious Private-Sector Growth FundIf we want global companies headquartered here, we need risk capital with scale. A billion-dollar regional innovation and growth fund focused on export-oriented companies could shock the system in a positive way.

5. Resource Development — With Speed and StandardsMining and natural gas projects can’t sit in regulatory limbo for years. We need clear timelines, clear rules and disciplined approvals.

6. Shift the Culture Toward GrowthThis one is harder. We need to re-ignite entrepreneurial instincts. Atlantic Canada has produced global players — Sobeys, McCain, Irving, Oxford Frozen Foods. The talent exists. But risk tolerance has softened.

We need to celebrate builders again.

The Bigger Picture

What struck me most about the article is that Atlantic Canada may simply be an early warning sign for broader Canadian challenges:

• Productivity stagnation.

• Infrastructure delays.

• Trade fragmentation.

• Overreliance on government spending.

• Underinvestment in scalable private enterprise.

If we don’t address these issues here, they will show up everywhere.

Final Thought

The choice isn’t abstract.

We can reform the economic machinery with urgency — or gradually drift toward the periphery of North American growth.

Atlantic Canada has enormous advantages:

• Strategic geography.

• Access to energy resources.

• World-class universities.

• Entrepreneurial history.

• Quality of life that attracts talent.

But advantages only matter if we leverage them.

I agree with the core message of the article: we need to wake up.

And the sooner we do, the less painful the transition will be.