Fix the Machinery Or Tax Reform Won’t Matter

Canada doesn’t just need tax reform — it needs a leaner, digital-first, productivity-driven government that actually enables growth instead of suffocating it.

David Rosenberg recently published an article arguing that Canada’s economic stagnation predates the Trump tariffs and stems largely from uncompetitive corporate tax rates, weak productivity growth, and years of structural policy complacency.

He calls for dramatic tax reform — potentially modeled after Ireland — to restore capital investment, job creation, and long-term competitiveness.

Great article. It raises something Canadians should not ignore.

One point I might add — our governments at all levels need to improve the machinery of government and the public service.

My Experience at Doug Ford

I spent 4 years in the Doug Ford government in Ontario (2019-2023) and saw firsthand how overly bureaucratic our governments are.

The first few years, our mandate was to cut red tape, find value for money, optimize operations, make consumer-facing government services "Simpler, Faster, Better", focusing on deregulating the private sector.

Fast forward to 2021 and the people who came from the private sector on a clear mandate to fix the government saw that there is a dwindling interest in actually doing things that matter. They began fleeing back to the private sector where innovation and efficiency actually matter.

This truly reminded me of the famous question:

"Who is John Galt?"

Soon enough, you had people with no real-world experience running the show — career political staffers and bureaucrats, the people who never generated a single dollar in the private sector.

There are great examples worldwide of governments that run a tight ship that gets out of the way of economic growth, but Canada is not one of them.

Canada needs a small, digital-first, integrated, and agile public service and machinery of government, coupled with simple and fast consumer-facing services to stay competitive by making it easy for businesses and individuals to choose Canada.