Canada’s industrial performance is lagging other G7 countries, according to research from the Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters (CME) group.
CME chief economist Jayson Myers said Canadian industry continues to face increasing global competition and, while our ranking compared to G7 countries has improved, our “Excellence Gap” has increased significantly since 9-11.
CME’s Excellence Gap Analysis benchmarks the performance of Canadian industry against the other G7 nations – United States, Japan, Germany, France, Italy and the United Kingdom.
“Our last analysis, performed in the summer of 2001, showed Canadian industry performing at 62 per cent of the G7 best practice. This most recent analysis shows a dramatic drop in that number to 50 per cent,” Myers said.
The Excellence Gap Analysis looks at annual averages over five years for key competitive indicators. An overall performance rating is calculated as an average across all benchmarks. The Excellence Gap is then the difference between this rating and a perfect score of 100 per cent.
“Canadian manufacturers and exporters are relatively competitive when it comes to production and export growth, but less so when looking at productivity, profitability and investment. And, when we look at innovation-related factors . . . Canada’s gap is significant.”
The U.S. continued to lead the G7, but its performance also dropped significantly from 94 per cent of the benchmark prior to 9-11 to 75 per cent.
France was the only country to show any real improvement in competitive performance over the past five years. Manufacturers in that country saw their production levels grow faster than any other major economy.
Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters seeks to improve the competitiveness of Canadian industry and to expand export business.
Its members account for 75 per cent of the country’s manufacturing output and 90 per cent of exports.
