Economic policy

In this election, Canadians are looking for a leader who will stand up to economic threats from our mercurial and adversarial neighbour. But how, Matthew Mendelsohn asks, will the ideas on offer help workers, regular people, not-for-profits and smaller and medium-sized businesses transition to the emerging new world order? Yes, Canada needs economic growth, but it needs to be the kind that enriches working Canadians, not just not just large financial and corporate interests.

A combination of rising U.S. tariffs, a weakening Canadian dollar and a generation of business owners nearing retirement has created the perfect storm for a wave of foreign takeovers. SCP's Michelle Arnold, Futurpreneur's Karen Greve Young and Venture for Canada's Scott Stirrett on how a few targeted policy changes could enable aspiring entrepreneurs to buy existing businesses, keeping jobs and ownership local while injecting fresh energy into our Canadian economy.

From fighter jets to TikTok, nothing is off the table when Canadians talk about how best to counter Trump's economic assault on Canada. SCP brings you some creative, crowdsourced policy ideas gathered by our Chair Jon Shell on a recent LinkedIn post. More evidence that new voices entering the policy discussion will help us get through the current crisis and emerge in a more hopeful place.

Today, Canada’s main streets are more likely to feature American chains and less likely to be locally owned. We already face economic assault from the south—SCP's CEO Matthew Mendelsohn and Fellow Rachel Wasserman on why we cannot accept unchecked serial acquisitions as a tactic in this economic war against us and what we can do about it.

Despite the fact that governments, business leaders, workers and Canadians all say they want to be less economically vulnerable, there is a real risk that, two years from now, even more of our businesses and assets will be owned by U.S. investors. SCP's CEO Matthew Mendelsohn and Chair Jon Shell propose four ideas to prevent American finance from gobbling up the Canadian economy.

Canada’s value proposition aligns with the values most Canadians hold, even if we execute on them imperfectly: diversity, inclusion, freedom, equality, democracy, respect and reconciliation. SCP's CEO, Matthew Mendelsohn, on why he would rather invest in a country that strives to uphold those values and build an inclusive, democratic capitalist system than invest in the uncertain, volatile mess that is the United States right now.

When U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to launch a full-blown trade war with its closest ally, many Canadians felt as if their best friend had suddenly turned around and stabbed them in the back. The Star spoke with economists, academics and other experts, including SCP CEO Matthew Mendelsohn, about how the country should best navigate this new era of Trump's isolationism, and found there are realistic steps we can take to reduce our dependence on the States.

Canadians are more vulnerable to Trump’s economic warfare today because our housing system is in crisis and has left many Canadians without affordable places to live. Some of our own bad policy choices have put us in this position of vulnerability. We've got three housing policy ideas we want the team at Missing Middle to look into.

Living next to a superpower run by oligarchs is not where we expected to be 20 years ago, says Matthew Mendelsohn. But it’s where we are. Pretending otherwise doesn’t serve our interests. Canada is big enough, powerful enough, smart enough and rich enough to build a stronger, more independent economy if we start now.

Advisory Board members will advise on SCP’s strategy and agenda, drawing on decades of experience across finance, business, government, public policy, communications, civil society and community economic development.