The Latest

Trade-war chaos and confusion are creating a perfect storm for sellers' inflation—when companies with market control choose to hike prices to gouge consumers and grow their profits when they have the chance. As SCP Fellow Kaylie Tiessen writes, this profit-led inflation often hides behind other drivers and can blindside us if we’re not watching closely. There are good reasons to accept some tariff-related price increases—elbows up, right? But she outlines three ways we can stop opportunistic sellers from using this trade chaos to mask their profiteering. We can stop powerful companies from exploiting confusion and weak oversight so working people don't pay the price while profits soar.

The wrecking ball that Donald Trump has taken to international trade has wounded relations between Hamilton businesses and their American suppliers and customers, reports Eugene Ellman in Hamilton City Magazine. Now, they’re looking east and west to replace traditional links to the south and pushing back. When Trump started pontificating about how Canada should become the 51st state and claiming the United States was subsidizing its northern neighbour, SCP Founder Bill Young and the team responded with Always Canada. Never 51 - part economic populism mixed with methodical policy-making, the series is devoted to the issues of wealth inequality and Canadian sovereignty.

As our new government pursues growth and a nation-building agenda, we should remember this lesson from history: too often, we build and invest, only to sell off our assets and resources to the highest foreign bidder, leaving us economically vulnerable. In this moment of extreme peril, SCP CEO Matthew Mendelsohn asks how we should “build, baby, build” in a way that doesn’t merely accelerate the trends towards consolidation of wealth and deeper economic dependence. Canada has everything we need to emerge stronger from this period of geopolitical disruption if we put economic sovereignty and broad access to wealth-building at the heart of our agenda.

Canadian businesses are immensely profitable, but businesses simply haven't been reinvesting in them. As Tom Goldsmith writes in Orbit Policy's Deep Dives, the financialization of Canada’s economy and the high levels of rent extraction that accompany it are barriers to innovation. We are impoverishing ourselves over the long term to support short-term financial gains. If we care about innovation and productivity, then we need to focus far more critical attention on corporate Canada.

We predicted that American investors would be looking to buy up Canadian businesses and assets, and that this would threaten our national security and economic sovereignty. Now Canada has to make a call on whether to kill Texas-based energy giant Sunoco's takeover of Parkland Corporation. In the Toronto Star, SCP CEO Matthew Mendelsohn and Chair Jon Shell ask: do we want to be owned by American billionaires, to work for them and have our wealth stripped away to pad bank accounts in New York and Dallas? If we really want Canada to remain ours, they argue, then we need to think and act like it.

Prime Minister Mark Carney has a monumental task to lead Canadians through the turmoil of a second Donald Trump term, while also addressing various crises: affordability, housing, toxic drugs and health care, to name a few. For Truthout, Nora Loreto interviewed SCP Fellow Silas Xuereb about the crises that loomed over Canada's recent federal election and one fundamental cause that was never clearly identified: concentrated corporate power.

As Trump’s mercurial tariff mandate unleashes market mayhem and geopolitical unease, Canadians have galvanized—buying local, putting the maple leaf on everything, ratcheting our elbows way up. Over the course of a dozen sessions at Public Policy Forum’s 2025 Canada Growth Summit, more than 40 speakers, including SCP's CEO Matthew Mendelsohn, put forward a series of smart, actionable ideas for how governments, businesses, policymakers and communities can work together to advance our collective fortunes.

Sabrina Maddeaux and Michael Moffatt explore how the inability to afford housing not only affects individuals but also poses systemic risks to the Canadian economy and society. They delve into the implications of economic vulnerability, the talent exodus to the U.S. and the growing disconnection among younger generations, emphasizing the urgent need for a cohesive housing policy that addresses these interconnected issues to ensure a stable and resilient future for Canada.

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.

Trump’s tariff threats have opened the door for economic thinking that pushes Canada way past business as usual. In Policy Options, Executive Director of the Canadian Anti-Monopoly Project Keldon Bester argues that, from airlines to banks, fixing Canada’s competition problem starts with smarter domestic reforms.

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.

SCP Chair Jon Shell sits down with Andy Farquharson on The Alternative Exit Podcast to explore the transformative potential of employee ownership. Jon recounts how he advocated for Employee Ownership Trusts (EOTs) in Canada to address wealth inequality and business succession. He talks advantages of EOTs, from preserving a company’s legacy to fostering economic resilience in the workforce and reshaping both business culture and wealth distribution.

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.

There are lots of real, tangible public-policy solutions to the problems we face, says Matthew Mendelsohn. It begins with talking about the economy in a different way, grounded firmly in the public interest and data that reflect the reality of how people experience their economic lives.

There is a growing recognition, both globally and within Canada, that competition is essential to fostering a strong, resilient and productive economy. Yet, despite this consensus, the Canadian economy is becoming increasingly consolidated, and entrepreneurship is in steep decline. SCP's feedback on the Competition Bureau's Review of the Merger Enforcement Guidelines outlines our concern with serial-acquisition strategies wherein large firms acquire smaller companies in ways that evade regulatory scrutiny, and shares our recommendations to address this issue.

Social Capital Partners’ CEO, Matthew Mendelsohn, joins Member of Parliament for Beaches-East York, Nate Erksin-Smith, on his podcase “Uncommons”. Matthew and Nate talk about wealth concentration and its threat to democratic stability. They also discuss practical solutions to address wealth inequality, lack of trust in democratic institutions, the role of the federal public service and the need for a competent and responsive government.

Mark Carney made a speech last week and many people had plenty to say about it. But one of his replies during the Q & A deserves more attention than it received. MP Nate Erskine-Smith asked Carney what he would do about Canada’s growing wealth inequality. Carney’s answer was a bit unfocused, but he made two points clearly: 1) Let’s hope wealthy people give more to charity, and 2) We shouldn’t only focus on redistribution.

Statistics Canada's official wealth survey significantly underestimates wealth inequality. Canada’s wealth concentration is not as extreme as in the United States, but closer than official data suggest. This misleading portrait undermines Canadians’ ability to have an evidence-informed conversation about how to address growing wealth concentration and the threats it represents for economic resilience and democratic stability.

Social Capital Partners has a long history of investing in people and projects that create more economic opportunity in Canada. Recently, our focus has been on establishing more avenues for working Canadians to build wealth through ownership. Learn more about what we are moving towards.

Social Capital Partner's Director of Policy Dan Skilleter summarizes the key findings of his recent report "Billionaire Blindspot" in a Toronto Star Opinion piece.

This new report critically analyzes Canada’s flagship wealth survey, the Survey of Financial Security (SFS), and outlines how its methodological shortcomings lead to significant underreporting of wealth inequality.

Social Capital Partner’s Director of Policy, Dan Skilleter, sits down with Steve Paikin on The Agenda to discuss his recent report “Billionaire Blindspot”. This segment digs into how Canada’s official statistics severely underestimate how rich the richest Canadians are and includes steps that can be taken to correct this misrepresentation.

Social Capital Partners' CEO, Matthew Mendelsohn, reflects on the Bank of Canada's productivity speech and calls for need of fresh ideas, voices and questions.

Canada’s existing competition regime is unfair for small business. We surveyed over 1,000 small business owners to understand how competition policy has affected them.

The concentration of corporate power in Canada can be traced back to the antiquated objectives of our nation’s competition policy. Our submission to the government’s review of the Competition Act provides sharp critiques and recommendations on a path forward.

New research continues to demonstrate that employee ownership fosters economic resilience. As in previous economic crises, employee-owned companies were better at retaining employees and at maintaining hours and salaries throughout the pandemic. In a post-pandemic economic environment, the demonstrated benefits of increased employee retention and alignment by employee-owned companies will be even more important to support economic growth.

Small, independent businesses are the backbone of our economy. Unfortunately, they’ve become harder to start and struggle to compete with large chains. We’ve been inspired by owner-owned cooperatives that help small businesses thrive.