Comprehensive report on economic and quality of life indicators suggests major course corrections are needed to build a more prosperous and influential Canada
Toronto, June 10, 2024 – Today, Century Initiative released its fourth annual National Scorecard on Canada’s Growth and Prosperity, providing a detailed analysis of Canada’s progress across 40 indicators, comparing Canada’s performance against similar countries using reliable data to assess our ability to meet our most pressing national objectives.
This year’s report reflects the fact that the conversation around immigration in Canada has intensified, highlighting both the critical role that immigration plays in our economic growth and the urgent need to address public concerns around Canada’s ability to effectively welcome, integrate, and support newcomers. Moreover, the Scorecard’s assessment of Canada’s progress underscores the importance of informed debate and strategic policies to harness the benefits of immigration.
“Canada stands at a critical juncture where strategic, informed action is essential to harness our full potential,” said Lisa Lalande, CEO of Century Initiative. “The time for incremental change has passed; the moment for holistic, courageous action has arrived, propelling Canada towards a stronger, more prosperous future. Century Initiative’s Scorecard is our premiere insights tool for guiding this conversation, painting a detailed picture of Canada’s challenges and opportunities with respect to housing affordability, a sluggish economy, and immigration planning.”
This year’s Scorecard distills its findings into three key insights:
Population growth, immigration, and prosperity are at a pivotal stage both domestically and globally. Challenges like housing affordability, infrastructure investment, and climate change require urgent attention to ensure sustainable growth. The Scorecard underlines the bold policies needed to address these challenges, with additional focus on support for children and families and strong public education, positioning Canada to grow well and remain a beacon of freedom and opportunity on the global stage.
Canada faces significant economic challenges, including low productivity, insufficient business spending on R&D, and underuse of homegrown intellectual property. To build a sustainable, resilient economy, Canada must focus on innovation-driven growth. This requires public and private sector collaboration, investments in critical infrastructure, tax reform, and reducing barriers to foreign investment.
Public support for Canada’s immigration levels has significantly declined, while the citizenship rate among recent immigrants has dropped from 75.4% in 1996 to 45.7% in 2021. Issues such as lack of access to safe and affordable housing for newcomers and international students have contributed to this decline. Remedying these issues and resolving our credentials mismatch are essential. Additionally, better integrating temporary residents into immigration planning and addressing underfunding in post-secondary institutions are critical steps needed to restore public confidence and build a future-ready talent pool.
For more details, read the full report and Key Insights at the links below, or visit the interactive Scorecard microsite.
About Century Initiative
Century Initiative is a national, non-partisan charity with a mission to enhance Canada’s long-term prosperity, resiliency and global influence by responsibly growing the population of Canada to 100 million by 2100. Century Initiative delivers its mission by leading, enabling and partnering on initiatives that support long-term thinking and planning in immigration; infrastructure and environment; economy, entrepreneurship and innovation; support for children and families; and education, skills and employment. Century Initiative takes a network approach, prioritizing inclusion of diverse perspectives to inform and advance its work.
Please contact media@centuryinitiative.ca for any further inquiries.
About the Scorecard
This is the fourth edition of Century Initiative’s National Scorecard on Canada’s Growth and Prosperity. The Scorecard is designed to measure Canada’s progress on achieving population growth toward a goal of 100 million Canadians by 2100, using data from Statistics Canada, the OECD, and other sources. Full information on the Scorecard dataset can be found here.
This edition of the Scorecard assesses 40 indicators across six focus areas critical for Canada to achieve long-term economic and social prosperity: 1) Growing to 100 million, 2) Infrastructure & Environment, 3) Economy, Innovation & Entrepreneurship, 4) Support for Children & Families, 5) Immigration and 6) Education, Skills & Employment.
