Canada: What It Is, What It Can Be

by Roger Martin, James Milway

Canadians have achieved an enviable balance of economic prosperity and civic harmony, but as emerging countries like China, India, and Brazil take their place alongside developed economies, we cannot be complacent. Our high paying jobs, world-class learning and research institutes, excellent health care, and social safety nets exist only to the extent that we are innovative and competitive globally. What It Is, What It Can Be provides an incisive examination of this country's increasing prosperity gap - the difference in value between what we do create and what we could create if we performed at our full potential. As Roger Martin and James Milway demonstrate, although we are proud of our trading prowess, we do not participate as aggressively in world markets with innovative products and services as we could. While we want to take risks to achieve success, our business strategies and economic policies need to set the bar higher to achieve the success we want for Canada. Written in an accessible style that helps general readers understand complex economic concepts, What It Is, What It Can Be exposes the myths currently guiding our public policy, and provides ground-breaking new approaches for realizing our full prosperity potential.

232 pages, Hardcover

First published May 7, 2012

Reviews

[Susan Chow-Dukhan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The message is clear. Canada's prosperity is decreasing over time. Prosperity can be improved through innovation, business investment and venture funding. The first half of the book keeps your attention, as the introduction of the Schmidt family helps illustrate the impact of the economy on a family. The second half of the book becomes a little repetitive as the same points are brought up, over and over again

[Susan Frances · Rating 3 out of 5]

Authors Roger Martin and James Milway set out to persuade readers that Canada is a competitive nation in the global market. For a good portion of their book, “Canada: What It Is, What It Can Be,” readers are put in the position of listening to a salesman’s script attempting to convince audiences to invest in Canada’s economy. Thus, the book reads more like a corporation’s prospectus and annual report than as a documentary on Canada’s resources and its people.

I am of the opinion that most Americans don’t need to be sold on Canada’s economy. There has always been an amicable relationship and a lucrative partnership between Canada and America, or Canada and any other nation in the world. To my recollection, I’ve never known Canada to declare war on any other nation to stimulate their economy. Canadians generally integrate outside cultures into their own society. They are also a substantial faction in America’s work force, so Martin and Milway’s predilection to defend Canadian industries and its human resources in the global market seems uncalled for and unnecessary.

The pair stipulates, “Canadians report high levels of satisfaction.” I’ve never known anyone who would disagree with this statement. It’s a given really. Martin and Milway feather their book with statements like this, which, whether based on facts or not, are unlikely to be refuted.

“Canada: What It Is, What It Can Be” is more like a business prospectus than a book about Canada in a biographical sense. The gist of the book does not chronicle the development of Canadian industries and society, but rather the authors deliver a sales pitch that is tailored for a banker’s convention to solicit financial institutions. The material isn’t pedagogical in nature but rather reads like a business report on the current stats of Canada’s economy, which I for one never doubted Canada’s placement in the global market.