Trudeau Diversified Canada’s Economy Like No One Before. By Matthew A. Winkler

Trudeau Diversified Canada’s Economy Like No One Before. By Matthew A. Winkler

Unlike any of his peers in the developed world, the prime minister has managed to show his fellow citizens the benefits of immigration.

Justin Trudeau has Canada’s economy humming. 

Justin Trudeau has Canada’s economy humming. Photographer: Rodrigo Reyes Marin — Pool/Getty Images 

ByMatthew A. Winkler+Follow

22 June 2023 at 19:00 GMT+9

It seems like Canada has been in the news for all the wrong reasons lately. The Bank of Canada was blamed for tanking global bond markets earlier this month when it unexpectedly raised benchmark interest rates to the highest in 22 years. Then there’s the toxic, Martian-like haze from wildfires raging in British Columbia to Nova Scotia. 

And yet, these events obscure a more relevant reality, which is that Canada is booming like it never has before. Unprecedented population growth, record-low unemployment, the most diversified economy in its 156-year history and a world-beating stock market since 2021 are contributing to what nine out of 10 economists say will be the best performer among the Group of Seven developed countries by 2025. 

Source: Bloomberg

Canada already is the fastest-growing economy after the US in the G7 this year and will probably repeat that performance in 2024, according to economist forecasts compiled by Bloomberg. It will be No. 1 in 2025 with gross domestic product expanding 2.3%. Technology is driving much of the growth. Shopify Inc., the Ottawa-based commerce platform provider, is the country's third most valuable company and the No. 5 application software company in the world after more than doubling in value from its 2015 initial public offering. None of Shopify's peers will come close to matching its 22% sales growth this year, according to analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

Nuvei Corp., the Montreal-based payment processing company that went public in 2020 and receives 60% of its revenue from outside North America, will appreciate 90% over the next 12 months on sales growth of 47%, according to analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Bombardier Inc., the Montreal-based manufacturer of private jets, appreciated 171% during the past 12 months after reporting eight consecutive quarters of positive earnings surprises -- a net-income superlative unmatched by any of Bombardier's global peers. 

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That's a far cry from Canada during the first six years of the new century when Canadian shares showed greater price fluctuations and a total return (income plus appreciation) that was 64% less than the Bloomberg World Large & Mid Cap Index. Not only are Canadian shares less volatile than they've ever been, they're beating the benchmark by 13 percentage points, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Unlike any of his peers in the developed world, Trudeau managed to show 40 million fellow citizens the benefits of immigration, evidenced by the economy's performance, which is another way of saying investing in Canada turned out to be the best bet yet.