Canada should pursue global markets: Scotiabank

Canada could improve productivity through innovation and efficiency, said Scotiabank CEO Rick Waugh at the 125^th annual Toronto Region Board of Trade dinner.

“Taking our products and services to high growth emerging markets can help us reach these goals,” he added.

“We need to understand a global shift is well underway. Our traditional trading partners in the developed world are facing prolonged slow growth and serious structural issues that are likely to hinder them for many years.”

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Waugh outlined in his speech that Canada is a strong position right now, and he says we can take advantage of it by adopting a true sense of urgency.

“We can’t continue with business as usual,” he says. “It’s going to require a new collective mindset and new priorities and exceptional effort.”

Waugh laid out a number of Canada’s strengths, which included a stable fiscal and monetary position in absolute terms. He says we’re considered a safe haven for investors so can attract capital far easier than many global competitors.

As such, our government needs to be rightly focused “on expanding trade to external markets and encouraging two-way investment to grow our economy.”

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Canada has great potential to succeed in world where there will “Not only commodities and energy, but our leading expertise in banking, insurance, accounting, legal services, aerospace, [and] technology” afford us an edge over other countries, says Waugh.

He adds, “We have a highly skilled, diverse and multicultural workforce with global connections.”

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Canada now must confront its challenges, however.

“Our historical near-total reliance on the U.S. may have been enough in the last century, but it hasn’t prepared many of us for the next century,” concedes Waugh.

The solution to this, says Waugh, is for Canada to start developing new markets for our products and services in high-growth emerging markets no matter the level of our currency.

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