Excerpt from Inflection Point: A Plan for a Competitive, Productive, Prosperous Canada
For businesses to attract and retain the talent they need to grow, we need to embrace equitable opportunity for all. Promoting high workforce participation ensures Canadians can access the job market and progress towards personal prosperity, while also supporting Canadian businesses with the talent they need.
Simply put, a decline in workforce participation will not improve Canada’s lagging productivity. More than half of our members support diversity and equal opportunity in the workforce with less than 15 per cent opposing. This mirrors Canadians’ beliefs, as 58 per cent believe we should support diversity and equal opportunity in the workforce and only 13 per cent oppose.
Developing a diverse workforce also returns dividends in business outcomes. A 2024 report from Boston Consulting Group shows companies with above-average diversity in their leadership saw innovation revenues 19 per cent higher than those with below-average diversity, and a potential drop in staff attrition of 50 per cent. In order to solve Canada’s productivity crisis, we need an all-hands-on-deck approach, and ensuring everyone can fully participate in our workforce will be a key part of the solution.
Reommendations:
- Continue to fund early learning and childcare agreements, recognizing accessible childcare is critical to reducing the labour shortage, increasing our labour force participation, boosting our GDP, and ultimately increasing the size of our economy. All levels of government must collaborate and prioritize the creation of additional private and not-for-profit childcare, while ensuring new and existing spaces remain affordable.
- Support workforce participation in rural and remote areas by maintaining funding for the Universal Broadband Fund, ensuring people can access employment opportunities regardless of geographical location.
- Design workforce development programs to advance equitable opportunity. Consider providing increased eligibility for businesses that hire and upskill people with disabilities, akin to the Canada-Alberta Job Grant.
- Prioritize affordable access to mental health care through the implementation of federal transfers to the provinces that support capacity building and service delivery, noting the severe impact that mental health has on workforce participation and productivity.
