How Did We Let This Happen?

I read a report this week that made me genuinely angry.

RBC just put out the numbers. Between 2015 and 2024, more than $1 trillion in investment walked out the back door of this country. Biggest capital exodus in Canadian history.

For every dollar of foreign investment coming in, two dollars left.

Let that sit for a second.

A trillion dollars. Gone.

Not to war. Not to a natural disaster. Not to some global crisis nobody saw coming.

Just… left. Because we made it easier to leave than to stay.

What Was Happening While Canada Bled Capital

And while that was happening, here’s what else was happening:

… Food bank usage hit record highs

… A generation gave up on ever owning a home

… Our productivity flatlined while the US ran away from us

And maybe the part that hits hardest… the people leaving.

Some of the most talented, driven, entrepreneurial Canadians I know, the backbone of this country, have packed up and moved elsewhere. Mostly south of the border. Houston, Austin, Miami, Tampa, Phoenix.

People who would have built companies here. Employed people here. Paid taxes here. Raised families here.

In some cases, honestly, it breaks my heart.

Because the ones who stay aren’t exactly thriving either.

Young families are telling me they’re looking at Alberta, Saskatchewan, or parts of Atlantic Canada not because they dreamed of living there, but because those are the only places left in this country where a young person can still afford a home.

Think about that. In the second-largest country on earth, with more land, water, and resources than almost anywhere on the planet, we’ve narrowed the map of “affordable” down to a handful of regions.

The Five Fs (and a Sixth)

All of this in a country that has what the rest of the world is fighting over:

Food. Fuel. Fertilizer. Forestry. Freshwater.

The five Fs. And friendly people, which makes six.

We are one of the most resource-rich nations on the planet. We have what the world needs, what the world is paying premium prices for, and what the world is increasingly desperate to secure.

And somehow… food banks.

Somehow a housing crisis.

Somehow our best and brightest boarding planes with one-way tickets.

The Uncomfortable Truth

Here’s the uncomfortable truth most people don’t want to say out loud:

Canada does not have the capital to develop these resources on our own. We never have.

We need the world’s money to come here. We need to be an attractive, investor-friendly country that foreign capital wants to bet on.

And for the better part of the last fifteen years, we have done the exact opposite.

Roadblocks. Regulations. Reviews of reviews. Taxes layered on taxes. Projects killed in the cradle. Seven-year approval timelines that turn into ten.

A message sent loud and clear to every investor in the world: your money is not welcome here.

And guess what? They listened.

A trillion dollars walked out the door. That’s not a mystery. That’s not bad luck.

That’s a direct, predictable response to the signals we sent.

A Choice. A Series of Choices.

I’ll be honest, when I first read the RBC report, I wanted to throw my laptop across the room. Because the cost of what we’ve done isn’t abstract.

It shows up in the grocery store. It shows up in the rent cheque. It shows up in the friends and colleagues who aren’t at the table anymore.

This was a choice. A series of choices.

And we are living with every single one of them.

But here’s the thing…

That same report showed me something else by the time I finished reading it. Something I didn’t expect. Something that could change the next decade of this country… if we don’t blow it.

I’ll get into that on Wednesday.

Because the story doesn’t end here. Not even close.

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Canada’s Opportunity to Shine: A Three-Part Series

Part 1: The Frustration (you are here)

Part 2: The Report

Part 3: The Phoenix (Friday)

Russell Westcott
#Inspire # Encourage #Love