Canada's Outlook

Economic Underperformance, Excessive Indebtedness, and Our Constrained Future

With last week’s federal deficit announcement, it is now more important than ever that we acknowledge our current realities with detail and clarity. We otherwise will be unable to develop a believable and effective path forward in the post-COVID world. The problem is that our current realities are uncomfortably negative. Many of us just don’t want to see this or believe it. We were in a slow-moving crisis of competitiveness, investment, and productivity prior to the COVID lockdown. Now, we have both stagnant productivity and excessive levels of debt. This feels negative as most of us understandably want to feel positive and optimistic about our future.  However, for optimism to be real it must be grounded in reality. It is only then we can develop a believable and inspiring vision, and the appropriate strategies to recover and rebuild our economy.

Prior to the COVID lockdown, the economic fundamentals in Canada were already grim:

As a Canadian, if you were fortunate enough to accumulate savings, the last thing you should have done is to invest in Canadian companies on Canadian stock exchanges.

We were in a state of investment, competitive, and economic underperformance before the pandemic-related collapse. “Going back to normal” or “the way things were” is going back to a set of conditions that were compromising the future for all Canadians.

And now, we have the added reality of excessive debt. The inevitable consequence is a loss of financial flexibility, less capacity to spend, and more financial risk in the event of an extended recession, additional intermittent lockdowns, or some other new, unforeseen crisis.

Although the financial position of our federal government was reasonable going into the COVID lockdown (debt to GDP ratio was 35%), this has all changed seemingly overnight.

With a $350 billion deficit, we are now adding about 15% to the debt to GDP ratio. Maybe this still doesn’t look too alarming, however, we are missing a large part of the picture if we ignore the provinces.

We have learned in crisis that the national government will be called upon to backstop the credit demands of all provinces, and to a certain extent, even corporate and household debt.

Ontario’s debt is now about $400 billion, Quebec $200 billion, and then there are the other provinces. The Western provinces, including Manitoba, are now close to approximately $150 billion. The Atlantic provinces represent another $50 billion in debt. If you’re keeping track, that’s $800 billion of provincial debt combined with now over $1 trillion of federal debt. Total “all in” government debt is now at least $1.8 trillion and heading towards $2.0 trillion which would be 100% of GDP – that represents over $50,000 for every man woman and child in Canada, or $200,000 for a household of four.

Analysts and economists tend to look at debt solely on the basis of decision-making authority and responsibility at the entity level, as this is where insolvency would occur. This is why most don’t aggregate debt. But aside from insolvency risk, the key problem with debt that’s often overlooked is how it constrains choice and optionality. The aggregation of choice and commitment drives our overall economy. Understanding our economic outlook requires accounting for the burden of debt across all decision-making entities.

The government debt described above is layered on top of consumer and corporate debt. Total consumer debt in Canada is at a record $2.3 trillion which includes $1.6 trillion of mortgages. Household debt to disposable income is now at a record high of 181%.

Corporate debt in Canada is also at record levels of about $2.4 trillion and based on the Bank of International Settlements, our corporate debt service ratio is among the highest in the world.

Total household, corporate, and government debt is about $7.0 trillion. This is 350% on a $2 trillion economy.

The one thing we know about debt is that if you can survive through a downturn, it will constrain choice; it will constrain the scope and flexibility of decision-making commitments. This will be the new reality for many decision makers across the entire economy.

You can reasonably expect that consumers and corporations will be spending less and repairing balance sheets, and governments at all levels will be forced to be more accountable and discerning in spending and borrowing. All of this will likely be a net drag on the economy for years.

Unfortunately, this is all happening at the same time that Canada’s GDP per capita and labour productivity have been lagging.

The issue of productivity must be emphasized. To quote Nobel Laureate economist, Paul Krugman:

“Productivity isn’t everything, but in the long run it is almost everything. A country’s ability to improve its standard of living over time depends almost entirely on its ability to raise output per worker.”

Canada is now in an era of both stagnating productivity, low competitiveness, and excessive levels of indebtedness. In the corporate investment world, we often describe this as a “strategic straightjacket” – with less choice and less freedom to move. All of this should encourage a reset in priorities towards fiscal constraint, incentivizing investment, and pursuing more business-friendly policies and strategies that will tilt towards increasing innovation, productivity, and prosperity.


Author

Mac Van Wielingen

What Drives Organizations? Applying Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs to Corporations

In 1943, Abraham Maslow published his theory on the hierarchy of needs. You have probably come across it at some point in your life. Maslow used the terms "physiological," "safety," "belonging and love," "social needs," and "self-actualization" to describe the linear ascension of human motivation. According to Maslow, human beings are motivated to satisfy basic physiological needs such as food and water before they can progress to the next level of needs for safety, belonging, social acceptance, and self actualization. The further removed the individual is from simply obtaining the necessities of life, the less anxiety and tension is present as they seek to fulfill higher functions of personal growth. The pursuit of these functions is critical to the advancement of innovation as the individual is liberated to focus on the needs of others once their own necessities have been fulfilled.

The arc of Maslow’s theory closely aligns with the needs of corporations.  From a legal perspective, American corporations have been granted many of the same rights as individuals under the 14th amendment of the Constitution (See 1886 Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Rail Road). Over the past 130 years, corporations have evolved into legally distinct beings that enjoy many rights normally reserved for individuals such as the right to own property, enter into contracts, or pursue legal action. If corporations possess many of the same legal rights that individuals do, it stands to reason that corporations also share a hierarchy of motivations that begin with their basic need of survival.      

The International Monetary Fund is forecasting that the U.S. and Canadian economies will shrink by 8.0% and 8.4% this year because of COVID-19 related shutdown. As these effects hit corporate balance sheets, many executives have been forced to take extraordinary measures to keep their businesses solvent. corporate leaders are shifting their focus to satisfy the company’s basic ‘physiological’ needs for cash flow, liquidity, and debt coverage at the expense of higher corporate aspirations. The abrupt departure of these aspirations is particularly problematic when viewed in the context of environmental stewardship. As Maslow’s work highlights, the greatest advancements in corporate innovation are likely to occur beyond the base levels of sustenance. As corporations mortgage future development to sustain existing operations, critical ESG commitments, research, and technologies are less likely to come to fruition.

According to Bloomberg, climate change-related talk on S&P500 earnings calls fell from 33% in Q1 to just 17% in Q2 as Companies re-tooled their corporate strategies to focus on the fiscal necessities of survival. This is strong evidence that higher corporate functions are a luxury of choice – ones that are only possible if the basic corporate needs of survival are met. Therefore, stakeholders should celebrate Companies that remain steadfast in their commitment to environment, social, and governance standards in the face of a global pandemic. This praise is warranted because corporate ESG commitments confirms the importance of these factors to the survival of their business. These corporate leaders do not view ESG as a luxury of choice or a higher corporate function, but rather as a fundamental cornerstone to the success of their business.

As noted by Bloomberg, discussions regarding the acceleration of the climate crisis dropped by 50% on average across every industry in the S&P 500 earnings call transcripts from Q1 to Q2 2020. The largest pull back was seen by Technology Companies (53%), Financial Services (69%), and Energy Companies (58%). Energy Companies touted their energy transition goals earlier this year, but unsurprisingly this rhetoric has dwindled and has been replaced with urgent discussions regarding production cuts, liquidity, and plummeting demand. What may be surprising are the industries that have managed to keep ESG commitments front-of-mind during coronavirus-dominated earnings calls. As noted by Bloomberg, “Sustainability talk in the utility sector did decline in the first quarter, but only by 31%. The drop at industrial companies was just 10%”.

Earnings call transcripts are a way for management to communicate corporate priorities directly to shareholders.  While a pull back of long-term initiatives is inevitable as Companies focus on the short-term realities of survival, the degree of pull back could signal the level of commitment of Companies towards environmental stewardship in the long-term. The next time you are looking through the earnings call transcripts of Companies you have invested in make a point to quickly scan through previous transcripts prior to the pandemic to see which Companies are still including language outlining their ESG ambitious and what resources they will be dedicating to achieve those objectives.


Author

Michael Hebert, Viewpoint Research Team

What Surprising Factor is Behind Canada’s Economic Growth?

Family enterprises play a crucial role in the Canadian economy. A recently published report suggests that family enterprises are the most powerful driver of economic growth in Canada, generating $574.6 billion – which is almost half of Canada’s private sector GDP – and almost seven million jobs in 2017. This “first-of-its-kind” study in Canada was a collaboration between the Conference Board of Canada and Family Enterprise Xchange. This research helps us to better understand “[t]he economic impact of family owned enterprises in Canada.”

Family businesses exist in all sectors and communities, from the local farmer and restaurant owner, to international companies in agriculture, communications, and retail. “Family enterprises produce nearly 7 million jobs in Canada. Empirical research also confirms that these businesses account for approximately 65 per cent of the output and 90 per cent of the jobs generated by small and medium-sized companies, which are frequently described as the backbone of the Canadian economy and are essential to our supply chains.” Additionally, “[n]early 2/3 of all private sector firms in Canada are family owned.” 

Not only do family enterprises create jobs, invest in their communities, and give back to society, but it seems that they may experience more success than other firms. Family enterprises were also found to have longer growth and longevity than other firms, with total revenues growing 14.6 percent on average from 2007 to 2013. In contrast, other firms grew 13.9 percent on average during this same period. Of the firms that were operating in 2007, around 70 percent of the family enterprises were still in operation in 2013, compared to 65 percent of the other firms. Moreover, a  2018 study by the National Bank of Canada suggests that “family-controlled businesses demonstrate an ability to yield long-term returns over the span of generations.” They concluded that their sample of “family-controlled businesses from different industries and regions across the country outperformed the S&P/TSX Composite Index by 120.3% over a 10-year period.” 

Although the reasons why family firms achieve these successes are not well understood, experts believe that enduring family firms share common traits – such as long-term orientation and an ability to adapt – that allow them to stand the test of time better than non-family companies. 

“Over time, greater knowledge of family firm dynamics will help us to understand the unique challenges that these businesses face, and by extension their consequences for the broader economic base. And that in turn will facilitate improved educational support for family enterprises themselves.” Further, perhaps by identifying what enables these family enterprises to experience increased success, other organizations can also benefit from focusing on these same characteristics. 


Author

Karen Macdonald and Viewpoint Research Team

State of the Nation: Canada’s 2019 Outlook

With trade wars, polarized politics, and big business shakeups across the world over the past year, many observers would opine that the political and economic state of many nations is in flux. With this in mind, it’s time we step back and take a big-picture view of Canada from a political and economic standpoint, as well as theorize what could be in store for 2019.

According to Edelmen’s 2018 Trust Barometer, Canadians' trust in institutions (government, business, media, and NGOs) did not change between 2017 and 2018, staying at a relatively low level of distrust from the general public (49 on a trust scale of 100) and a low level of trust from the “informed” public (62 out of 100). The US saw the steepest drop in trust by the informed public, from 68 in 2017, down to 45 in 2018. Canadians also have an increased trust in authority figures compared to 2017, choosing to believe academic experts, technical experts, and financial industry analysts above “people similar to themselves”.

On the business side, Canadian companies are the most trusted globally, beating Switzerland, Sweden, and Australia to claim the number one spot. However, trust in most business sectors within Canada is declining, except for the energy industry, which actually saw a 4 percent increase between 2017 and 2018, reversing a three-year downward trend. The top trust-building mandates for businesses in Canada is to drive economic prosperity, invest in jobs, and innovate, whereas the top trust-building mandates in the US are to safeguard privacy, investigate corruption, and ensure equal opportunity.

As for Canada’s 2019 economic outlook, the Business Development Bank of Canadafocuses on five analyses: 1) the Canadian economy is expected to grow by 2 percent, 2) trade tensions won’t affect the global economy with US-imposed tariffs expected to be removed, 3) the US is expected to lead most countries on economic growth, 4) a strong US economy will put downward pressure on the Canadian dollar, and 5) Canadian businesses will continue to struggle in hiring the people they need, stifling growth.

Additionally, a study by the International Institute for Sustainable Development shows Canada’s economy on shaky ground, with the growth of the nation’s “comprehensive wealth”, composed of five different types of capital (produced, natural, human, financial, and social), to be drastically behind other developed countries, and is in fact the only G7 nation undergoing a contraction of comprehensive wealth per capita. The risks to Canada’s economy include unprecedented levels of household debt, over-dependence on market-sensitive industries, zero growth in human capital, and climate change events (floods, wildfires, and storms).


Author

Viewpoint Research Team