Canadian Critique Hits A Raw Nerve; Report Stirs National Debate Over Social, Economic Perils
TORONTO - After decades of indulging themselves with trade protectionism, labor featherbedding and spiraling wages, Canadians suddenly find themselves under pressure to make their economy more competitive.</br></br>But while many leaders in business and government are beginning to see this as a stimulating challenge, others view "competitiveness" as a code word for unfeeling, Reagan-style "supply side" economics, and a retrenchment of cradle-to-grave social cushions and job-creating government programs.</br></br>To the chagrin of fervent Canadian nationalists who are sensitive to what is referred to here as the "cultural imperialism" of the United States, the current debate over Canada's level of competitiveness was triggered by a provocative report written by a Harvard Business School professor who was commissioned by the government to study the issue.</br></br>Michael E. Porter, a leading expert on global competitiveness, warned in his report that Canada's economic order is disintegrating because it lacks competitive bite and has cruised for too long on comfortable but static advantages such as abundant natural resources.</br></br>Such criticism comes as a jolt here. Canadian workers with generous benefits are bemused by the fuss aroused in the United States by efforts to extend unemployment benefits in the recession or to provide the full health coverage that all Canadians have had for two decades. And Canadians who can be seen clogging the highways any time after noon on Friday with canoes strapped to their cars seem in no hurry to give up their workers' paradise in favor of a management-directed work ethic.