Economist Peter St. Onge, Ph.D., said a growing number of Canadian manufacturers are relocating production to the United States, citing a recent KPMG survey that he argues reflects the combined impact of U.S. trade policy and years of Canadian economic policies under Prime Ministers Justin Trudeau and Mark Carney.
In a recent commentary, St. Onge discussed the survey’s findings, which indicate that many Canadian manufacturers are either moving operations south of the border or preparing to do so.
“A new study finds nearly half of Canadian manufacturers are moving production to America. So much for elbows up, Canada’s globalist new slogan to fight Trump by giving him all the manufacturing jobs,” St. Onge said.
He pointed to data from KPMG showing that a significant share of manufacturers are already shifting production.
“A new KPMG survey found that 42 percent of Canadian manufacturers have either moved production to the U.S. or are planning to. 20-9% have already moved at least some production. Another 13% are preparing to. Three quarters of those expect to move within two years. In other words, during Trump’s presidency,” he said.
According to St. Onge, many manufacturers are delaying expansion plans while evaluating whether to relocate.
“Worse, KPMG says the majority of Canadian manufacturers are now operating in what they call ‘quote endurance mode,’ as in survival mode, not expanding, not investing, just running down the factory, apparently counting the days till they can move to America,” he said.
He also cited survey findings showing that businesses are reducing investment.
“Nearly six in 10 have delayed, reduced, or outright canceled capital investment. 40-2% have cut R and D,” St. Onge said.
St. Onge argued that while President Donald Trump’s tariffs have accelerated the trend, the underlying causes predate the current administration.
“Now the immediate trigger is Trump’s tariffs, which are about to go up this week, but Canada’s manufacturing exodus has been a decade in the making, thanks to Justin Trudeau and Mark Carney jacking taxes and red tape while strangling Canada’s immense oil reserves 20 times the U.S. on a per capita basis,” he said.
He said Canadian manufacturers remain heavily dependent on the U.S. market.
“The deeper problem is that however much Carney wants to elbow up Trump Canadian manufacturers and not walk away from America, which makes up almost 1/3 of global consumption, in which geography has been kind enough to plop right next to Canada,” St. Onge said.
He continued by citing another statistic from the KPMG survey.
“60-1% of Canadian manufacturers say their business literally cannot survive without access to the U.S. market. So while Kearney jets around a dying Europe in the real world, Canada cannot replace the world’s largest consumer market sitting right across the border with a trade mission to Belgium,” he said.
According to St. Onge, relocating manufacturing can have broader economic consequences beyond the factories themselves.
“Gets worse because once the factory moves, the suppliers follow the engineers, the skilled workers, then the tax base. This is how a country gets hollowed out one factory at a time. So America gets the jobs. Ottawa gets to commission a study,” he said.
St. Onge also argued that Canada’s broader economic performance has weakened over the past decade.
“So, as Zach brought to you by the Bitcoin way, Canada’s globalist liberals have been a disaster for regular Canadians, delivering West Virginia wages, San Francisco home prices, and sending Canada’s best and brightest fleeing to America,” he said.
He cited investment and economic growth figures that he believes illustrate the trend.
“Business investment in Canada has collapsed by a third, while it doubled in the U.S. Canada is on the edge of its third recession in 11 years,” St. Onge said.
He also referenced a Bank of Canada study regarding emigration among higher-income Canadians.
“A recent Bank of Canada study found half of Canada’s top 10% people have already fled to the U.S. What’s driving them is there’s roughly half a million college grads in Canada competing for just 80,000 jobs,” he said.
According to St. Onge, employment opportunities continue to draw Canadians to the United States.
“At this point, a Canadian is 69 times more likely to live in the U.S. than an American in Canada,” he said.
St. Onge also discussed Canada’s recent population growth.
“All while Canada mass imports the third world to where 92% of Canada’s population growth, as in 92% of future Canadians, are third world migrants,” he said.
Concluding his remarks, St. Onge argued that Canada’s natural resources and workforce should position the country for stronger economic performance.
“By all rights, Canada should be one of the richest countries in the world. It’s blessed with an educated native-born population that’s the envy of the rest of the world. It’s swimming in natural resources to where Canadians shouldn’t have to pay any taxes, like Saudi Arabia. But the globalists have thrown that all away, turning Canada into the very third world it’s importing,” St. Onge said.
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