Canada is a prosperous country, but this prosperity is being stressed by demographics, pressures on the public purse, and low productivity growth. To maintain the nation's high quality of life, prosperity must increase while remaining sustainable.
Combining Tom Brzustowski's extensive knowledge of government, industry, and academia, The Way Ahead articulates a strategy for moving the Canadian economy towards higher-value products based on research and development, describing the practical steps government, industry and academia must take to improve things in the short term and prepare strategically for the long term. He recommends increasing productivity growth by embracing an economy based on innovation, prioritizing research and development, marketing Canadian products internationally, and encouraging entrepreneurial activities in all sectors.
Ultimately, increasing prosperity will require a new level of understanding, strategic coherence, and mutual support between the private and public sectors in Canada, a challenge that the author feels Canada is prepared to and absolutely must face.
Published in English.
Price: $29.95
Pages: 192
Publisher: Les Presses de l'Université d'Ottawa/University of Ottawa Press
Imprint: University of Ottawa Press
Series: Governance Series
Publication Date:
22 January 2008
Trim Size: 8.00 X 5.00 in
ISBN: 9780776606699
Format: Paperback
BISACs:
BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Development / Economic Development, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Public Policy / Economic Policy
Tom Brzustowski, O.C., FRSC (1937–2020) was the RBC Professor at the Telfer School of Management at the University of Ottawa and Chair at the Board of the Institute for Quantum Computing at the University of Waterloo. He served on the University of Waterloo’s Senate and Board of Governors and chaired the Scientific Advisory Committee of the Council of Canadian Academies. Brzustowski was President of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) from 1995–2005. A professional engineer in Ontario, Brzustowski graduated with a BASc in Engineering Physics from the University of Toronto in 1958, and with a master’s degree (1960) and a PhD (1963) in Aeronautical Engineering from Princeton. He taught mechanical engineering for 25 years and served a dozen years as Vice-President, Academic, at the University of Waterloo. He then became Deputy Minister in the Government of Ontario (1987–1995), first in the Ministry of Colleges and Universities and later in the Premier’s Council. During his academic career he published more than 60 research papers and undergraduate textbooks on thermodynamics. He authored several publications on Canadian innovation and prosperity, including The Way Ahead: Meeting Canada’s Productivity Challengeand Innovation in Canada: Why We Need More and What We Must Do to Get It (Invenire). Brzustowski held honorary doctorates from many institutions, including Alberta, Concordia, Guelph, McMaster, Ottawa, Ryerson, Waterloo, the École polytechnique de Montréal, and the Royal Military College of Canada. He was an Officer of the Order of Canada, and a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering, the Engineering Institute of Canada, and the Royal Society of Canada. In 2006 he received the Ontario Professional Engineering Association’s Gold Medal for making “significant and lasting contributions to research and development in Canadian engineering.”
