Uploaded October 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
The Walrus Talks at Home: Growing Canadian Productivity took place on October 7, 2025.
How can Canada become an innovation nation?
Put simply, productivity measures how we convert work into economic output. Strong productivity leads to faster growth, more jobs, and higher wages, and can help protect the economy from high inflation and the shocks of—for example—a global trade war. But Canada’s productivity growth has stagnated in recent years—and over the past four decades, it has slipped significantly.
One way to build up productivity is to harness the energies of Canada’s most innovative thinkers. Our post-secondary research sector is world class. Every day, brilliant minds are developing research and ideas that could help remedy our lagging productivity. How can we better transfer these critical efforts into the private sector? There is extraordinary value in higher education and the cutting-edge research it enables, and Canadians will benefit from better integration between academics and our public and private sectors.
Join us to learn more about how higher education can contribute to building Canada’s productivity.
Featuring:
08:40 Trevor Tombe, Professor, Department of Economics, University of Calgary; Director, Fiscal and Economic Policy, The School of Public Policy
14:00 Tima Bansal, Canada Research Chair in Business Sustainability
20:04 Akolisa Ufodike, Associate Professor, School of Administrative Studies, York University
30:28 Valerie Walker, CEO, Business + Higher Education Roundtable
Browse our upcoming event schedule here: thewalrus.ca/the-walrus-talks and subscribe to The Walrus Events newsletter for updates and announcements: thewalrus.ca/conversation
The Walrus Talks at Home: Growing Canadian Productivity took place on October 7, 2025.
How can Canada become an innovation nation?
Put simply, productivity measures how we convert work into economic output. Strong productivity leads to faster growth, more jobs, and higher wages, and can help protect the economy from high inflation and the shocks of—for example—a global trade war. But Canada’s productivity growth has stagnated in recent years—and over the past four decades, it has slipped significantly.
One way to build up productivity is to harness the energies of Canada’s most innovative thinkers. Our post-secondary research sector is world class. Every day, brilliant minds are developing research and ideas that could help remedy our lagging productivity. How can we better transfer these critical efforts into the private sector? There is extraordinary value in higher education and the cutting-edge research it enables, and Canadians will benefit from better integration between academics and our public and private sectors.
Join us to learn more about how higher education can contribute to building Canada’s productivity.
Featuring:
08:40 Trevor Tombe, Professor, Department of Economics, University of Calgary; Director, Fiscal and Economic Policy, The School of Public Policy
14:00 Tima Bansal, Canada Research Chair in Business Sustainability
20:04 Akolisa Ufodike, Associate Professor, School of Administrative Studies, York University
30:28 Valerie Walker, CEO, Business + Higher Education Roundtable
Browse our upcoming event schedule here: thewalrus.ca/the-walrus-talks and subscribe to The Walrus Events newsletter for updates and announcements: thewalrus.ca/conversation
