Bridging the Adoption Gap: The Key to Turning Canada’s Productivity Around

February 2, 2026

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As published in The Hill Times, an English-only outlet.

Canada’s well-diagnosed and ongoing productivity problem is not because of a lack of ideas or ambition; it is because of a failure to translate innovation into adoption across the economy. Take, for instance, this country’s second-place ranking for the largest pool of top-tier AI researchers in the world. Yet, Canadian businesses lag behind their international competitors in AI adoption.

In 2024, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce’s Business Data Lab (BDL) put forward two adoption scenarios in the report Prompting Productivity: Generative AI Adoption by Canadian Businesses. BDL predicted that Canada would reach an AI adoption tipping point of 50% between 2027 (fast adoption scenario) and 2030 (slow adoption scenario). Projections for 2026 AI adoption align with the slow adoption scenario. This pace is equivalent to Canada using dial-up while everyone else uses high-speed 5G.

The pace of digital adoption, its link to productivity, and productivity’s link to standard of living is the concern of policymakers — and they should be concerned. We are not talking about a technology issue or something only for economists to discuss. With our digital capabilities increasingly tied to capital investment decisions and long-term national growth, we are talking about a fundamental economic performance issue.

Digital capability is a prerequisite for export growth, supply-chain integration and economic resilience. Firms that adopt digital tools are better positioned to grow, diversify their markets, and withstand global shocks. Those falling behind on AI run the risk of not being viable in a global marketplace. And in today’s trade landscape, that is untenable.

Our global peers are moving faster and with greater strategic coherence to bridge the adoption gap. The United States is pairing large-scale digital infrastructure investment with incentives and regulatory clarity designed to accelerate adoption, not just innovation. The European Union is aligning digital infrastructure deployment, industrial policy, and standards-setting to reinforce competitiveness across its internal market, and it is being met with increased usage. In both cases, the emphasis is on ensuring that innovation and advanced technologies are adopted at scale for companies of all sizes.

Canada should take note. We have the ingredients for success, but favourable conditions alone are not enough. The policy framework must reinforce momentum rather than create friction. Addressing predictable barriers — retraining employees, hiring workers with high tech skills, ensuring security and privacy of data, and accessing financial resources to invest in new technology and to support implementation — is critical, especially for the small businesses that make up Canada’s economic backbone.

Still at the beginning of 2026, Canada is experiencing a rare moment of alignment. Governments, businesses, and the public increasingly agree on the need to improve productivity, reduce investment barriers, and strengthen economic competitiveness here at home. The fiscal and policy milestones ahead, including the upcoming Spring Economic Statement and the 2026 federal budget, provide a critical window to move from consensus to execution. But complacency is pervasive and can return in a second, which is why we must treat digital adoption not as a side-of-the-desk issue to manage, but as a central pillar of Canada’s economic competitiveness plan.

If we had common objectives, shared metrics — adoption rates, productivity gains, and company-wide performance — and genuine coordination across the innovation, infrastructure, and finance portfolios, we would hit that 50% metric much sooner.

The productivity problem does not need another research paper. It has been analyzed exhaustively. Long-term productivity gains will come not from innovation in isolation, but from widespread, practical adoption across the economy. Tangibles, like digital infrastructure, investment and adoption rates, are the decisive factors for whether we close the productivity gap and raise living standards for generations to come — or stay on dial-up and watch our country fall farther behind.

Alex Greco, Senior Director, Manufacturing and Value Chains

Visit the Innovative Infrastructure Council to learn more about the Canadian Chamber’s advocacy.