In the provincial economies thread, I recently made an unflattering comparison between Canadian and Swedish industry, noting that this small country has a much more impressive array of top-tier global industrial firms than does Canada.
I stand by this. Not only does Sweden have IKEA, Volvo, Ericsson, Electrolux, and Scania, but its air force is built around Swedish fighters, AWACs aircraft, and transports. Its Navy uses Swedish submarines, Corvettes, patrol boats and fast attack craft.
But it's not all doom and gloom for Canada. U of T, McGill and UBC all rank ahead of Sweden's top school, Karolinska, in the global rankings. Moreover, Canada's industrial sector is 28.2%, not that far behind Sweden's 33% and well ahead given our GDP is three times that of Sweden (they are ahead per capita, however).
So our underperformance is hardly catastrophic. The problem, however, is that our performance is not highly visible. All Swedes are proud of their high visibility in demanding spheres given their small population; in Canada, it can sometimes seem as though we are resigned to the status of a "small country" despite our growing size and very impressive economy.
I propose that it is what I called a "back-office mentality" that holds us back, but will of course allow that having Rome itself as a neighbour can distort the view.
Canada recently came very close to having one of the crowning achievements of any industrial nation: a large, advanced civilian airliner. Airbus and the Americans fucked us out of the CSeries and now it is the A220; this is not dissimilar to the Avro Arrow in terms of its outcome. But Bombardier is a world-leading manufacturer of trains and airplanes, and can be discussed in the same breath as something like Scania any day of the week.
The RCAF uses US airframes exclusively, but Manitoba-based Bristol's CRV7 remains in use on our CF-18s and remains one of the best air-to-ground rockets in the world, which is doubly impressive considering that it is over 40 years old.
Moreover, Bristol is owned by Toronto-based Magellan, which produces components for, among others, the 787 and A380 -- two of the most advanced civilian aircraft out there. It also produces parts for the F-35.
There is no problem with what Canadians at Canadian firms can do. The problem comes in around the term "Canadian" -- it doesn't seem to carry much weight.
Look at Magna: this firm supplies GM, Tesla, VW, Mercedes-Benz, and others. Their technicians can compete with anyone. But the lack of a "Canadian car" means that ordinary people do not often participate in this success story. Here, you buy Volvo or you explain why not. At home, we call Buicks domestic despite nobody south of our border considering them as such. Yes, it's all getting global; a Buick Regal is just an Opel Insignia. But optics matter. For Swedes, the many high-visibility and advanced Swedish products reminds them of who they are and what they can do, despite their small size. This could be useful for Canada.
I am told that we are not a nation-state, not a conventional country, an adjunct to our neighbour. But just as I am being told this, the NHL thread demonstrates an enormous, forceful and quite new (in decades-long terms) consensus in favour of our immigration programme. It wouldn't be inaccurate to compare this "New Ellis Island" consensus to the existing one about healthcare.
So why not industry?
Petty nationalism that divides people by ancestry or ideology is not what Canada needs, but strong support of broad national programmes like healthcare or immigration is a notable characteristic of our country. In light of Remembrance Day, it's worth noting that such support is what built us the world's fourth-largest army in the '40s, when we were the size that Sweden is today.
tl;dr? Sweden is a more productive country than Canada per capita, and the idea that they can always "do for self" looms larger here than it does at home. But when you look at the fundamentals, we're right there. We're working at the highest levels. It's somehow just not always... Canadian. And I think it should be more so.