Brett Wilson: Morneau getting coached by group with no basis in reality

W. Brett Wilson isn’t buying Bill Morneau’s vote of confidence in Canadian competitiveness.

“It’s delusional … They live in a bubble,” Wilson, the chairman of Canoe Financial and co-founder of FirstEnergy Capital Corp., told BNN Bloomberg on Monday.

“Americans aren’t investing here because they’ve got a choice of tax rates. You pay 30, 40, 45 per cent in Canada, or 20-21 per cent in the U.S. You’re not going to come to Canada by choice.”

Morneau told BNN Bloomberg on Friday that he “won’t accept the frame that we’re not competitive.”

Wilson said Morneau’s comments make it difficult for investors to predict what the next move will be by the federal government in terms of affecting Canada’s investing environment.

“He’s getting coached by a group of bureaucrats who have no basis in reality,” Wilson said.

“That’s our frustration. When we’re making investment decisions, whether it’s my personal capital or Canoe, we are constantly trying to second guess what it [will be] that the politicians are coming at us with next. The data doesn’t support what he’s telling us.”

Canada’s global competitiveness has been criticized lately by industry executives and former policymakers.

Suncor CEO Steve Williams told BNN Bloomberg last week that regulatory confusion has led to an “exodus” of big energy players from Canada’s oil sands.

Former Bank of Canada governor David Dodge backed those statements up on Friday, saying: “That uncertainty and that lack of investment and growth in Canada is something that is worrying the Bank of Canada as well… They have to take that into account.”

Wilson said that the federal government is also playing a part in sinking the loonie.

“The Canadian dollar is where? It’s down from 80 [cents U.S.], it’s down from 82, it’s down from 85 … We’ve been in a downward trend, the downward trend is Trudeau-Morneau enforced. If our competitiveness was compelling, it wouldn’t be slipping.”

Wilson warned that the effect on Canada would be worse if not for the strength of other economies around the world.

“The economies on a global basis are strong and we’re getting carried … even turkeys can fly in the wind and there’s a strong enough wind on a global basis.”