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The list of gewgaws any government can justify in the name of attracting talent and investment is endless. But the list of things that will actually deliver more value in productivity gains than they siphon off through marginal tax costs and inefficient resource allocation is much shorter.

The economic advisory council offers smart ideas, then smothers them with Big Government prattle

Spending on better seaports, airports, border crossings and traffic decongestants at least offers some hope of long-term returns to the economy. But the report insists that Canada has a much bigger “infrastructure gap” than that. It doesn’t know how big, but it’s sure it’s big, citing as proof everyone from the spending-friendly Canadian Centres for Policy Alternatives to the spending-friendly Federation of Canadian Municipalities to arrive at an estimate between $150 billion and $1 trillion (!).

In recent years Canada has actually been one of the biggest buyers of infrastructure in the OECD, spending more as a percentage of our GDP than either the U.S. or the EU. But if you’re trying to tally up the cost of everything municipal and provincial politicians can dream up for Ottawa to buy them, the number may as well be a jillion times infinity (and the federation of municipalities is already insisting this week that the council’s recommendations must be funded by new cash from Ottawa, not from redirecting earlier spending commitments). But only a handful of their hankerings will positively impact productivity.

That seems less important to the council than the importance of just plain spending. The report even pads out its numbers using the “gap in First Nations infrastructure…estimated to be $25 to $30 billion.” There’s no question that a distressing number of Canada’s reserves are in terrible shape in all kinds of ways, including their public works. But since the average population density on reserves is one-tenth or less that of even a midsize Canadian city, the argument for fixing them up will have to rely on something besides improved productivity. Building new roads in Calgary or Toronto will move a lot more workers and goods than building them on Chippewa Island.