By Mathieu Dion
(Bloomberg) — National Bank of Canada’s top executive called on Prime Minister Mark Carney to consider bold tax cuts and deregulation for strategic sectors to boost the country’s productivity and competitiveness.
“We need to have lower taxes than the U.S. for businesses,” Chief Executive Officer Laurent Ferreira said at the Canada Fintech Forum in Montreal on Monday evening. The government should even think about a “zero tax policy” for strategic manufacturing and defense procurement, he said.
Ferreira, who has led Canada’s sixth-largest bank since 2021, told the audience the country’s productivity growth has been weak for a decade. “We need to wake up,” he said, also calling for fewer regulatory requirements in the manufacturing sector.
“We need to be more competitive. We have a hard time attracting capital. We have a hard time keeping our businesses in Canada.”
U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff policies have sent a chill through Canada’s economy over the past several months. Gross domestic product contracted at a 1.6% annualized pace in the second quarter amid a drop in exports and soft business investment.
Most Canadian goods are still exempt from new U.S. levies under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement. But Trump’s tariff policy has shaken the automotive, steel and aluminum industries, and the unpredictable outcome of a new deal is leading many companies to wait before investing.
“No one really knows how tariffs are going to impact the U.S., Canada, and growing deficits around the world are also a big question mark for the bond market,” Ferreira said. “Those are obviously uncertainties that are around that and clients, businesses are on pause.”
Carney has promised to release a federal budget on Nov. 4 with substantial investments to boost the country’s economy. The government trimmed personal income taxes in July, but hasn’t indicated it’s considering large cuts to business taxes.
Canada faces significant budget pressures, partly because of increased military spending. The deficit will be about $70 billion this fiscal year, or more than 2% of GDP, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists.
Still, Ferreira praised the federal and provincial governments’ focus since the beginning of the trade war. “It’s an economic agenda, and it is very encouraging to hear everything that they’re working on,” he said about his discussions with government officials.
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Last modified: September 23, 2025