CIBC CEO Victor Dodig during the Intersect 2025 conference hosted by The Globe and Mail on Monday.Jenna Muirhead/The Globe and Mail
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce CM-T chief executive officer Victor Dodig says that the country needs to be on “wartime footing” as Prime Minister Mark Carney looks to bolster the country’s waning productivity.
While boosting housing and energy infrastructure development is critical, Ottawa will need a decade to make meaningful progress, Mr. Dodig said during a conference hosted by The Globe and Mail on Monday. The federal government will also have to broaden policy initiatives to help young people save money and encourage businesses to invest in Canada.
“It’s tough to be in Mark Carney’s position today. Build the expectation that change is not going to happen overnight. It’s probably going to happen over the course of a decade,” Mr. Dodig said.
“Wars typically last up to a decade … This one will be longer than a year.”
Mr. Dodig also said Ottawa should address key irritants that the United States has expressed in its relationship with Canada, including removing the digital services tax and increasing defence spending.
“All clients have their pens down,” Mr. Dodig said. “This uncertainty is not helpful.”
Mr. Dodig said the federal government needs to help young people save and invest in their future wellbeing. He said he has been advocating for an incentive that would give people under the age of 30 a tax exemption.
He proposes raising the tax exemption threshold before they start paying income tax to $75,000 from about $30,000 today, provided they are saving at least $15,000 in a tax-free savings account, a retirement savings plan, or other accounts. The incentive would be aimed at helping young people buy their first homes.
“One of the biggest problems today is that people can’t afford a home,” he said. “I look at what they’re putting into their TFSAs, their first-time homebuyers accounts, and their RSPs where they can borrow to buy the home, and they can’t even top up.”
Mr. Dodig also said foreign investment is lacking in Canada, and that people are looking at other markets where it is easier to access capital.
He said continuing trade tension with the U.S. is “not good for business for Canada, or the United States, or Mexico,” and that Mr. Carney should refrain from engaging in reciprocal tariffs.