Economist Todd Hirsch says that too many argue Canada's economy needs what he calls "faster horses" -- more tax cuts for business, more social spending for the poor.

But the problem is a horse-drawn-buggy economy, when Canada needs to think about a transformation on the scale of mass production of automobiles (his opening anecdote is based on a Henry Ford quote: "If we had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses."

From the Globe and Mail commentary: (available only to subscribers)

The Canadian economy doesn't need faster horses. Lower taxes, less bureaucracy, better trade deals, another royal commission on something or other - these may be helpful in the near term. And some are truly pressing needs that shouldn't be ignored.

But, at best, all they can ever do is give us faster horses.

What the Canadian economy needs to achieve greatness in the long run is a whole new DNA, a massive transformation of thinking and creativity and innovation that will do for the economy what Henry Ford's automobile did for transportation. We need to be elevated to a place we can't even fully imagine yet.

It's too limiting to say Canada's future will lie in natural resources, or in energy, or in manufacturing, or in agriculture. It's even too limiting to say it will be in banking or services or medical research. If we are to reach our potential as a nation, our economy will ultimately look like none of the above - yet with elements of all of the above combined in ways we haven't thought of.

So how do we get there? How can we shape our country's economy to reach its potential if we don't really have a good idea of what that potential looks like?

It's the task of a new generation of economic thinkers, designers, social advocates and entrepreneurs. Solutions will lie in education, literacy, science and the arts. The morphing of the economy will not come easily, nor will a new economic DNA be immediately revealed. But we're working on it. Stay tuned.