Daniel Schwanen of the C.D. Howe Institute had some suggestions for Canada.

How many of them apply here?

Here's a snippet:

Canada, like other economies, seeks to attract foreign direct investment to help grow its standard of living. In recent years, however, Canada has struggled to attract such investments.

Foreign investments that are “direct,” in contrast to portfolio investments in which investors acquire smaller portions of equity or debt in a company, entail the investor acquiring some control over how their new Canadian business is run. In turn, this typically means that a foreign direct investor is making a long-term commitment to Canada.

FDI by and large supports Canadian productivity and relatively high-wage jobs in Canada, because it helps integrate Canada’s economy into the global economy – into value chains where each part contributes what it is relatively best at. As with international trade, FDI is therefore one of the key transmission belts by which Canadians can turn their talents and resources into a high standard of living.

Read it all here…