High commodity prices are masking Canada’s sliding socio-economic performance when compared to other advanced countries, according to a report released today by the Conference Board of Canada.

“Canada is losing ground to other countries that are better at exploiting their own advantages,” says Anne Golden, president and CEO of the Conference Board. “We appear to be riding high due to global demand for our resources, but this is not a sustainable course for our country.

“Unfortunately, the Conference Board has been telling this story for a dozen years, and the same issues have emerged year after year. At the crux of our lagging performance is our failure to innovate.”

Its 12th benchmarking report card was “disappointing,” the board said.

The report compares 17 countries-including Canada-that enjoy some of the highest standards of living in the world. In five of the six broad categories assessed, Canada’s performance ranks in the bottom half of countries.

Economy: Canada’s 11th place ranking this year is a significant decline from its third-place position in the 1970s. A low productivity level — Canada ranks 15th — is the strongest drag on the performance of the economy. “Canada has also failed to keep pace in the growing competition for global investment,” the report says.

Innovation: Canada has consistently fared poorly in innovation indicators since the 1980s, the Conference Board says, and ranks 13th in this year’s report.

Education and Skills: Canada ranks 2nd, behind only Finland. Canada earns top marks for high-school and college completion rates. But two problem areas emerge, the report says. “First, four in ten Canadian workers lack the basic literacy skills to cope with the demands of work in the modern economy. Second, Canada does not produce enough graduates in fields that underpin innovation-such as science, math and engineering. And Canada produces too few Ph.D. graduates.”

Environment: Canada ranks 15th, with poor performances in greenhouse gas emissions, smog and waste generation. “Only Australia produces greater per capita greenhouse gas emissions,” the Conference Board says.

Health: Canada earns a middle-of-the-pack ranking-9th place-for the health of its population.

Society: Canada’s 10th place ranking is higher than that of the United States, but well behind the leading countries. “Some of Canada’s results-such as rates of burglary and assault, and levels of child poverty-are shockingly poor,” the report says.

An overview of the findings is available at www.conferenceboard.ca/hcp.