How can we rebuild the Canadian economy? Business leaders say there are 4 priorities

Whoever wins Monday's election will have an enormous task of rebuilding the Canadian economy after years of stagnation — and in the face of an escalating trade war with the United States.

They'll have their work cut out for them. But CEOs and industry leaders say these twin crises offer what many industry leaders are calling a generational opportunity. In interviews and speeches through this campaign, they've raised concerns, flagged opportunities and charted out what they think politicians should do once the campaign is over.

Party leaders agree on many (but not all) ways to get the economy off the mat. Here are four steps either party in the running to form government could take to spur much-needed economic growth.

Canadian energy companies say the threats from the U.S. have highlighted the need to build out this country's energy infrastructure.

"Canada has a time-bound opportunity to strengthen our economic sovereignty, build our economy and re-establish our global position," said François Poirier, CEO and president of Calgary-based TC Energy. "We can do this by delivering energy security and enabling emission reductions for our allies through exporting Canadian liquefied natural gas to replace higher emitting coal."

In an open letter released at the beginning of the campaign, the CEOs of some of the biggest energy companies in the country laid out what they feel needs to be done to boost Canada's economy through energy investments.

"The federal government's Impact Assessment Act and West Coast tanker ban are impeding development and need to be overhauled and simplified. Regulatory processes need to be streamlined, and decisions need to withstand judicial challenges," read the open letter.

That's a key nuance. The energy CEOs are calling for an overhaul of the legislation instead of scrapping it completely and starting from scratch.

To that end, both the Conservative and Liberal party leaders have vowed to speed up the approvals process.

The Conservatives have vowed to build a "national energy corridor" and create a rapid resource project office to get projects approved within a year. The Liberals have vowed to create a major federal project office mandated to make decisions on projects within two years 

From labelling requirements to professional licensing standards, Canada's notorious trade barriers make it difficult or even impossible for Canadian companies to do business with each other across provinces. Still, they've withstood the pressure to change in the past. Each time, the instinct to protect local industries has outweighed the national boost that would come with removing barriers. 

But in the face of potentially economy-ending tariffs, there's a growing chorus of calls to make real change to the practice. 

One analyst called this at once the dumbest and easiest problem to solve.

"It's easy because it should be the first thing [the new prime minister does]. It's dumb because it shouldn't exist in the first place," Richard Dias, macro strategist at IceCap Asset Management.