Canada is trailing other top Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries in key socio-economic areas, according to a new report.
The group, which represents countries "committed to democracy and the market economy," said Canada's performance is mediocre.
Canada, along with 16 other countries, was graded on six areas: economy, environment, innovation, education, health and society.
The Conference Board of Canada used a of the countries, based on "input indicators" and "policy indicators."
Input indicators were defined as underlying pressures affecting performance, which were ignored. Policy indicators were the "policy responses that countries have undertaken to influence their performance."
In addition to Canada, the other countries included: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom and the United States.
Canada received its best grade in education and skills, scoring an "A" and ranked 3rd of 17 in the category.
"We get an 'A' because we give a good basic education to most Canadians when they graduate from high school, they read and write as well or better than their counterparts around the world, and we have a very good high school completion rate," Anne Golden, president and CEO of the Conference Board of Canada, told CTV's Canada AM on Wednesday.
But Golden said Canada is failing "at both ends of the spectrum" because about 7.5 million residents have low literacy levels and students aren't encouraged enough to do advanced work in science and engineering, which spurs innovation.
"Resources should be directed to three priorities," the report said. "Opening educational institutions to new Canadians; improving Canada's system for lifelong learning; and creating an environment that encourages high-level thinkers to complete advanced degrees and contribute to innovation inside and outside our universities."
Canada scored a "B" grade in the economy, health and society categories.
For its economy, Canada ranked 11th.
The Conference Board of Canada said the middling performance came from a diminishing ability to attract foreign direct investment, because its "marginal tax rate on capital is the highest in the developed world."
The group also said Canada has too many obstacles to foreign ownership and suffers from low labour productivity.
Canada ranked 8th for health, because of relatively high mortality rates due to diabetes and lung cancer, along with the number of women who die from heat disease. OECD said the country needs to pay particular attention to treating chronic disease.
And in the society category, Canada came in 10th, trailing countries that spend "a larger share of GDP on social programs." The report also cited a low rating on combating child poverty.
Canada's worst categories were environment and innovation, scoring a "D" and ranking 14th in both.
"(Innovation) refers to creating and defusing and sharing knowledge in a way that creates new and improves products and services that we can sell in the marketplace," Golden said.
"There's a whole bunch of technical indicators but we're not doing well there."
The poor ranking for innovation was blamed on Canada's "resource intensive economy" and a shortage of skilled people in the technology sector.
The report cited high levels of carbon dioxide emissions, and suggested a carbon tax as a possible solution.
"The other things that drag us down is how much waste we generate per capita," Golden said. "We could be a cleaner energy superpower because the technology exists to capture the carbon."
She noted Canada gets good marks for its recycling rates.
The report also praised Canada for its air and water quality, along with its biodiversity.
