Maryanne is mentioning there's a professor at the University of Ottawa who has looked at economic growth according to the literacy level of the population. He has shown a clear relationship. I think if literacy increased by 1%, economic growth grows by 3%—I'm not exactly sure of the number—but there's a clear link between literacy level, economic growth, and productivity as well.
You're right that we could be comparing what's working well in those Scandinavian countries, such as Finland, and looking at what Canada could adapt from those practices. To my knowledge, this hasn't been done.
The literacy survey has been done similarly in both countries. It's got a wealth of data about the individuals themselves. So we can make all kinds of correlation between their literacy level and personal characteristics. Then we can probably make inferences as to why literacy levels are higher in those countries than in Canada.