Unfortunately, I have not seen the study you're referring to.
The only thing I would say that in being able compete globally, Canada has difficulty competing on labour rates and energy rates. Anything that can reduce those costs, which means increasing productivity, only allows those companies to continue to do business. If the idea is that you're going to have a match between productivity rates and increasing labour rates, you may be pressing yourself out of the business by doing that.
Is it fair? Perhaps not, but at the end of the day, they still have a job.