If people started taken control of their investments, ask the hard questions, find low fees, they could probably outpace the index in Canada. I have talked to advisors that couldn't tell the make up of the fund they were recommending. Find a good advisor, create a policy statement and review and rebalance with his/her assistance.
With 70% of the S&P/TSX is weighted to 3 sectors, maybe active management in Canada and indexing in the U.S.