Leaders in Canada’s tech sector are launching a project aimed at shaping policy to create a more prosperous economy and address their frustration with the country’s stagnant innovation agenda.
Titled Build Canada, the project launched Tuesday with a core team of five volunteers, including former Shopify SHOP-T vice-president Daniel Debow, who left the company last month. By publishing weekly policy memos to its website and encouraging others to share them via social media, Mr. Debow said, the initiative’s goal is to give Canadian entrepreneurs a platform to publicize their ideas in a meaningful way.
“This is not a lobby group, this is not a think tank, this is a temporary project for the purposes of getting great ideas of builders out there across the economy in a format that they’re understandable and useful,” he said.
This push for change is badly needed, he added, as potential 25-per-cent tariffs on exports to the U.S. threaten to hit Canada’s economy while it’s down. “Both cyclically and structurally, Canada’s economy is not well positioned to absorb a shock of this scale,” Royal Bank of Canada economists Frances Donald and Nathan Janzen wrote in a report on Sunday.
When Prime Minister Justin Trudeau prorogued Parliament in January, Canadian tech leaders decried the decision, saying they again felt let down by the government, as it left their industry in a state of uncertainty. The country’s tech and innovation sectors have already shown signs of souring on the Liberal leadership, with many prominent figures voicing their support for Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre online in recent months.
Whoever the next prime minister is, Mr. Debow said he hopes they can use some of the ideas put forth by Build Canada to strengthen the country’s economy and make it less vulnerable to bullying from the U.S.
“Economic strength is crucial,” he said, explaining that means figuring out how to sell more high-value goods to the world, how to sell better to Canadians and also “how to get along with what is a new America.”
John Ruffolo, who co-founded the Council of Canadian Innovators (CCI) and is also involved in Build Canada, said the new project grew out of a WhatsApp group created by Shopify chief executive and co-founder Tobi Lütke, which brought together a handful of people to share their ideas and frustrations.
“If we can just get out all of the ideas, distribute them effectively, promote each of the entrepreneurs’ ideas and get to an election, perhaps it will get Canada back on the right track,” Mr. Ruffolo said.
About three weeks ago, CCI announced an initiative called the Canadian SHIELD Institute. Backed by an initial $10-million donation from Jim Balsillie, former co-CEO of BlackBerry pioneer Research in Motion, the think tank has a similar mission statement focused on bolstering domestic innovation.
Mr. Ruffolo said that while the initiatives are distinctly different – CCI is a lobby group and Build Canada is not – they still complement each other. “More voices at the table, ultimately voicing out things that have the same objective, is extremely positive.”
The SHIELD Institute and Build Canada both intend to engage with experts outside of the tech and innovation sectors. For example, Mr. Debow said he’s excited to work with entrepreneurs in mining, fisheries and real estate. “Every business in our country already does use and certainly will have to use technology to grow.”
Treating the tech sector as separate from the rest of the economy, he said, “is a terrible mistake and does not help our productivity, does not help our growth.”
At this point, Mr. Debow said, the project’s team is still figuring things out as they go. Generally speaking, their process involves workshopping and researching ideas brought forward by members, some of whom used to work in policy making, before writing a structured policy memo and publishing it online. If they wish, supporters can attach their name to it to signify their endorsement.
While the project is not a permanent organization, Mr. Debow said he doesn’t have a clear end date in mind.
“We have this one specific goal, which is, get policy ideas from builders, people who’ve actually built things, into the conversation to hopefully influence the growth policies of whoever becomes government.”