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Globe and Mail
7 hours ago
- Business
- Globe and Mail
Canada's innovation policies need overhaul to boost economy, experts say
Canada's outdated innovation policies are causing a loss of economic sovereignty amid critical shifts in global trade relations and the knowledge-based economy, experts say. While Canada continues to lead globally in education and research, innovation experts say the country's inability to plan past that phase is costing it hundreds of billions of dollars every year in data and intellectual property ownership. And with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement up for review in 2026, they argue the federal government should arrive at negotiations with a Canada-first approach. Speaking Monday at the Intersect conference at the Fairmont Royal York hotel in Toronto, Jim Balsillie, former co-CEO of Research In Motion Ltd., said Canada needs to have an offensive strategy heading into USMCA negotiations. 'The most important thing is to learn how the economy works, know that the agreement isn't worth the paper it's printed on,' said Mr. Balsillie, who is also a co-founder and chair of the Canadian Council of Innovators. Under the Trump administration, the U.S. is leading a shift in global economic policy to become more aggressive and transactional, Mr. Balsillie said. This, added to the emergence in recent decades of a new, knowledge-based economy, has heightened the need for governments to defend their industries and IP. Yet Canada continues to fall behind. Canada has 'ambition deficit' and regulations that are scaring away investment, Sabia says CIBC CEO says Canada needs to be on 'wartime footing' to bolster productivity 'We've got this funny disease where everybody helps their companies, but we don't help ours. In fact, we subvert them,' he said, pointing to sticking points such as the highly controversial capital gains tax increase or the federal government's investments in foreign companies. Mr. Balsillie also addressed Ottawa's claim that eliminating interprovincial trade barriers will add as much as $200-billion to the economy, calling it a 'myth' and a 'distraction.' 'The most meaningful barriers were addressed long ago. Clinging to this narrative distracts from creating serious national economic strategy,' he said. Dan Breznitz, the Munk chair of innovation studies at the University of Toronto, touted the country's investments in fundamental research for technology such as artificial intelligence as world leading. But that's where it stops, he said. When it comes time for companies to scale up and commercialize their research, they, unsurprisingly, go elsewhere. 'We just assumed that, somehow, because we have educated people and ideas, magic will happen in the market,' Prof. Breznitz said. 'Instead people do the rational thing: They look around and they say, 'It's almost impossible to do it in Canada.'' On Monday morning, while Prof. Breznitz was addressing the crowd at the Fairmont, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced he would ensure that Canada hits NATO's target to spend 2 per cent of GDP on defence this fiscal year. Prof. Breznitz said that's important – but not the kind of transformational policy Canada needs right now, after 20 years of slowly declining GDP numbers. 'We've got a prime minister that basically tells us right now, that if he will bring us back to that moment of slow decline, it will be the biggest transformation. I'm worried,' he said. Canada needs to gain strategic control of its talent and research, he said. It needs to figure out how to capitalize on its valuable industries, such as critical minerals, and engage and invest in its own technology. 'It is not okay that we are the lowest, by far, in the G7 in buying and engaging with new technology,' he said. Ultimately, Mr. Balsillie said, Canada's progress hinges on its ability to bring in and listen to new voices within its policymaking spaces who will help it adapt to the modern economy. 'The issue isn't only new ideas. It's escaping old ideas.'
CBC
22-05-2025
- Business
- CBC
Former BlackBerry exec Jim Balsillie to co-lead Manitoba innovation task force
A former BlackBerry executive will be co-chairing a new task force whose goal will be to use emerging tech to propel productivity in Manitoba. Jim Balsillie, the former co-CEO of Research In Motion, the Waterloo, Ont.-based tech company behind the BlackBerry, has been tapped to help drive innovation in the province as part of an advisory group that includes several Manitoba business leaders, the province said in a Thursday news release. The innovation and productivity (or "IP") task force will advise the NDP government on implementing new and emerging technologies to "support the economy and promote data-driven decision-making," the release said. Its mandate includes creating a strategic plan that's expected to be delivered to the province's technology minister later this year. Minister of Innovation and New Technology Mike Moroz said in the news release his department is considering implementation of artificial intelligence, an intellectual property policy and "sovereign cloud strategies" to store and process data without going to jurisdictions that don't have the same protections Manitoba has. Balsillie said in the news release there is "tremendous opportunity for Manitoba to turbocharge its economic resilience and prosperity" through "sovereign strategies across all sectors and industries." Other members of the task force announced Thursday were: Adam Herstein, partner at Pitblado Law. Clara Buelow, director of marketing and communications at the Manitoba Chamber of Commerce, and previous lead on the Digital Manitoba Policy Initiative. Jacqueline Keena, managing director of the Enterprise Machine Intelligence Learning Initiative. Gerry Price, president of Price Industries. Gautam Srivastava, professor of computer science at Brandon University. Debra Jonasson-Young, executive director of entrepreneurship at the Asper School of Business. Dr. Ernest Cholakis, founder of Cholakis Dental Group.
