Last Thursday, at the second annual Source Canada conference, we put everything a deal needs in one room.
Innovators building Canada’s next great companies. Business leaders who could be their first customers. Government leaders who decide what this country buys. And investors who back the founders.
I started Source Canada a year and a half ago with a simple idea: the fastest way to accelerate Canadian companies is to buy from them. This shouldn't be a controversial statement, but it is.
A lot has changed since our first event. Buy Canadian went from slogan to policy. CUSMA wasn’t renewed. We’re in a trade war with our closest ally.
In my opening remarks I asked which version of Canada we are. Is it the country that built the Canadian Pacific Railway and the St. Lawrence Seaway, massively mobilized during World War II, and discovered insulin?
Or is it the version of Canada that can’t seem to build anything anymore and is content to look up to others?
Our entrepreneurs have never been better. But too many find their first customers and investors in the US, so that’s where they go.
Our institutions reward the safe choice, and nobody gets fired for buying from the biggest supplier. The OECD projects Canada will have the slowest growth in living standards of 38 advanced economies for decades. In other words, not buying Canadian is a risk too. We’ve just gotten used to it.
We ended the event with a challenge which extends beyond the people in the room:
- Business leaders: pick one Canadian innovator and clear the way for a contract.
- Government: remove one obstacle between a Canadian company and its first contract with you.
- Founders: make an offer a buyer can’t refuse, do not take no for an answer.
After the event the work of Source Canada continues. Like many of the people in the room I'm energized and focused on taking action. That's how we decide which version of Canada we want to live in.
Want to get involved in Source Canada's mission or have ideas you want to share? ideas@sourcecan.ca
