The Source Canada Newsletter, Monday June 8, 2026

I was invited to speak at the 2026 Supply Chain Research Forum hosted by the Schulich School of Business, York University, and one theme that came up was the persistent gap between Canadian ambitions and actions.

Ten years ago, Deloitte published The Future Belongs to the Bold, a report that considered why Canada was underperforming as an economy. Its conclusion?

“At a time when Canada needs its businesses to be bolder and more courageous than ever before, almost 90 percent aren't up to the task.”

Earlier this year, Nanos Research and Shift Canada released the 2026 Bold Ambition Index. 81% of Canadians link bold domestic ambition to long-term sovereignty. Yet, according to Nik Nanos:

“Canada's instinct for ambition remains weak, scoring a tepid 51.5 out of a possible 100 points, which would be equivalent to a D-minus report card.” (Globe and Mail)

If Canada has a culture problem, and I believe it does, it is not that our entrepreneurs lack ambition. It's that we have become too comfortable talking about ambition in the abstract without realizing it applies to us.

Every Canadian business, especially our leading corporations, should have a Buy Canadian policy, whether or not it is based on the federal government's (which is a good start). Bold Canadian ambition is not talking about the problem or debating what governments should do about it. It is translating that rhetoric into reality at the level of businesses making everyday buying decisions.

That will have a large, immediate impact on the one group of Canadians who have consistently matched their actions to their ambitions: entrepreneurs.

As Jim Balsillie said recently to a room of startups:

“You guys have done what you've done with the wind at your face. Imagine if you had the wind at your back.”

Highlighted Deals

  • Toronto Pearson sources Canadian innovation (BetaKit, May 29). Canada's busiest airport (with over 48M passengers/year) is running multi-year pilots with Canadian startups, focused on biometric screening, digital identity, and AI operations. Read
  • TD Bank signs 10-year direct-air-capture offtake with Montreal's Deep Sky (Newswire, Jun 4). TD becomes the first Canadian financial institution to publicly anchor Deep Sky's offtake book (prior buyers include Engie and Lufthansa). Read
  • Calian VENTURES pledges $100M to develop Canadian defence tech (The Logic, May 28). Calian Group's venture arm makes a major commitment to Canadian defence startups. Read

Counter Signal

  • CAMP: US big tech holds 85% of the Canadian public cloud market (BNN Bloomberg, CBC, Jun 2). CAMP frames the dependence as a competition problem and a sovereign risk. Read

Capital

  • Lastwall closes $16M Series A extension led by BDC's StrongNorth Fund (BetaKit, May 28). Read
  • Mecka AI raises US$60M to build a physical-AI platform for robotics (BetaKit, Jun 2). Mecka is a Canadian-founded and Canadian-led startup, based in the US, with strong R&D ties to Canadian universities. Read
  • Haply Robotics closes $16M CAD seed-plus for physical-AI haptics (BetaKit, Jun 1). Led by Sound Media Ventures (Atlanta), with Amazon Industrial Innovation Fund, Hanwha (South Korea), Two Small Fish, and BDC Capital Deep Tech Venture Fund. Read
  • Scispot closes $8M USD Series A led by Avenue Growth Partners (BetaKit, CanTechLetter, Jun 4). Capital is earmarked for high-skill Canadian roles in product, engineering, AI, implementation, and customer success. Read

Defence

  • Defence-tech founders push back on Canada's dual-use framing (BetaKit, May 28). Read
  • Sentinel R&D partners G2G with Ukraine to manufacture drones in Canada (BetaKit, May 28). Read

Policy

  • AI for All Day 2: ecosystem splits on government-as-VC equity stakes (The Logic, BetaKit, Globe and Mail, Jun 4). Read The Logic
  • Cabinet extends Isabelle Hudon's mandate as BDC CEO through 2030 (BetaKit, Jun 2-3). Read