In early December, when Donald Trump’s new National Security Strategy revealed his “America First” plan to dominate the western hemisphere, the Canadian media burst out with questions with no ready answer. “Is this the end of Canada’s sovereignty?” “What’s to stop him from aggression against Canada?” Prime Minister Mark Carney declared he was already on the case, having worked for months to boost Canada’s strategic autonomy, build new alliances and develop the country’s first Defence Industrial Strategy.
But what would Ottawa actually do differently? Details were scarce, and traditional business think tanks, dominated by global companies, tended to stay silent.
But one voice made itself heard. Just days after the release of Trump’s National Security Strategy, the Council of Canadian Innovators (CCI) fired back with a layered plan for building a domestic technology industry that could free the country from foreign tech platforms and build Canadian prosperity.
Founded in 2015 by two energetic tech leaders – former BlackBerry co-CEO Jim Balsillie and venture capitalist John Ruffolo, then CEO of OMERS Ventures – the CCI provides a voice for more than 150 independent tech companies. Rather than ceding control of Canada’s digital infrastructure to foreign multinationals, CCI aims to build a community of more ambitious homegrown tech firms that put Canada first.
CCI’s letter urged the government to focus on new export markets and embedding value-added innovation into traditional exports such as resources, energy and food. Ottawa should convene industry advisory groups to help guide these new trade negotiations, the letter argued, and promote made-in-Canada tech platforms.
“Canada needs to decide whether we will be strategic participants or a vassal state to global tech giants,” CCI CEO Patrick Searle said in a statement. The new U.S. security strategy, he said, proves that in today’s markets, intellectual property, AI and quantum computing, and new defence technologies aren’t just important business breakthroughs, but “national security assets.”
With the United States adopting a winner-take-all manifesto, Searle says, “Canada needs to respond with urgency, clarity, and a domestic strategy built around sovereign capability.”
Rick Spence is the editor-at-large at Corporate Knights. He is based in Toronto.
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