In Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games, a stark division exists between the Capitol’s opulence and the struggling districts, vividly portraying a world rife with both economic and political disparities. This metaphor is a cautionary tale for Canada, where a growing economic divide between urban and rural areas precipitates deep rifts. In the past decade, Canada’s largest metropolitanContinue reading “Canada’s urban-rural economic divide is a threat to our country”
Category Archives: economic development
Instead of starting a new business, why not buy an existing one?
Facing a tidal wave of retirements, many Canadian small businesses risk vanishing unless a new generation of entrepreneurs steps up to carry their legacy forward. Research by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) found that 76 per cent of small-business owners are planning to exit their businesses over the next decade, marking a potentialContinue reading “Instead of starting a new business, why not buy an existing one?”
Canada’s economic future is in jeopardy because we lack an entrepreneurial culture
The famed management consultant Peter Drucker once said that “culture eats strategy for breakfast.” While this saying originated in the corporate world, it also influences the fate of countries. An entrepreneurial culture, which encourages people to identify and act upon opportunities to create value for others, is essential to improving a country’s quality of life.Continue reading “Canada’s economic future is in jeopardy because we lack an entrepreneurial culture”
New Zealand has a social impact worker visa program. What can Canada learn?
As COVID-19 continues its global spread, countries around the world are curtailing immigration, including Canada: RBC Economics forecasts that the number of permanent residents entering Canada will be reduced by 40 percent from 2019 — a drastic decrease with long-term implications. But there’s a tremendous opportunity to pilot innovative immigration and worker visa policies to better supportContinue reading “New Zealand has a social impact worker visa program. What can Canada learn?”
How a universal basic income could jump-start Canadian entrepreneurship after COVID-19
What do Milton Friedman, Elon Musk, Martin Luther King Jr., Robin Chase, and Noam Chomsky all have in common? They all are supporters of providing a universal basic income (UBI), which is defined as “a periodic cash payment delivered to all on an individual basis without means test or work requirement.” Providing everyone a basicContinue reading “How a universal basic income could jump-start Canadian entrepreneurship after COVID-19”
Mid-sized cities are the perfect places to build a startup
What do Verafin, Radian6, Kinduct, Coconut Software, Vendasta, AbeBooks, GranDuke Geomatics and New Horizon Interactive all have in common? They are all very successful Canadian technology companies that emerged in mid-sized cities, which for the purposes of this article are defined as Canadian census metropolitan areas with anywhere from 50,000 to 500,000 residents. More thanContinue reading “Mid-sized cities are the perfect places to build a startup”
What’s holding Canada’s tech companies back? Surprisingly, it’s not a lack of technical talent
In television shows such as Silicon Valley, fast-growing technology companies are depicted as employing predominantly software engineers. The reality of most companies is quite different, as these types of firms often have more business than just technical roles. Consequently, many fast growing firms – often referred to as scale-ups – face more significant challenges recruiting forContinue reading “What’s holding Canada’s tech companies back? Surprisingly, it’s not a lack of technical talent”
Canada shouldn’t aspire to be the new Silicon Valley
*Please note this piece appeared originally in The Globe and Mail. Here is the link. When you think of startups, Silicon Valley likely comes to mind. The birthplace of Apple, Google and thousands of other technology companies is often presented as the global pinnacle of innovation. As a consequence of this branding, Canada’s respective technologyContinue reading “Canada shouldn’t aspire to be the new Silicon Valley”
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