A new advocacy group composed of Canadian entrepreneurs aims to address some of Canada’s most pressing issues by recommending actionable policies informed by input from fellow innovators and business leaders.
“Build Canada” is a platform designed to launch Canada into a more productive era of development and prosperity.
The group made its public debut after just weeks of pulling together resources, David Debow, the former VP of Shopify and the Board director of Loblaws, told True North in an interview.
Debow said the group was entirely volunteer-led and is expected to only run as a “very specific time-delineated option” as both Ontario and Canada’s general elections are ongoing or imminent.
He said his role is one of a “cheerleader and ringmaster” as he helps to organize the many entrepreneurial minds with their ideas on what direction Canada should head.
“It’s super simple,” he said. “We’re building a website that takes ideas from Canadian builders and entrepreneurs about how to grow Canada, and we translate those ideas into specific, detailed and actionable policy papers that can be consumed and read both by people in government and the policy world and by the general public.”
The group released four “policy memos” since its launch so far, with policy plans ranging from transportation to healthcare and retying immigration to the economic needs of Canada.
Debow said Build Canada was not a lobby group, so the memo written by one entrepreneur isn’t indicative of what all of the other various supporters of the group think.
“We’re trying to take people who have individual ideas, and allow them to get that idea out there,” he said. “We solicit ideas.”
He said entrepreneurs will put forward an idea that they are passionate about, Build Canada will assemble a team of “both technologists and policy experts” and use “technology” to research the idea and translate the business leader’s concerns into a readable memo.
Without providing his suggestions personally, Debow identified several issues Canada faces that he feels need to be addressed by those hoping to lead Canada after Trudeau leaves office.
“Canada is in a crisis. It’s in a crisis of growth and productivity at its core,” he said. “If we grow the economy, if we make our healthcare more efficient, figure out how to get the right talents in the country, figure out how to get people housed – that’s how you grow a productive, high growth country.”
He said there are too many barriers to selling products, including exporting natural resources and interprovincial trade barriers. He also said the immigration system needs to be used to drive economic growth and productivity.
According to Debow limiting government inefficiency and raising awareness of the impact of AI in the world were some “high-level themes” the coalition of industry drivers is passionate about.
Debow said the team is comprised of Canadians who’ve built products, shipped them, and worked in developing technology and also those who have worked in policy roles for various parties across the political spectrum and in Canada’s various levels of government.
“It’s a pretty good cross-section of folks who are focused on not blue or orange or green or red but focused on red and white. That’s what they should focus on,” he said. “If you want to talk about growth, you should talk to people who do growth.”
He said growth has been the main focus of many entrepreneurs who want their voices heard in the projects they have made their careers out of.
“The folks that we’re talking to are people who have built from scratch companies that employ thousands and thousands of Canadians. They export high-quality products inside and outside Canada, and they’ve raised billions in capital,” Debow said. “They know how to grow stuff, and they often know about particular industries or areas. They have ideas.”
Debow said he hopes Canadians engage with the policy suggestions coming from Build Canada, and welcomes criticism if anyone has better ideas.
Tobi Lutke, the co-founder and CEO of Shopify, Harley Finkelstein, Shopify’s president, and Michael Katchen, the co-founder and CEO of Wealthsimple, are just some of the notable supporters of the initiative.