Tech leaders launch new platform called Build Canada

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For years, Canada’s technology community has called on Ottawa to do more to boost innovation and productivity and attract capital to the country.

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On Tuesday, a group of founders, entrepreneurs and business leaders from across the technology ecosystem took a bigger step in that direction, launching a public platform to share action-focused policy ideas.

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Named Build Canada, the platform will issue weekly policy proposals that include a summary of the issue at stake and real-world policy solutions. Each idea will touch upon the country’s most consequential economic questions: how to sell more Canadian products, services and resources globally; what kind of reforms are needed to boost productivity, competitiveness, innovation and investment; and how to develop a culture that “celebrates freedom and ambition.”

“Entrepreneurs have specific, industry-focused ideas, but don’t have the time to put them into a format that can be useful in policy conversations,” said Daniel Debow, a former Shopify Inc. executive who is helping spearhead the initiative. “When you talk to a policy person, they see a tweet or an op-ed from a founder, but are unsure what to do with that. We wanted to take these ideas and translate them into specific and actionable policy points.”

The efforts has taken on added significance given the events of the past week.

“As the past few days have made clear, Canada urgently needs new strategies for growth and prosperity,” said Andrew Graham, co-founder and chief executive of Borrowell Inc., a Toronto-based fintech firm. “It seems clear that the status quo is no longer working,” said Jeff Adamson, co-founder of credit card provider Neo Financial. Graham added: “Build Canada (is) a group of entrepreneurs who care deeply about the country and are offering ideas for tackling the challenges we face.”

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Four policy proposals have been released to-date. One of the first memos, written by Martin Basiri, the founder and CEO of Passage — a software matching startup that links immigrants and international students to financing access — advocates for a “bold overhaul” of Canada’s immigration strategy that “changes how we select newcomers.”

Proposed reforms include capping humanitarian immigration at five per cent of Canada’s total immigration; creating a fast-track immigration stream for graduates of the world’s top 50 universities and Masters and PhD STEM and healthcare graduates of Canada’s top 10 universities; and expanding the start-up visa program to grant immediate residency for entrepreneurs. “We must return to a truly meritocratic system that brings in highly skilled immigrants regardless of ethnicity, religion or other political factors,” Basiri wrote.

Build Canada makes visible which policies each founder supports. Basiri’s immigration reform plan was supported by Shopify Inc. CEO Tobias Lutke, Vidyard CEO Michael Litt, and Brice Scheschuk, managing partner of investment firm Globalive, among others.

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Around 27 of Canada’s tech heavyweights, including Borrowell’s Graham, KOHO Financial Inc. founder and CEO Daniel Eberhard, and Cohere Inc. cofounder and CTO Ivan Zhang, are involved in the initiative.

Debow expects the group to expand: “I’ve already had texts from great entrepreneurs asking, ‘How can I help? I have an idea.’”

The Build Canada initiative follows on the heels of the launch of the Canadian SHIELD Institute, a new think-tank from tech lobby group the Council of Canadian Innovators (CCI), and as Canada rethinks its ties with, and dependence on, the United States amid a 30-day trade war reprieve.

• Email: ylau@postmedia.com

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