Today, finance minister Bill Morneau unveiled Ottawa’s council of economic advisors, which included a few notables names entrenched in both the Canadian and US startup ecosystems.
According to The Canadian Press, the is council responsible for helping the government prepare a long-term growth strategy to be released by the end of the year.
This council — which is made up of eight women and six men — includes MaRS CEO Ilse Treurnicht, Andreessen Horowitz partner Angela Strange, and Mohr Davidow Ventures general partner Katherine Barr. Strange and Barr are also C100 co-chairs. The council will be paid an annual salary of $1 a year.
OMG two awesome @thec100 Co-Chairs now advising the Canadian government So excited for @astrange @wildkatbarr! smart move by @JustinTrudeau
— chris albinson (@chrisalbinson) March 18, 2016
The move comes the same week that Thalmic Labs CEO Stephen Lake called on the Canadian government to better define the country’s innovation agenda and invest in high-growth, startup dense areas, and signals the government’s openness to making startups an important part of Canada’s economic growth strategy.
Morneau said council members would provide advice “on concrete policy actions to help create the long-term conditions for economic growth focused on the middle class.” The council council will be chaired by Dominic Barton, the global managing director of consulting giant McKinsey & Company.
The full list of the council includes:
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— Elyse Allen, president and CEO, General Electric Canada
— Katherine Barr, general partner, Mohr Davidow Ventures
— Jennifer Blanke, chief economist, World Economic Forum
— Kenneth Courtis, chairman, Starfort Investment Holdings
— Brian Ferguson, president and CEO, Cenovus Energy Inc.
— Suzanne Fortier, principal and vice-chancellor, McGill University
— Carol Anne Hilton, CEO, Transformation
— Carol Lee, CEO and co-founder, Linacare Cosmotherapy Inc.
— Christopher Ragan, associate professor of economics at McGill University and chair of the Ecofiscal Commission
— Angela Strange, partner, Andreessen Horowitz
— Ilse Treurnicht, CEO, MaRS Discovery District
— Mark Wiseman, president and CEO of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board
— Michael Sabia, CEO of the Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec, the province’s largest pension fund manager