Canada has a new prime minister!
Mark Carney had a busy first day in office, shuffling the Liberal cabinet (with new innovation and finance ministers), and axing the carbon tax.
“One of the things that I think we’ve got to critically think about in our country for the future is that we’ve got to begin using those dollars effectively, like the $4 billion in SR&ED.”
But how long will Carney remain prime minister? Things are moving quickly, and by the time you hear this podcast, an election might be called. If not now, one is required to happen by Oct. 20. Will Canada’s most prominent CD-burning mixtape maker remain in the job, or will PP become PM?
And will the nation’s next election focus on actually solving Canada’s innovation, procurement, and productivity problems? Or will it just be more counter-tariff rhetoric aimed at Donald Trump?
Ben Bergen, president of the Council of Canadian Innovators (CCI), isn’t waiting to find out. His organization has put together an election primer focused on what innovators need to scale. It’s a useful guide to walk through the current state of Canada’s innovation economy, including its many hurdles, which we do on the podcast. What’s the likelihood CCI’s eight policy points become planks in upcoming election platforms? We discuss that as well.
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But CCI’s WIN document, while useful, isn’t feature complete. When the Liberals prorogued parliament, it left 26 bills in limbo (like C-27), alongside a number of other policy commitments (like SR&ED reform and open banking). To close off the podcast, I forced Bergen to give a temperature check on which of each the party behind Canada’s next federal government might adopt, drop, or move forward.
Will Canada’s next election be an innovation election? Let’s dig in.
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Edited by Darian MacDonald. Feature image courtesy Prime Minister Mark Carney.