How Ottawa can build confidence

COMMENT

The day after introducing the latest federal budget, Finance Minister Bill Morneau admitted that his stand- pat plan wouldn’t do much to propel the Canadian economy.

What’s important, he said, is to make Canadians feel better, to help them “reach for the brass ring, which they need to do. For entrepreneurs to be confident, that’s really important.”

Kudos to the Liberals for focusing on entrepreneurial confidence — and for realizing that not introducing ambitious new programs is the best way to make business owners feel good about the future. Entrepreneurs need stability and predictability — they’ve got more than enough challenges without worrying about fending off new taxes and subsidies from gold-pensioned politicians.

But. There are lots of things Ottawa and the provincial governments could do to enhance entrepreneurial confidence in Canada – and they don’t require a lot of capital or new assistant deputy ministers. Here are five ways Canada could raise entrepreneurial confidence — and boost employment and the economy — without a massive investment.

❚Stop cheer leading for Canadian industry and take responsibility for business education. The truth is, Canada produces great entrepreneurs, but surprisingly inept corporations. Thanks to our two centuries as a branchplant economy best suited to digging up and hauling natural resources, we have never developed any national competency in product development, marketing, sales or global branding. Yet these are the skills required today.

We do have home- grown experts in all these disciplines. But their influence is locked away in ivory towers, costly consulting firms or academic papers. What we need is a national mission to identify the missing skills in Canadian business, and find ways to unlock col- lective solutions. The federal government sees itself as the custodian of Canadian identity — all those intangibles of freedom, tolerance and equality. Why shouldn’t it also be the catalyst for the baseline best practices we need to compete? Let’s wrest these crucial learnings and leaders out of the think tanks and ivory towers, and share them through accessible channels, such as Internet video and social media. The cost – including ongoing marketing expenses to make sure people know this material is there – would barely be a line item for the ministry currently known as Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED).

(Education is a provincial responsibility, yes, but so originally were transit, health, pensions and many other areas for which the provinces now happily accept federal funding.)

❚ While we’re talking about values, let’s make sure Canadians inculcate the values that will be required to succeed in the 2050s and beyond. This means the ideal Canadian would be creative, ambitious, handy with science and technology, financially literate, a good communicator, knowledgeable about world geography and cultures, collaborative and a skilled networker who never fails to ask for help – or to offer advice when asked.

❚ The future lies in mastering not just technology and economics, but the soft skills. Please let me know if you find any schools teaching young people interpersonal communications skills, listening, critical thinking or problem-solving.

❚ Innovation. According to people who read it, the 2017 budget mentions the word “innovation” some 200 times. But it didn’t offer anything new in this most critical of capabilities – despite months of Ottawa touting its upcoming “innovation agenda.” One Parliament Hill watcher I spoke with thinks that’s a good thing; clearly, he said, ISED Minister Navdeep Bain is taking his time and making sure he gets this right.

I welcome deep research and wide consultation, but we don’t have an innovation problem in Canada. We have a business problem. We don’t have a culture of successful product development and commercialization. Governments and economists complain that cash- flush Canadian companies don’t spend more on innovation, but I don’t see that as avoidance of duty; it’s a rightful awareness of their own weaknesses. Adopting a “commercialization culture” may not sound as cool as a national “Innovation Agenda,” but it will get us a lot more facetime with global corporate customers.

❚ Despite years of wellmeaning assistance to small business, governments must recognize that the most meaningful progress has come from new businesses and technologies that have expanded the reach of growth- oriented entrepreneurs: Apple, eBay, Google, Kickstarter and Shopify, to name just a few. Even newer technologies will create the biggest new opportunities of the next few decades, in fields as distinct as AI, data, robotics, virtual reality, transportation and agri-foods. Canadian entrepreneurs are rarely early adopters, but Ottawa could lever its technology savvy, its purchasing power, communications clout and tax policies to help entrepreneurs identify the best new technologies and platforms.

If entrepreneurial confidence is a necessary requisite for economic health ( and I think Morneau is on to something), then Ottawa has to inject entrepreneurial thinking through all of government. No bill should be debated until it has been assessed for its impact on entrepreneurial confidence. Any new law that’s likely to make running a business harder, discourage startups, reduce a company’s cash flow or impose additional rigidity on employers needs to be vetted through a transparent process using an entrepreneurship-first lens.

Confidence derives from knowledge, purpose and a sense of security. Governments can help entrepreneurs reach for that brass ring by making sure they feel empowered, appreciated and safe.