‘Marquee customer’ a goal

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“We recognize some companies will be successful on their own and market conditions will dictate that. But we also recognize the government has a role to play.”

In June, Bains identified six areas he plans to focus on as part of Canada’s innovation agenda, including supporting science, growing companies and improving the ease of doing business. The agenda forms the government’s plan for making sure the Canadian economy is well-positioned to compete in the economy of the future, where automation is likely to continue to make many of the jobs of the past obsolete.

So far, Canada’s public support of the tech sector has yielded lukewarm results.

A report this year by the Centre for Digital Entrepreneurship and Economic Performance, a Waterloo, Ont.-based think tank, found Canada’s top 20 governmentsupported accelerators, incubators and hubs have helped attract $1.7 billion in additional investment and helped create more than 10,000 jobs. But it also noted Canada’s major tech success stories, such as Shopify Inc. with its US$3.7-billion market capitalization, came from outside these organizations.

Bains said he plans to improve that track record by targeting investment to a handful of regions and companies with the best chance of growing fast enough to go global. Ottawa plans to put proposals from various Canadian regions through a competitive process.

“We’re going to avoid spreading the money across the country,” Bains said. “We’re going to focus on three to five jurisdictions that come out with the best proposal. That proposal really has to work in conjunction with industry, with academia, with civil society and all levels of government.”

Bains sees the federal government’s planned $32 billion in infrastructure spending over the next five years as another opportunity to help cutting-edge homegrown companies. He said he wants the government to be a “marquee customer” for more startups and plans to unveil changes to the procurement process in the coming months.

“The idea is not to always go with the lowest-cost provider, but to look at what new idea or new solution can really help solve a challenge or a problem or a need of a government,” Bains said. “Government as a marquis customer can help unlock a lot of those opportunities.”

Innovation means different things to different people, but Bains said he’ll be able to measure the success of his agenda by the health of the economy. The government’s focus is on creating good jobs that pay well, he said.

“We understand the anxiety that exists, the challenges people face with their own prospects and the prospects for their kids or grandkids,” Bains said. “How the economy grows and the quality of jobs are going to be key measures of success for us.”