Canadian Chamber releases "Ten Ways to Build a Canada That Wins"

Cover Art from CCC Report Ten Ways to Build a Canada that Wins

The “Ten Ways to Build a Canada that Wins” list for 2017 from the Canadian Chamber of Commerce is an evolution of their annual list the “Top 10 Barriers to Canadian Competitiveness”.  

“This year’s list comes at a time of both challenge and opportunity for Canada,” says Perrin Beatty, President and CEO, Canadian Chamber of Commerce. “Canada possesses important advantages, including our rich resource inheritance, the skills and industry of citizens and our proximity to the world’s richest market.  With imagination and plain hard work, we can translate these advantages into business success that will benefit every Canadian family.”

Below is a summary of the list from the report:  

1. Promote Innovation and Harness the Power of Data
   Canada’s innovation agenda must leverage the private sector and help companies get from idea to product. Harnessing the power of “big data” and ensuring data are secure will also be critical to competitive success.
2. Fight Global Protectionism
   As a trade-dependent nation, Canada must combat protectionism by leveraging its critical resources and other products and services its partners need. The completion of CETA and the Trade in Services Agreement will also open markets to Canadian business.
3. Upgrade Canada’s Regulatory System to Get Natural Resources and Other Exports to World MarketsCanada needs a regulatory environment that makes it possible to develop natural resource projects and to build the infrastructure required to get those resources to customers. Its regulatory system must also be open, transparent, fact-based and efficient.
4. Work with Business to Combat Climate Change and Maintain Canada’s Competitiveness
   Canada needs a national carbon-pricing policy that has one objective: lowering greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions while preserving Canada’s competitiveness. For the benefit of the environment and of the economy, Canadian business must be at the centre of the design and execution of Canada’s climate change strategy.
5. Build Canada’s Brand
   Canada must provide reliable and sufficient funding to Destination Canada’s international marketing budget. A well-marketed national brand would increase foreign investment, encourage the world’s most talented people to immigrate to Canada and add value to quality-dependent exports, like agri-food products.
6. Grow Small Business to Take on the World
   Canada must ensure small businesses have innovative access to capital, the talent and the programs that will get their goods to international markets so they can grow and flourish in the global economy.
7. Build Digital Skills to Compete in the New Talent Economy
   Canada must build its capacity to harness digital technologies and apply them across its economy. It must also grow its pool of information and communications technology workers by encouraging student enrolment in computer-centric fields, improving the digital literacy of Canadians or hiring foreign workers.
8. Assure Better Access to Capital for Indigenous Entrepreneurs
   ​Canada must support Indigenous entrepreneurs in their efforts to access the capital needed to invest in equipment, training and other tools that can translate the benefits of short-to-medium term projects into the long-term benefits of jobs and wealth for their communities.
9. Dismantle Internal Barriers that Cost Consumers and Discourage Investors
   ​Canada must develop a new Agreement on Internal Trade that includes the mutual recognition of regulations. Allowing business to operate more freely between provinces and territories will increase economic growth and job creation.
10. Encourage Investment by Cutting the Cost of Doing Business in Canada
    Canada must reduce the cost of doing business in this country. Reducing those rising costs will provide a significant boost to our competitiveness and leave more money for businesses to invest.
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You can draw a line between many of the above top 10 from the Canadian Chamber of Commerce to the Top 10 Opportunities for Peterborough as identified in 2016 by the Peterborough Chamber of Commerce.  This interconnectedness of issues at every level of government is also critical to the success of our business community. 

1. #TeamPtbo
2. Airport
3. Trent Research & Innovation Park
4. Manufacturing 
5. Agriculture & Rural Economic Development
6. Nuclear
7. Tourism & Culture
8. Entrepreneurship
9. Harmonious Councils
10. Our First Nations 

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