Entrepreneurship is suffering from a short-term policy outlook. With uncertainty a sure thing after the U.S. election, its time for Canada to get strategic again.
The core of entrepreneurship is taking “smart risk.” If you’re good at it, and disciplined, you have a vision backed by strategy and a plan for your brand. If you’re great at it, you also have fortuitous timing, and your business takes off.
The best and most daring entrepreneurs take smart risk in times of chaos and uncertainty. Where others see danger, they see customer need. When the cautious amongst us want to go back to “the way things were,” great entrepreneurs visualize a better future, innovating and setting out to make it a reality.
Canadian entrepreneurs are calling for some smart risk from their government ASAP. A recent KPMG survey highlighted their concerns: not only are almost 90 per cent of SMB owners worried about their business being “collateral damage” to U.S. protectionism, but 85 per cent are revisiting their business strategy and almost 80 per cent say that the business taxes they pay in Canada are too high.
As a group, entrepreneurs need much better from the federal government. As a country we need to demand it so that we don’t all pay the price of poor productivity and lagging innovation, which put us at the mercy of American self-interest.
Think about the economic and social instability of the past five years: COVID-19, supply chain disruption, inflation, polarization, minority parliaments, a fractured neighbour to the south. Times like these call for innovation and foresight, but instead have been greeted with federal measures designed to just get us by and harvest votes — at the risk of our country’s long-term success.
The result is a Canadian business policy landscape today that is historically weak and doesn’t promise to get better any time soon. Let’s look at the facts:
- Productivity and innovation are down.
- The number of people starting businesses is down.
- Many retirement-age founders are exiting the field without being organically replaced.
- Employment growth is primarily — and unsustainably — in the public sector.
These are all red flags. None of these conditions will create a stronger quality of life for Canadians in the future. Nor will they lessen our dependence on the U.S. by creating a more vibrant Canada.
