CCI Calls for Canadian Scale-Up Representation on Canada-U.S. Economic Relations Advisory Committee

Today, the federal government announced the membership of the Advisory Committee on Canada-U.S. Economic Relations. In response, Patrick Searle, CEO of the Council of Canadian Innovators, issued the following statement:

“The Council of Canadian Innovators welcomes the Prime Minister’s decision to establish a formal advisory process on Canada–U.S. relations.

“However, the committee announced today excludes the very firms whose business models, assets, and competitive realities will be most directly shaped by the upcoming CUSMA review. There is no representation from Canada’s digital and innovation economy. No voice for the companies building, owning, and exporting the intangible assets that now define global trade.

“Global competition is no longer organized around goods alone. Intangible assets make up 92% of the S&P500 and are approaching $100 trillion in value globally. Digitally delivered services account for more than half of global services trade. Economic and security advantage now flows through control of data, intellectual property, and the standards that govern their use. This is as true in life sciences, agriculture, critical minerals, and natural resources as it is in software, where control over clinical trials, genomic and environmental data, processing technologies, and downstream IP determines where value is created, captured, and anchored.

“The United States is their largest market. It is also the jurisdiction most actively shaping the rules of the digital and innovation economy, through procurement, standards-setting, and strategic use of trade policy. The next phase of CUSMA will not be a routine update. It will determine who captures value in the next generation of global markets.

“Canada’s scaling firms are not peripheral to this system. They are participants in it, and in many cases, they are competing at its frontier. We mishandled the digital architecture agenda in CUSMA, leaving Silicon Valley largely victorious, as cited by the Financial Times in 2018.

“The 21st-century economy belongs to those who write the rules, not those forced to follow them. Right now, the United States is shaping the rules for data, platforms, and algorithms through procurement, standards, and trade policy, while Canada remains reactive. Canada must urgently build the expertise and capacity to negotiate effectively, because the next phase of CUSMA will determine who captures value in the next generation of global markets.

“The 24 members named today are eminent Canadians who represent sectors that have long anchored the Canadian economy. But none of them speak for the cohort of Canadian-headquartered firms that are building new markets, scaling globally, and competing daily for customers on both sides of the border.

“Leaving them outside the room weakens Canada’s position before negotiations even begin.

“We urge the federal government to add expertise to this council that reflects the 21st-century economy.”

Media Contact

Lisa Brody Hoffman
Director of Communications
‍lhoffman@canadianinnovators.org